Safety Shabbat

After synagogue attacks in Germany over the High Holidays, last week’s deadly attack in Jersey City, and swastikas defacing LA synagogues and schools (including the American Jewish University, affiliated with our Conservative movement), Jews all over are appropriately anxious about security in sacred places.

For the second consecutive year, we at AC would love to convene for a Safety Shabbat, on January 11, parshat vayechi. This year’s session will NOT include an evacuation drill, but will include lunch. Please join us!

We want everyone to know in advance that the topic will be heavy:

Thanks to the Secure Communities Network,* we can participate in the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE). This session will provide a focused active-shooter response training based on the FBI’s  Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT). Of course, we pray that none of us ever needs to employ this knowledge in practice. But preserving life and safety is a mitzvah. So we at AC want to help everyone fulfill that commandment.

Our facilitator, Mark Jardina,  Assistant Deputy Director at Secure Communities Network, brings a wealth of experience in global security. He served as a US Marine and with the State Department.

People of every age are invited. Some of the discussion might be frightening for children (and for adults). The gym will be open for kids to play during the presentation.

*Secure Community Network (SCN), under the leadership of The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has been at the forefront of an innovative, collaborative and cooperative national homeland security initiative educating the Jewish community to potential threats, leveraging government and private sector resources to better protect and secure our community, and ensuring that the security concerns of our community continues to remain a top focus of the intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement agencies charged with safeguarding our country and communities from the risk of terror attacks that has become a persistent threat over the past decade. Through information sharing, security awareness, training, security advice & counsel, SCN strives to empower individuals and organizations and establish a culture of security consciousness, preparedness and resiliency throughout our communities.