As Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Wednesday, synagogues across the country are enhancing safety measures to protect worshippers.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the latest rise in antisemitic incidents historic. There were 9,354 reported acts of antisemitism in the U.S. in 2024 alone. That’s a 5% increase from the year before and the highest number the ADL has recorded since it began tracking incidents in 1979.
“We have to make sure that everybody who comes into our synagogue is safe,” said Rabbi Rachael Jackson of the Congregation of Reform Judaism in Orlando, Florida. “And that means metal detectors; it means extra security guards; it means the sheriff department driving their cars around whenever we’re here; it means cameras.”
And it’s not just Jewish communities reporting concerns.
The Family Research Council says churches have also been experiencing hostility. Between January 2018 through December 2024, the group tracked 1,384 incidents against U.S. churches, which they report is an 800% increase over that time period.
In the face of these trends, religious leaders are urging unity, resilience and vigilance.
“I believe that people should be able to commune with one another, with God, with whatever they want to do without fear,” Jackson said. “And we’re not experiencing that right now. There’s a lot of fear when someone says: ‘I’m going to go to church. I’m going to go to synagogue. I’m going to go to mosque.’ And that comes with this baggage of ‘what if?’ And ‘what if?’ is a very heavy frame.”
