Safety concern at WHC?

[Anonymous]

After touring WHC, we had a little concern regarding the safety of the children. Has anyone ever felt concerned for their child's safety at the temple? (There is a security guard and codes to access the children's center.). After touring several other preschools in the District, it is concerning to see so much security at one preschool and not others. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

What is WHC?

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but I think Washington Hebrew Congregation?

[Anonymous]

WHC stands for Washington Hebrew Congregation

[Anonymous]

The JCC has a lot of security too, I thought that all of the schools based at synagogues did?

[Anonymous]

JPDS has a lot of security too.

I'd imagine that there are code locks at most secular or church based preschools, but not guards. Isn't the guard for WHC, not specifically the preschool?

[Anonymous]

i was a little worried when my child was at JCC, to be honest. sometimes you'd see protesters outside, particularly when israel would be doing things like, oh i don't know, bombing the hell out of palestinian civilians....

[Anonymous]

All DC synagogue-based preschools that I toured (plus the DCJCC) have security guards, tough security protocols, and well-rehearsed emergency plans. Given recent events including the Holocaust Museum shooting, enhanced security for synagogues and attached preschools is clearly the right move. Visible security makes me feel better about my child's safety, not worse, but I understand your concern.

[Anonymous]

I had 2 kids at WHC and I was not overly bothered by the security presence. Frankly, if a 9/11 scenario were to occur again, the school has everything in place to care and comfort the kids for an inordinately long period of time. The temple takes security concerns seriously. We just incorporated the presence of the police officers into our morning ritual of saying "hello" to folks in our community.

[Anonymous]

We found it strange - the security and police presence. I know 9-11 happened, but this is a paranoid response. Undoubtedly these are the same people who are convinced that all Muslims are evil and the world is out to get them. Unfortunately this was once true but it no longer is! One long term byproduct of the holocaust is the general paranoia in Jewish communities around the world. It seems impossible to function without a persecution complex. I know people will come down on me and say that the holocaust justifies perpetual paranoia and policeman outside preschool buildings. You have to decide. But psychologists (mostly Jewish) have studied this and would agree with the heightened paranoia statement. Perhaps there is no way to avoid it given the holocaust. I wish people could rise above it though and live their lives more freely in this day and age.

[Anonymous]

I know people will come down on me and say that the holocaust justifies perpetual paranoia and policeman outside preschool buildings. You have to decide. But psychologists (mostly Jewish) have studied this and would agree with the heightened paranoia statement. Perhaps there is no way to avoid it given the holocaust. I wish people could rise above it though and live their lives more freely in this day and age.

But it's more recent than that, and more concrete than some internalized, vague persecution complex. It's not the Holocaust, it's the fact that yesterday, a gunman opened fire at an L.A. synagogue and shot a couple of people.

The shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum is probably the more recent/local/serious example. But there have been more than 30 documented violent attacks on synagogues and their adjacent buildings since 2000 nationwide.

Sure, the odds are in your favor that you won't be gunned down bringing little Ari and Talia to school at a temple preschool in D.C. And we can debate the wisdom of a particular style of "showing force" (uniforms? jackboots?) But please don't say it's all in the past and so it's all in our minds. The data don't support you.

[Anonymous]

WOW! Now I think I am more concerned than ever after reading all of these responses. I hear a lot of negativity in this discussion.

[Anonymous]

You've got to be kidding. Synagogues are targets. Look at LA yesterday, look at the Mumbai bombing last summer.

We considered sending DS to a synagogue preschool but my husband was convinced that, unless there were sharpshooters on the roof while DS was in school, the children weren't safe.

If anything, the American Jewish community is TOO nonchalant about the danger of radical Islam in this country. Look at the election- 90+% voted for Obama with his lukewarm views on Israel and kow-towing to the Muslim world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We found it strange - the security and police presence. I know 9-11 happened, but this is a paranoid response. Undoubtedly these are the same people who are convinced that all Muslims are evil and the world is out to get them. Unfortunately this was once true but it no longer is! One long term byproduct of the holocaust is the general paranoia in Jewish communities around the world. It seems impossible to function without a persecution complex. I know people will come down on me and say that the holocaust justifies perpetual paranoia and policeman outside preschool buildings. You have to decide. But psychologists (mostly Jewish) have studied this and would agree with the heightened paranoia statement. Perhaps there is no way to avoid it given the holocaust. I wish people could rise above it though and live their lives more freely in this day and age.

People like you make me want to send my kids to a Jewish school. I think you're naive and borderline delusional (especially in light of the recent examples in LA and the Holocaust Museum). I think that many psychologists would think that the security is a rational, and measured, response to multiple violent incidents that allow Jews to go on living normal religious lives with minimal disruption. If you're not comfortable with the security presence, obviously don't send your children but it is a huge leap to go from providing security in light of the multiple attacks in recent years to diagnosing the global Jewish community with a persecution complex resulting from their perpetual paranoia.

[Anonymous]

Jews have been targets for thousands of years. The pp has never read a history book in her life.

And, to the poster who commented about bombing Palestinian civilians, you're just perpetuating lies. Shame on you.