This year, Colorado’s Jewish community prepares for the first High Holidays since October 7 with a heightened sense of vigilance. Days that are meant to be a period of joy and reflection are also a time of concern about the potential for antisemitic threats to the safety and security of Jews who attend services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
With that concern in mind, JEWISHcolorado offered a “High Holidays Safety & Security Training” led by Secure Community Network (SCN) Regional Director Phil Niedringhaus and SCN Regional Security Advisor Kevin Farrington.
On the evening of September 12, a packed room listened carefully to pragmatic guidance from Niedringhaus and Farrington, asked questions that were highly relevant in a time of increased public protests, and gave full attention to a very special guest who stayed for the entire meeting—Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas.
“We stand for this community,” Chief Thomas declared. “We are on guard for this community. We get briefings every day, we look at countermeasures, and we have officers keeping watch at synagogues.”
Niedringhaus thanked Chief Thomas for excellent responses from the Denver Police Department to both routine requests and to emergencies.
“I cannot say enough about our relationship with DPD and the care that DPD takes for the Jewish community,” said Niedringhaus. “We talk to them every day, and this relationship has made a big difference for our community.”
The audience
Sitting in the audience was Liz Schmidt, Director of Human Resources at Jewish Family Service. She was taking careful notes, with one single goal: “For me, the safety of my employees is of utmost importance.”
Across the room, Dr. Gerald Falchook listened to the presentation with years of experience. He has been Chair of the Security Committee at Congregation Rodef Shalom for eight years.
“In 2018, we were not a very busy committee,” he recalls. “Then, in October 2018, the Tree of Life attack happened, and a sleepy committee turned around very quickly. Now, we have in place very robust security precautions while still preserving a friendly hamish environment.”
By the end of the presentation, both Schmidt and Falchook took home new ideas and information from the training.
The training
Farrington and Niedringhaus presented 90 minutes of practical advice for ensuring one’s personal safety in all kinds of environments. Using video clips, they emphasized:
- Situational awareness—It is important to be aware of your surroundings no matter whether you are in shul or at the store.
- Technology and awareness—Don’t let eyes glued to your phone distract you from being aware of your immediate situation and potential threats.
- Bias—No threatening person fits a specific profile. Trust their behavior, not the way they look. If you see something, say something to local authorities.
- Move, don’t freeze—When threatened, never do nothing. Move! Sitting still turns a person into a vulnerable potential victim.
Farrington and Niedringhaus explained the “OODA Loop,” a decision-making framework with four stages:
- Observe—Beware of people who are acting oddly. Observe their race, gender, clothing. Observe vehicles that are driving in odd patterns.
- Orient—If something doesn’t look right, trust your gut and do something.
- Decide—Make a decision on what to do next.
- Act—Run, hide, or fight. What you do first will depend on the situation you find yourself in.
Farrington reminded everyone that the tips shared specifically in advance of the High Holidays apply to everyone every day in their ordinary lives.
One of the questions from the audience was particularly timely. What should a congregation do when they have anti-Israel protestors outside or inside the building? The SCN advisors said that if the protestors are outside the building, bring congregants inside, lock the building, and call 911. If the protestors are inside the building, try to escort them outside and call 911. Either way, the call to 911 must make it clear that it is a Jewish organization calling.
“They may not recognize the name of the temple,” Niedringhaus said. “But when you clearly communicate that this is a Jewish organization calling, you will get action quickly.”
The take-away
Jonathan Perlmutter, Chair of the JEWISHcolorado Safety & Security Committee, thanked everyone for showing their passion for a safe and secure community by attending the training.
“Our vision was to gather people from different congregations to exchange ideas,” he said. “We need to keep the dialogue going.”
Liz Schmidt described the training as very useful, particularly the section on situational awareness.
“We really take our safety for granted sometimes,” she said. “We do go about with our heads in our phones not paying attention. But the one thing that really stuck was to bring people inside and lock down if there are protestors outside.”
Dr. Falchook said he had sat through at least half a dozen trainings by SCN experts. He encourages everyone in the congregation to attend—not just the safety committee.
“The most valuable security tool we have is us,” he said. “Every single person who is present in our building on Shabbat or any time needs to be aware of what they can do to prevent harm to the community by an outside threat.”