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A Message from Our Rabbi and

President of the Board of Trustees


Regarding Safety and Security in Our Spiritual Home …

 

To Our Temple Emanuel Family …


As you know, this past Shabbat, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants were taken hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. We are all so thankful that all hostages escaped safely, and are thankful for the assistance of law enforcement and their handling of this difficult situation.


Temple Emanuel’s Response to the Current Situation


This past weekend, Jennifer LeGrand communicated with our local Jewish community’s security advisor, who has been in touch with the Secure Community Network as well as our local law enforcement officials. Rabbi Olshein has also been in touch with the Tempe Police Department and has now been invited to become part of the Tempe Police Chief’s 13-member Community Advisory Group. 


While there are no current credible threats to our local Jewish community, we are always working hard to stay vigilant, prepared, and current with our security protocols, as the safety of our community is always our highest priority. 


While we know that synagogues should not become fortresses if we are to live the Jewish values of extending hospitality, we must balance this with the Jewish value of doing all we can to save lives. Temple Emanuel’s policy is to have armed security at every worship service and all Religious School sessions, as well as special events, held on our campus. 


For ongoing education purposes, this fall, we had two security trainings for our Religious School Teachers (one included our Madrichim / Teaching Assistants) and one security training for our Staff. We will continue to review and evaluate our security protocols in the coming weeks and months and are already planning additional training sessions for our community.


Further, as we hope you already know, we received a grant from the Department of Homeland Security this winter, and are currently working to hire contractors to increase the height of our back wall, replace the security bollards in front of our building, and upgrade our security camera/alarm system. We will complete these projects as soon as possible.

 

New Covid Protocols at Temple Emanuel


Another aspect of keeping our community safe is our protocol related to Covid-19. Our Research Committee has made the decision that fabric masks are no longer sufficient to ensure our safety in our spiritual home. Therefore, effective immediately, we will require a minimum of a surgical mask, correctly worn over the nose and mouth, whenever anyone visits our facility. (Of course, you are welcome to wear your fabric mask OVER a surgical mask whenever you visit.) We have both children’s and adult sizes available for anyone who needs one when on our property.


Please note: Because of the difficulty of social distancing children while learning, we now require all children and teachers at Religious School to wear N95, KN95, or KF94 masks. 


Our Covid Research Committee will continue to meet regularly (including next week) and we will continue to update you as new developments occur. We appreciate your flexibility in these ever-changing times as we work together to keep our community as safe as possible.


Let us support each other during these difficult, uncertain times – and may we all pray for, and act to create, as the prophet Micah says, that day when we can all find our place under our vine and fig tree and none of us shall be afraid.



With prayers for peace and healing for all,


Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein

Jennifer LeGrand, President