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Synagogues across the U.S. are having congregants train to be volunteer security teams as antisemitic assaults hit record levels and Jewish gathering places face increasing threats.
Driving the news: The front doorways of many synagogues are becoming both a place of welcome and a security checkpoint — a sign of how antisemitism is reshaping Jewish life in America.
The traditional practice of hiring a guard for High Holy Days services, installing cameras and calling police if something happens, is giving way to more complex, layered security systems.
"It doesn't mean that we're ninjas ... [or] law enforcement officers, but everybody can have a role to play," said Rusty Rosenthal, a retired FBI agent who leads JShield, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's security arm in the D.C. area.
The push for hyper-vigilance comes as physical assaults against Jews in the U.S. hit a 46-year high in 2025.
Recent high-profile antisemitic episodes include a double stabbing on New York City's Upper West Side and swastikas painted at a fire-damaged temple and Jewish center in California.
By the numbers: More than 7,100 active volunteers have been trained by the Community Security Service (CSS), which now protects more than 500 synagogues and events across the U.S. each week, the nonprofit's CEO Richard Priem tells Axios.
Priem, a former Israeli paratrooper, said more than 20,000 community members completed training last year with the help of former FBI agents and retired law enforcement officers.
Meanwhile, Secure Community Network , the official safety and security organization for the North American Jewish community, said its Duty Desk logged a record-high 5,409 threat incidents and suspicious activity reports in 2024, 112% more than two years earlier.
SCN also says it conducted 1,095 facility security assessments and helped synagogues secure $23.7 million in security funding in 2024.
How it works: Jewish security groups are layering cameras, hardened doors, tighter access rules, trained volunteers and coordination with law enforcement around synagogues.
JShield calls security "a team sport," while rabbis say the goal is vigilance without losing the welcome and spiritual purpose of Jewish spaces.
CSS was incorporated in 2007 by New York Jewish community members who were worried no one was watching synagogue entrances.
It stayed small for more than a decade before the 2018 Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh pushed donors and security leaders to scale the model, Priem said.
Priem, who worked in counterterrorism after serving in Israel, said trained congregants bring something commercial guards often cannot: knowledge of who belongs, what feels normal and what looks out of place.
Yes, but: Hardening these spaces takes a psychological toll. Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Los Angeles — one of the largest synagogues in North America — tells Axios that clergy are fighting to balance safety with spiritual optimism.
"Jews, Jewish parents especially, want to feel safe," said Lebovitz, the grandson of four Holocaust survivors. "As clergy and community leaders, we want to assure people that we're using every tool and every resource possible."
State of play: Israel's war in Gaza and declining U.S. support for Israel are part of the backdrop to the security issue.
Gallup found Americans now sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis, 41% to 36%.
Pew found U.S. views of the Israeli people and government have grown more negative since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in 2023, and the ensuing war.
Between the lines: Protests outside Jewish centers have revealed a double standard. Lebovitz notes that protesters frequently target U.S. synagogues over the war in Gaza, regardless of a congregation's political stance.
"Nobody in this country would think to protest what's going on in Mexico at a Latino cultural event," Lebovitz said.
"This trend of increased security will only stop when the American Jewish community feels safe, period."
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