Two Arizona Chabad Houses Recieve Security Grants

Two Valley Jewish organizations have received grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase security in their respective facilities, as part of the department’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

Chabad of Arizona, located in Phoenix, and Chabad of the East Valley, located in Chandler, have each been given $71,250 by DHS. Both nonprofits applied independently of each other.

North Mountain Hospital of the John C. Lincoln Health Network also received a similar grant. The three were the only organizations in Arizona to apply for and receive funds under the auspices of the program, which this year provided approximately $19 million in security funding to more than 250 organizations nationwide.

About $15 million of the $19 million was given to Jewish nonprofits considered vulnerable to attack, according to an Aug. 23 JTA report. Of the 995 grants provided by the program from 2007 to 2010, Jewish organizations received 734, or nearly 75 percent (“Jewish groups get most DHS grants,” Jewish News, Sept. 16).

Rabbi Levi Levertov of Chabad of Arizona said his organization will have a security assessment next week to figure out exactly how to apply the funding, but that it will be “more for (securing) the perimeter and making sure whatever needs to stay out of the building stays away.”

“It’s always important to have good security,” he said. “As Jews, we are targeted. It doesn’t make a difference if we have a personal story with our organization or a satellite branch in India,” referring to the 2008 terrorist attack on a Chabad house in Mumbai.

Chabad of Arizona’s grant application noted the tragedy in Mumbai, as well as a 2009 incident in a Chabad school in Chicago and an a 2011 attack on a Chabad house in Santa Monica, Calif.

Rabbi Mendy Deitsch of Chabad of the East Valley said his nonprofit will use the money on measures such as reinforced windows and doors, additional lighting and security cameras. He said that the decision to apply for DHS funds was not based on any particular event that occurred in the Valley, but stressed the need to be proactive.

“It has to be done in a smart way, too,” he said. “You don’t want to put fear in anybody coming into the building and make them think they’re a target of any anti-Semitic or terrorist plots. At the same time, you want to make sure they’re comfortable to come and they feel safe and secure.

”I’m very happy that the U.S. government is doing this for Jewish institutions, or any institutions, really. There is evil in the world. We have to face it, deal with it and not be afraid of it, and (at the same time) continue to grow and expand and be proud of who we are and what we do.”