Rabbi Eli C. Freedman, Senior Rabbi Jill L. Maderer, and Cantor Bradley Hyman lead a service marking Erev Rosh Hashanah at Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, Sept. 6, 2021. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski

Ensuring security during the Jewish High Holidays at a time of surging antisemitism requires heightened cooperation between Jewish communities and law enforcement agencies, according to experts who spoke to The Algemeiner.

“It’s important for law enforcement as well as communities and congregations themselves to be aware of the current threat environment and underscore the importance of establishing security protocols,” said Russell Rosenthal, vice president of security and law enforcement for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “Preparation prevents panic. The most important thing is to try and soberly assess the environment in which we’re operating and plan for all contingencies, and that includes communicating with law enforcement in advance of the High Holy Days in general.”

The Algemeiner has previously reported on a series of swatting incidents that have targeted synagogues and other Jewish institutions across the US since the summer. They mostly struck synagogues that livestream their services and, in some cases, caused interruptions of prayer.

Swatting is a form of criminal harassment that involves falsely reporting a crime or emergency with the intention of triggering an aggressive response — often involving a SWAT team — from law enforcement. The idea is to use the hoax emergency calls to harass and intimidate a target. In some cases, swatting has even caused fatalities.

In April 2020, for example, Mark Herring, 60, fell and dropped dead of a heart attack outside his home in Tennessee when police arrived on the scene and aimed their guns at him. Law enforcement had been told that a woman was shot inside his house and that pipebombs would detonate should they attempt to enter the front or back doors.

The surge of incidents has raised concerns about the safety of celebrations for Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year, which begins on Friday night — and Yom Kippur — the holiest day in Judaism, which begins later this month.

Mitchell Silber — executive director of the Community Security Initiative, a nonprofit that provides security to synagogues and Jewish organizations across New York City — told The Algemeiner that a key benefit of an increased law enforcement presence near Jewish institutions is deterring potential bad actors.

“Law enforcement this year plans to have a much more robust, visible, and expanded presence in and around Jewish facilities, and those will be the things that are visible. But there will also be measures that are less visible as well,” he said “Law enforcement will try and use lots of different resources to combat any threats.”

This year’s High Holidays come amid a historic spike in antisemitic incidents across the US, which increased 36 percent in 2022 and have showed few signs of slowing down this year.

Last year, the ADL recorded 3,697 such incidents — 10 per day — in the US, the highest ever since the Jewish civil rights group began tracking them in 1979. Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all spiked by double digits and occurred most frequently in New York, California, New Jersey, Florida, and Texas, accounting for 54 percent of the ADL’s data. New York had the most, with 580 incidents. One incident resulted in a fatality.

Acts of hate targeting Jewish institutions and synagogue also occurred at high rates, with 589 incidents, including a hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and 91 bomb threats — the most recorded since 2017.

“We’re deeply disturbed by this dramatic and completely unacceptable surge in antisemitic incidents,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in March. “While we can’t point to any single factor or ideology driving this increase, the surges in organized white supremacist propaganda activity, brazen attacks on Orthodox Jews, a rapid escalation of bomb threats toward Jewish institutions, and significant increases of incidents in schools and on college campuses all contributed to the unusually high number.”

The situation is not all bad news, however.

Silber explained that there is good reason for Jewish worshipers to feel secure for the High Holidays, noting that in New York City — home to the world’s largest Jewish diaspora community — antisemitic hate crimes are down 20 percent since last year. He described the trend as “big news.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.