Demand Congress Fund Security for Our Shuls, Schools

Earlier this month, we watched in horror as news broke of a shooting at Temple Israel in Michigan – a large Reform synagogue that is also home to a preschool with 140 children. We had seen this story play out too many times before. We saw it at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, at the Poway Chabad, and at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.

Would Temple Israel be added to the list? Not this time.

Like so many Jewish institutions, Temple Israel had invested heavily in security guards, physical barriers, and security systems. The synagogue employs round-the-clock security guards, and its employees had taken an active shooter training class weeks earlier. When the assailant crashed his car into the synagogue, an off-duty police officer engaged with and disabled the shooter.

But the security systems and personnel needed to keep Jewish communities safe do not come cheaply. American Jewish communities pay an “antisemitism tax” to provide essential, life-saving protection. Jewish communities pay north of $750 million of their own money to send their children to Jewish schools, attend synagogue, and hold communal events safely.

Twenty-two years ago, OU Advocacy saw this growing need. We worked with Congress to create a new federal grant that would help nonprofit institutions pay to harden their physical security. Thus, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) was born.

Today, NSGP is an essential part of Jewish life. There’s a good chance your shul or children’s day school has received federal funds to erect physical barriers, purchase security cameras, pay for training, upgrade to bulletproof windows, and other enhancements.

NSGP has been a lifesaver – literally – for the Jewish community, but it remains woefully underfunded. In 2024, FEMA received 7,584 grant applications for NSGP, over 2,300 more than the previous year. But only 43% of applicants received NSGP funds, out of nearly $1 billion in requests.

That’s hardly sufficient, with the threat of violence increasing at houses of worship across the country at alarming rates. There has been an increase in hoax bomb and active shooter threats against houses of worship to interrupt services and intimidate worshippers. There has also been an increase in antisemitic incidents across the country following the October 7 attack in Israel.

In 2025, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Audit of Antisemitic Incidents recorded nearly 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States, an over 893% increase over the past decade and the highest number recorded in a single year since ADL started tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

That’s why we have urged Congress and the Trump Administration to increase NSGP funding to $500 million for fiscal year 2026 and to pass that funding immediately.

For more than a month, the money needed to keep Jewish communities – and other faith communities – safe has been held hostage by a political showdown over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill.

If the Temple Israel shooting isn’t a wake-up call to Congress to get its act together, I don’t know what is. We need Republicans and Democrats in Congress – together with those in the Trump Administration who have boldly spoken out against antisemitism – to come together and deliver security and safety to American Jewish communities. Or to put it another way, deliver the most basic thing citizens expect from their government.

As we demand that Congress do its job, we must also do ours. People often ask me what they can do to make a difference. They can use the power of their voice to contact their senators and representatives and urge them to support a fully funded NSGP. Send an email, make a phone call, or show up in person as part of an organized advocacy mission to DC.

No disrespect to Theodore Roosevelt, but quiet voices and big sticks are not needed in today’s Washington. Speak loudly and speak often, and Washington will be forced to listen.