JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jewish communities across the country are observing Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar. But alongside prayer and reflection, safety is also top of mind.<\/p>\n
The heightened concern comes on the heels of two recent tragedies \u2014 a mass shooting at a Mormon church<\/b><\/a> in Michigan over the weekend, and the deadly attack at a Catholic church<\/b><\/a> in Minnesota just a month ago.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n At the Jewish Community Alliance<\/b><\/a> in Jacksonville, worshippers must show ID or swipe a badge just to get through the front doors. <\/p>\n Inside, a retired FBI agent, now with the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Northeast Florida, is working with congregations to navigate difficult questions: who can carry a firearm during worship \u2014 and who cannot.<\/p>\n Alex Silverstein, a nearly 30-year FBI veteran, serves as Community Security Director for the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Northeast Florida, and the Secure Community Network, which manages security for Jewish institutions across the U.S. and parts of Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cSecure Community Network is the safety and security agency for the Jewish Federations of America,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cSo we oversee security for the Jewish community for the U.S. and parts of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida law permits both concealed and open carry, but synagogues and Jewish facilities \u2014 as private property \u2014 can set their own rules.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cIn the state of Florida, both concealed carry and open carry of firearms is a protected right,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cIt\u2019s a right that can be limited on private property. Almost all synagogues, Chabads, Jewish facilities are private properties.\u201d<\/p>\n Silverstein said the goal isn\u2019t to ban firearms, but to ensure they\u2019re handled responsibly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t advocate banning firearms in synagogues. Not at all,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we do advocate is thoughtfulness, with an emphasis on training and responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n That means safety strategies go beyond simply having armed congregants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe person with a gun solves the person with a gun problem,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cWe start with congregational training. We want to increase situational awareness so that we add more eyes and ears to help keep the synagogue safe.\u201d<\/p>\n As Northeast Florida\u2019s Jewish families gather for Yom Kippur services, leaders say vigilance, training, and preparedness are as much a part of their safety plan as prayer itself.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jewish communities across the country are observing Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8573,13978,6561,392,11412,3188,723,140466,140467,140442,11090,22026,42416,99,7310,140443,31034,140444,31033,140445,140446,140447,140448,140449,90692,23529,365,80461,140450,140451,140468,130371,66407,140452,140453,83653,140454,140455,140456,32928,74564,72704,31402,140457,140458,140459,140460,140461,140462,140463,140464,125086,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,140465],"class_list":{"0":"post-270193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-belief","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-celebration","12":"tag-culture","13":"tag-faith","14":"tag-fl","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-hashana","17":"tag-hashanah","18":"tag-hebrew","19":"tag-holiday","20":"tag-holy","21":"tag-horn","22":"tag-israel","23":"tag-jacksonville","24":"tag-jew","25":"tag-jewish","26":"tag-judaic","27":"tag-judaism","28":"tag-kippur","29":"tag-mitzvah","30":"tag-orthodox","31":"tag-parchment","32":"tag-pray","33":"tag-prayer","34":"tag-rabbi","35":"tag-religion","36":"tag-religious","37":"tag-repentance","38":"tag-ritual","39":"tag-rosh","40":"tag-rosh-hashana","41":"tag-sabbath","42":"tag-sacred","43":"tag-sephardic","44":"tag-shabbat","45":"tag-shawl","46":"tag-shofar","47":"tag-siddur","48":"tag-spiritual","49":"tag-spirituality","50":"tag-symbol","51":"tag-synagogue","52":"tag-talis","53":"tag-talit","54":"tag-tallit","55":"tag-tefillin","56":"tag-tishrei","57":"tag-torah","58":"tag-tova","59":"tag-tovah","60":"tag-traditional","61":"tag-united-states","62":"tag-united-states-of-america","63":"tag-unitedstates","64":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","65":"tag-us","66":"tag-usa","67":"tag-yom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}