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PARK CITY — As pro-Palestinian demonstrations rocked the University of Utah campus in late April, some in the state's Jewish community — already uneasy as incidents of antisemitism across the country have spiked — started feeling even more apprehension.
"We felt uncomfortable," said Alex Shapiro, executive director at the Salt Lake City-based United Jewish Federation of Utah.
Even if the focus of protesters was to stand up for Palestinians, the raucous demonstrations hit close to home for many Jewish people as the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza. Leaders at synagogues around Utah and beyond had already been beefing up security as hostilities and antisemitic incidents intensified, and on Thursday, Utah Jewish leaders and others gathered in Park City for a panel discussion on the tense situation. The aim is to shore up morale among Jewish people and encourage community members to be vigilant, get training and be ready in the event they face violence.
"Tonight's really about hope and looking forward and the importance of preparedness and resilience," Shapiro said. The gathering featured a screening of "A Tree of Life," a documentary about the deadly Oct. 27, 2018, attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 people dead and the community's efforts to move forward in its aftermath.
Stephen Weiss, who survived the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue, was among the participants in Thursday's discussion. He had received training before the 2018 incident from the Secure Community Network, recently contracted to assist the Utah Jewish community with security, and it made the difference.
He had started to duck behind a pew as the gunman attacked, then, remembering the training, Weiss fled the scene. The Secure Community Network training, at a basic level, advises those facing violent situations to run, hide, though not in plain sight, or fight back. The entity will offer a training session on Friday.
"The training saved my life," Weiss said. "Out of the 12 of us that were in that room when the shooting started, the seven that were killed and the one that was wounded stayed in that room. The four of us that survived all got out of that room."
Indeed, Shapiro stressed the importance of guarding against hate and violence and being vigilant. Antisemitic incidents have spiked across the country since the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the spark to the Israel-Hamas war, and Utah hasn't been immune to the trend.
"We've had graffiti. We've had online social media threats. We take every single one of them seriously," said Shapiro, noting that armed security has become more and more common at synagogues and other entities serving the Jewish community. "Our work has been difficult. Almost every day, there's something we need to respond to."
Brad Orsini, a Secure Community Network adviser who addressed Thursday's gathering, also stressed the importance of vigilance. "You've got to be aware. You've got to report everything. You've got to train, and you've got to be prepared," he said.
The United Jewish Federation will pay Secure Community Network around $250,000 to help provide security to synagogues and other Jewish entities in Utah in response to the recent rise in antisemitism. That money — on top of funds individual synagogues in Utah are spending for security — could otherwise be spent on social services, Shapiro said, but given the circumstances, the expense is necessary. Utah's Jewish community numbers around 15,000.
Antisemitism has "been on an upward trajectory since 2017, and it has not slowed down. Since Oct. 7, it has spiraled out of control," Orsini said. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, said in a report last month that antisemitic incidents in the United States jumped 140% from 2022, most of the rise stemming from incidents after Oct. 7.
Weiss said synagogues aren't alone in being potential targets. Violence can happen in churches, mosques, grocery stores and other places, underscoring the importance of anyone and everyone being ready to react. "It's just, in general, we need to know that we can have positive outcomes when these bad things happen if we know what's happening and know what to do about it," he said.
