The Lasting Impact of 9/11 on Jewish Synagogue Security

At sundown on Friday, Sept. 11, marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Jewish families across the nation will observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, in a profoundly altered landscape.

As they enter synagogues during the peak of annual attendance, worshippers will pass armed guards, security cameras, secured doors, and bag checks.

This convergence highlights how the September 11 attacks fundamentally transformed security in American synagogues, establishing the national infrastructure that currently safeguards Jewish life.

An NYPD Mobile Command Unit stands outside of Temple Emanu-El on 65th Street near Central Park in New York City, May 22, 2025. This is part of an increase in security at Jewish organizations nationwide after an Israeli couple was killed in Washington, D.C. (Kevin C. Downs for Fox News Digital)

When Rosh Hashanah began six days after the 2001 attacks, a security guard stationed outside a synagogue was a rarity. Twenty-five years later, security is no longer an occasional precaution; it is a permanent precondition of Jewish communal life.

Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, noted the profound significance of this anniversary. “If you trace the evolution of the security situation for the Jewish community in North America, you see that 9/11 really was a major turning point,” he said.

Prior to the attacks, synagogues might have relied on police to direct traffic during the High Holidays or installed basic alarm systems, but there was no widespread belief that Jewish communities required protection from threats to their physical safety.

Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue, Thursday, March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (Corey Williams/AP Photo)

“That changed on 9/11,” Fingerhut stated. “The Jewish community understood quite clearly that the people who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacking America that day, but they had a special animus for the Jewish community and the Jewish people.”

Fingerhut explained that this shift led Jewish Federations of North America to help establish the Secure Community Network after 9/11, providing communities with a model for protecting Jewish institutions and a unified channel to federal law enforcement.

For generations, preparing for Rosh Hashanah meant apples and honey, prayer books, and the shofar. Today, the checklist also includes secured entrances, emergency plans, and congregants standing watch while their neighbors pray.

The cost of this new reality is staggering.

A national study by Jewish Federations of North America reveals that Jewish communal institutions spend an estimated $1 billion annually on security. Based on an examination of more than 4,500 institutions, this amounts to nearly $2.8 million every day simply to keep Jewish life open and accessible.

The organization leads a national initiative placing professional security directors across all 141 Federation communities.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, described the stark contrast on his own block. “If you walk past the churches on our block, the doors are wide open, inviting people in,” Steinmetz told Fox News Digital. “But at our synagogue, there are security cameras, a double door system, and a line of guards outside, at the cost of untold thousands of dollars.”

That security is no longer reserved for major institutions or large cities. From New York and Florida to Michigan and Los Angeles, ordinary worshippers are training in situational awareness, access control, surveillance detection, emergency response, and coordination with law enforcement.

A close-up image of a Jewish man wearing a traditional tallit (prayer shawl) and tefillin during morning prayers. The tallit features blue decorative embroidery with Hebrew script, while the tefillin is wrapped around the arm, signifying a deep moment of spiritual connection. This powerful image captures the essence of Jewish worship, devotion, and tradition—ideal for themes of religion, faith, and cultural rituals. in a quiet moment of devotion, a Jewish worshipper wraps himself in tradition—tallit draped over the shoulders, tefillin bound tightly around the arm. This image reflects the sacred rhythm of daily prayer, echoing centuries of spiritual practice and connection with the divine. (iStock)

The Community Security Service, or CSS, reported that more than 20,000 people completed its training in 2025. Of those, 6,100 volunteers protected 440 synagogues and nearly 100 Jewish events, logging more than 300,000 guard hours across 24 states.

The Secure Community Network, or SCN, provides national intelligence and coordination. In 2025, it recorded 4,400 incident reports, trained 40,000 people, and made 851 referrals to law enforcement.

“While the threat environment accelerates, our community has never been more prepared, informed, or engaged,” Michael Masters, SCN’s national director and CEO, told Fox News Digital. “This year our Duty Desk logged nearly 3,200 threat incidents, pacing ahead of last year.”

Steinmetz noted that threats to the Jewish community “exploded after Oct. 7th,” adding that “the hatred of Israel encourages antisemites to come out of the woodwork.”

The FBI recorded 1,528 hate crime incidents targeting Jews in 2025, representing 63% of the nation’s 2,408 religiously motivated incidents. Jews comprise roughly 2% of the U.S. population, yet incidents targeting Jews represented 14% of all hate crimes reported nationwide.

Jewish students at El Camino Real Charter High School during a walkout protesting antisemitic incidents at the Woodland Hills school on Tuesday, Feb. 2024. (Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

During the first eight months of 2026, major crime fell 6.2% across New York City, while confirmed hate crimes targeting Jews rose 8%, from 212 to 229, according to new NYPD figures. That averages nearly one such crime every 25 hours.

Fox News Digital contacted NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch regarding the department’s High Holiday preparations. The NYPD stated it will hold a briefing ahead of the holidays and provide additional security details at that time.

In neighboring New Jersey, the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said it is coordinating with the state Attorney General’s Office, New Jersey State Police, the FBI’s Newark field office, local law enforcement, and community partners.

“Together, we are protecting houses of worship, helping ensure every New Jerseyan can practice their faith without fear, and keeping New Jersey safe and secure,” NJOHSP stated.

This coordination follows recent attacks on Jewish institutions.

On Aug. 14, a man was charged with allegedly disrupting a Friday night service attended by approximately 375 people at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, damaging ceremonial candlesticks, and assaulting a congregant and security guard. The charges against him include federal hate crimes and damaging religious property resulting in bodily injury.

Five months earlier, an attacker inspired by Hezbollah rammed a pickup truck carrying gasoline and fireworks through the doors of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, according to the FBI. Armed with a rifle and hundreds of rounds, he struck one security guard and exchanged gunfire with others.

Inside the synagogue were 140 children at the early childhood center. Every child and staff member escaped without physical injury, and the guard survived.

For Steven Ingber, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, the assault remains a powerful reminder of the need for vigilance as families prepare to gather.

Members of the New York Police Department patrol in front of a synagogue on Oc. 13, 2023 in the Williamsburg neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Security has increased in New York City in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel and after a former leader of Hamas called for Friday the 13th to be a global Jihad day. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

“We take the security of our community with the utmost seriousness, and, of course, the assault on Temple Israel remains fresh in our minds,” Ingber said. “We will enter the High Holidays vigilant and prepared. But we will also enter them with confidence and pride.”

Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in suburban Detroit, who also serves as president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, said Jewish Michiganders are entering the new year “with a feeling of heaviness.”

“From marking the 25th year since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to marking six months since the terrorist attack on our community and especially our children, anxieties are heightened,” Starr told Fox News Digital exclusively. “We enter with heaviness, but we are also filled with hope for a better tomorrow.”

“No family should have to weigh their safety against their faith,” Fingerhut said.

Employing one full-time security guard costs an estimated $90,000 annually, according to Jewish Federations of North America. The organization is advocating for greater federal support through the bipartisan Jewish American Security Act, which would strengthen security assistance for at-risk nonprofit institutions.

For Jewish communities, the question is no longer whether security is necessary, but who will bear the growing cost of making worship possible.

A Bronx man was charged with multiple hate crimes after allegedly disrupting Shabbat services and attacking a congregant and security member at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, police said. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Steinmetz called that cost “a vicious tax on the Jewish community,” one “levied by the antisemites.”

For Fingerhut, the purpose of security is not simply to prevent an attack. It is to ensure fear never determines whether a Jewish family participates in Jewish life.

“We do not want anyone to make the choice not to participate in Jewish life because they are afraid for their safety,” Fingerhut said. “What we have learned is that the visible presence of security, and the real impact of that security, is what enables and encourages people to come out and participate in Jewish life.”

Fingerhut’s message to Jewish communities in America and around the world was clear: do not retreat, but continue to “lean into Jewish life.”

He said, “We will make sure that there is safety and security in place so that we can all feel confident in our involvement in Jewish life.”

That is the purpose, according to the experts, of every guard, camera, and volunteer: not to turn a synagogue into a fortress, but to ensure that Jewish life continues inside.

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