After Colleyville: Hudson Valley synagogues eye security in wake of antisemitic attacks

As the world watched with trepidation as this month's hostage standoff at a Texas synagogue unfolded, officials around the Hudson Valley alerted residents to an increased police presence at houses of worship.

There was no threat detected, law enforcement leaders made clear during the Jan. 15 incident in Colleyville that ended with a dramatic escape by a rabbi and congregants.

Left unsaid by local law enforcement, but equally clear, was the acknowledgement that such incidents could, and have, happened here.

"After the Monsey machete attack, we really ramped up," said Ramapo Police Chief Martin Reilly. "We always have a high priority of patrolling our houses of worship."

In December 2019, a machete-wielding man entered a Hanukkah party at a Ramapo rabbi's home. Party attendees, members of the Hasidic congregation next door, fought off the attacker, but not before several were injured. One man later succumbed to his wounds. The alleged perpetrator has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial on federal murder and hate-crime charges. An early morning attack in Monsey on a Hasidic man a month prior remains unsolved.

The machete attack came weeks after heavily armed attackers targeted a Jersey City kosher supermarket on a quest to slaughter Jews and police. The year prior, 11 Jewish congregants were gunned down at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; six months before the Tree of Life attack, multiple people were shot, one killed, during services at Chabad of Poway in San Diego County on the last day of Passover.

Police in Ramapo have offered safety and security training for houses of worship, schools and businesses for several years now, Reilly said, a needed effort in a community that's home to hundreds of synagogues from every possible Jewish denomination and growing Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities.

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It is similar to the training offered by the Anti-Defamation League and taken by Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who leads Congregation Beth Israel in Texas and engineered the dramatic escape by the hostages.

Cytron-Walker, known as Rabbi Charlie, credited the ADL training with his and congregants' survival. He discussed the incident, and the importance of preparation, during an ADL webinar on Thursday called "Fighting Hate From Home: Lessons from a Hostage Crisis."

A cup of tea, 11-hour standoff

Cytron-Walker, in the ADL safety webinar, recalled letting in Malik Faisal Akram, that Sabbath morning.

"The guy asked if we had a night shelter," Cytron-Walker recalled. "We don't, but it was cold. He said he was walking, he did have a couple bags. He looked like he was telling the truth."

Cytron-Walker, who had been talking with Akram with the door cracked, let him in, walked him to the kitchen and made him tea. "He was calm ... looked me in the eye."

Then the gun came out and the rabbi and three congregants – most members attend virtually due to COVID – were hostages.

Akram's demand: Use Jews' influence to free Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist being held in a nearby federal prison.

The gunman called New York City Central Synagogue Senior Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, demanding she secure Siddiqui's freedom. Buchdahl, who once served as cantor and rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, immediately contacted law enforcement. She also said past security trainings helped guide her in the crisis.

"When he was making this demand, I didn't understand why," Cytron-Walker said during the ADL webinar. Then he realized the motivations behind Akram's request, the rabbi said, and he knew "we were in trouble."

"I knew what he didn't," Cytron-Walker said. "I knew that Jews did not control the world."

Hours into the standoff, Cytron-Walker said, Akram's impatience was growing and the situation deteriorating. Then Cytron-Walker saw a chance for escape. He hurled a chair at Akram and they all fled. Law enforcement killed Akram.

'I will be at shul on Saturday morning'

FBI Director Christopher Wray also spoke at the ADL webinar.

"Let me be clear and blunt," he said last week. "The FBI is, and has been, treating (last) Saturday’s events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community."

Wray also lauded relationships between federal, state and local law enforcement and religious leaders.

For example, a Ramapo police detective is assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht said. Rockland is home to a large and diverse Jewish population; in Ramapo, the villages of New Square and Kaser were established by Hasidic Jewish congregations; the hamlet of Monsey has a large and growing Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish population, and other villages and areas of town have a large Orthodox Jewish presence.

Ramapo police offer their own training, called CRASE, or Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events, for organizations, schools and houses of worship. Specht said he attended the safety training several years ago at Montebello Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue. "I was very impressed by the caliber," he said. "Very eye-opening."

After the Colleyville incident, Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland County asked its supporters to contact federal, state and local officials and advocate for increased security grants and funding for religious institutions.

Ari Rosenblum, CEO of the Jewish Federation, said every type of Jewish institution should know how to access training. "The line from rhetoric to violence is pretty clear, unfortunately," he said.

About 15% of Westchester County's population of about 1 million is Jewish, said Elliot Forchheimer, CEO of Westchester Jewish Council. Synagogues, schools and other Jewish organizations have undergone similar safety training. "That’s the first person you call," he said of police. "That has to be No. 1 or 2 on your cellphone speed dial."

Antisemitism, said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO and national director, remains a "core tenet of extremism across the spectrum."

Some, Greenblatt said, have asked if it would be safer to not wear a yarmukle in public or take other measures to hide their Jewishness.

"What a sad question to be asking in America in 2022," Forchheimer said. "Life in America in 2022, we have to be smart, we have to be aware, and we have to be proud. Whether it’s wearing a kippah or wearing a hijab or wearing a cross, I would hate that America would be a place you can’t express your religion or faith."

Specht said in Ramapo, the Orthodox Jewish community is more visible, and that would not change. He remains concerned about rising antisemitism, the rising attacks and violence against Asian Americans around the New York region, and hate against so many others.

Forchheimer didn't anticipate this or other attacks would change behavior. "Attendance in synagogues this Shabbat will be up from last Shabbat," he said. "We’re not going to be afraid, we are going to support each other, we are going to love each other."

Jeff Kapelus, security chair of the Westchester Jewish Council, agreed. An attack like Texas, like Monsey two years ago, he said, is scary. But, "we're not going anywhere."

Cytron-Walker on Thursday told those watching the ADL webinar the same. "I will be at shul on Saturday morning. I hope you will be at shul on Saturday morning. We should not be afraid."

Greenblatt agreed. "The best way to build the beloved community is do it with your own bare hands."

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Colleyville synagogue attack reflects security concerns at synagogues