Chabad work targeted

NEW YORK

It must have been easy for the terrorists rampaging through Mumbai to find the Chabad Jewish Center, where they slaughtered six people. Signs in Hebrew and English are posted outside Chabad houses. The street address of each building can be found through the online global directory the movement developed to attract visitors. Worship and activity schedules at the centers are often just a few more clicks away.

But now the openness of the movement, always a strength, seems like a dangerous vulnerability. Chabad-Lubavitch leaders are struggling with how they can better protect their people without retreating from their mission to welcome and serve Jews worldwide.

“The challenge is it’s a very open organization, a very transparent organization and an organization that has a tremendous and very effective outreach project,” said Paul Goldenberg, national director of Secure Community Network, which oversees security for Jewish groups nationwide. “It’s very tough for them to secure themselves.”

Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, a spokesman for the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch, declined to discuss specifics of security for the 4,000 Chabad emissary families, or shlichim. The Web directory of Chabad locations in 73 countries remained posted after the Mumbai assault.

Sue Fishkoff, author of “The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch,” said that in her travels overseas to research her book security measures weren’t apparent at Chabad houses she visited, although she was aware that some safeguards were in place.

“I don’t see how Chabad centers would be able to increase security and still fulfill their mission of being open and welcoming to anyone who steps inside,” said Miss Fishkoff, who writes for JTA, the Jewish news service.

The Secure Community Network, which was formed by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and other groups, does not include Chabad. Mr. Goldenberg said he plans to meet with movement leaders next week.

For decades, security has been a major focus for Jewish organizations because of terror attacks in Israel and on Jews elsewhere.

The Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish civil rights group, distributes a security manual that runs for more than 130 pages, covering topics from armed intruders to bomb threats. As just one of their many precautions, the larger Jewish agencies don’t publish their street address on Web sites.

“Every terrorist starts with presurveillance and by gathering information on that target, and the place they start is the Internet,” Mr. Goldenberg said.

But Chabad-Lubavitch wants its locations to stand out as they try to inspire Jews to become observant.

On college campuses and in Chabad houses, couples who have dedicated their lives to the movement cook kosher dinners for Israeli backpackers and other Jewish travelers, teach rituals such as lighting Sabbath candles and lead classes on Judaism.

Like other staunchly traditional Jews, the men are easily identified by their long beards and black fedoras. Their wives cover their hair from public view and dress modestly, often in floor-length skirts. For religious and other reasons, they will not dress differently in public.

“I’m quite identifiable as a Jew and I’m happy and proud to walk around that way,” said Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, a Chabad emissary since 1992 in Bangkok . “We are who we are.”

Story Continues →