At Oakland’s Temple Sinai last Friday night, congregants moved the Torahs out of the sanctuary to a different part of the building — just to be sure.
Earlier that day, three synagogues had been torched in Sacramento. Sinai members wanted their sacred scrolls to be safe should any acts of violence repeat themselves here in the Bay Area.
“It was just a precaution,” said Cantor Ilene Keys. “I don’t think we were really scared for our own safety, but there was a sense of anger and the fear of a rise in anti-Semitism.”
Following the Sacramento arson attacks, Bay Area Jews are expressing a mix of concern about the fire’s victims and anxiety over their own vulnerability. Friday, the Anti-Defamation League here received calls from about a dozen local synagogues concerned about security, according to an ADL official.
The Northern California Board of Rabbis has asked law enforcement agencies in cities throughout the nine-county Bay Area “to be more alert” to intrusions at area synagogues.
“We always caution people to be more alert before the High Holy Days, but this time we’re doing it because of what happened in Sacramento,” said the board’s executive director, Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum. “There has to be building security, and people have to be alerted to the possibility of this kind of crime.”
For Teitelbaum, “it was dejà vu because in 1979, we had a fire in Congregation Beth Jacob [the Redwood City synagogue he served] and some defacings with swastikas a couple of times since then,” he said. “And at Adath Israel in San Francisco a couple of years ago there were markings and a fire at the front door.”
Leaders of congregations throughout the Bay Area cite excellent relationships with local law enforcement agencies.
“Police have increased their patrols,” said Rabbi Stacy Friedman of San Rafael’s Reform Congregation Rodef Sholom. She added that “although we are ever watchful,” permanent security “is not really necessary.”
Members of San Francisco’s landmark Congregation Emanu-El were briefly fearful, but are “more concerned about what they can do to help” victims of the Sacramento fires, reported Gary Cohn, the executive director.
Perhaps the lack of fear is partly because the synagogue already enjoys a tight electronic security system. Although the reception area is open, visitors must be buzzed into the rest of the building by the receptionist.
But staff is also trained to spot unfamiliar visitors, to ask if they need help and walk them to their destination, said Cohn. “Any good institution, Jewish or non-Jewish, would do the same thing. Train the staff. Train them over and over.”
Rodef Sholom’s Friedman said congregants are expressing no fears, even though the suburban synagogue lacks a security system as extensive as Emanu-El’s. “I think most people believe [the arson] is isolated.”
While Rabbi Alan Lew’s “first instinct was to go out and get” more security, it did not materialize and he felt better for it. “You don’t want to be foolish, but I also do not want armed guards,” said the spiritual leader of Conservative Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco.
“There is a special problem up in Sacramento,” he added. “There are some scary groups. And the copycat phenomenon is a real one. These people are angry because they feel displaced. And guess what? They have been.”
While anxiety has run high among Bay Area Jews since the fires, so has concern for victims of the blazes. Rabbi Ferenc Raj of Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El is sending out a letter to congregants asking for donations to aid the burned synagogues.
At Temple Sinai, more congregants than usual showed up for Friday night services, according to Keys.
“They wanted to be at the synagogue to show solidarity and support and be among other Jews,” she said, adding that the synagogue has received many calls from people asking what they can do to help.
During services Friday night , Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco included a prayer for the Sacramento synagogues. The San Francisco Reform congregation also plans to contribute to the rebuilding effort. “We’re all horribly shocked,” said Sha’ar Zahav administrator Lea Salem. “It’s hard to believe this happens in this day and age.”
Like other local Jews, Salem has thought about security since the Sacramento fires.
“I certainly think we all need to be more vigilant when something hits this close to home,” she said. But since 24-hour patrols are far from realistic, “all we can do is protect ourselves the best we can and pray.”
Meanwhile, the interfaith solidarity that has united Sacramento is also evident throughout the Bay Area. The Rev. Cecil Williams of San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church led a rousing sermon condemning the fires and all hate crimes Sunday with presidential hopeful Bill Bradley at his side.