Jewish schools in Florida on alert after Pittsburgh shooting

Officials from Jewish schools in Florida said Monday they are remaining vigilant after a gunman killed 11 people Saturday at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Rabbi Chaim Friedman, director of development for Yeshiva Elementary School in Miami Beach, said he is always looking at ways to upgrade security at his school, which serves 500 students. (About half use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students). “We are worried about the future,” he said.

In recent years, Yeshiva has beefed up security and now has its own armed guard.

Even before the Pittsburgh shooting, security at Jewish schools in Florida has been a statewide concern. This past spring, the Florida Legislature approved $2 million in security funding for 46 Jewish day schools. Unfortunately for Yeshiva, that appropriation did not cover the hiring of security personnel. The Florida Board of Education has requested another $2 million for Jewish day schools for the 2019 session.

Chaim Botwinick, principal at Hebrew Academy Community School in Margate, said the impact of the shooting is felt in schools as well as synagogues. His school serves 320 students, with nearly half on the Tax Credit Scholarship.

“It saddens us that there is so much hatred in the world,” Botwinick said. “It is a wake-up call. We need to slowly step up our ability to start educating our society on the impact that racism has on our society.”

Like Friedman, Botwinick said his school is always making sure to have the best possible security in place to protect students and teachers. “We are always in search for new innovations and technology that will enhance our security program,” he said.

Ephraim Leizerson, dean at Beth Jacob High School in Miami, which serves 350 students, had one word to describe the shooting: “horrible.”

“We know people such as this shooter exist,” he said. “We know there are hate groups and people that have attitudes similar to the ones that were here 75 years ago that haven’t gone away.”

Leizerson remembers growing up in New York and witnessing people who threw rocks at Jews. Those who today have similar hatred toward Jews can instead turn to much deadlier weapons.

“We must be vigilant,” he said.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States grew by 57 percent in 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League. But Rabbi Moshe Matz, executive director of Agudath Israel of Florida, said he did not view the incident as a sign of dark times for the Jewish people.

“Hate always existed and will continue to exist,” he said. “We have to make sure we overcome that hate with a sense of common purpose and mission. We are allowing the heated nature of politics to boil over to our faith and our relations between each other.”