Five Chabad-Lubavitch centers in Maryland received just shy of $350,000 in federal Homeland Security grants over the past two years.
Chabad Synagogues in Maryland Net $350,000 in Security Dollars
Five Chabad-Lubavitch centers in Maryland received just shy of $350,000 in federal Homeland Security grants over the past two years.
According to Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, co-director with wife Rochel of the Baltimore-based Chabad Center and Lubavitch of Maryland, the disbursements funded security upgrades at the institutions, covering everything from the installation of intercoms and security cameras to coating glass windows to make them resistant to shattering. He said that in Baltimore, they even installed a wall to prevent cars from crashing into the building.
“We were informed by the local Jewish Federation’s government relations council that there were grants available,” said the rabbi. “Then we applied and got a professional security assessment.”
The Department of Homeland Security, whose Urban Security Initiative’s Non-Profit Security Grant Program administers the allocations, announced late last month that 308 separate establishments nationwide received grants amounting to at most $100,000. William Daroff, vice president for public policy and Washington, D.C., director of United Jewish Communities, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that 251 of the groups came from the Jewish community.
