In May, a project called the Community Safety Campaign released a 134-page guide for Jewish organizers seeking to push their synagogues and communities towards an abolitionist approach to safety. The guide outlined a critique of the dominant “safety through surveillance” paradigm, in which Jewish communities rely on collaboration with police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and private security forces to prevent violence and other threats. This approach is often tied in with these organizations’ embrace of the criminalization and repression of Palestine solidarity. As an alternative, the Community Safety Campaign guide offers a blueprint for Jewish organizations based on the Jewish left rallying cry of “safety through solidarity,” focused on creating trained community teams that provide safety at events and work closely with other religious and ethnic groups to share resources. Two Community Safety Campaign organizers, Nadav David and Erica Riddick, join associate editor Mari Cohen to discuss the political context that drove them to create the guide, the big players of the “safety through surveillance” paradigm, and existing successes in piloting community safety efforts across multiple synagogues in Boston. They also talk through approaching cases in which law enforcement has successfully combatted white supremacist violence and synagogue attacks, and consider how to draw the line between community safety and vigilante violence.  

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading

Community Safety Campaign Guide

“The Dismal Failure of Jewish Groups to Confront Trump,” Stephen Lurie, The New Republic

Understanding Antisemitism, JFREJ

“Skin in the Game,” Erik Ward, Political Research Associates 

Safety Through Solidarity by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley 

“In Letter To President-Elect Trump, SCN Calls For Action Against Non-Citizens,” Secure Communities Network 

“Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“Reject Increases to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program,” Community Safety Campaign and JFREJ

“Reconsidering Hate: A Forum on the ‘Hate’ Frame,” by Kay Whitlock 

Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders, PBS

“How Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s training helped fellow hostages survive the Texas synagogue attack,” Holly Yan, CNN 

“Do Armed Guards Prevent School Shootings?”, Laura Esposito and Alex Yablon, The Trace