Jewish communities around the U.S. continue to confront unprecedented challenges in the face of antisemitism. Locally, the ADL reported an incredible 67% surge of antisemitic incidents in South Carolina in their most recent audit. According to Oren Segal, VP of ADL's Center on Extremism, "over 80% of antisemitic incidents that took place in 2021 were not perpetrated by extremists. This suggests a normalization of antisemitic incidents by 'average' people."
A secure Jewish tomorrow needs all of us today. And that means we need your support more than ever.
In October 2022 our community observed the 4 year anniversary of a fatal act of antisemitism when 11 members of our Jewish community were murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh. May their memory be for a blessing. Today, and every day, we remember and continue working to protect Jewish lives here in the greater Charleston area against acts of hate.
For 7 years, Charleston Jewish Federation worked steadfastly to create a security infrastructure on behalf of all of our local Jewish entities. In 2021, Charleston and Columbia's Jewish Federations came together to cement our relationship with Secure Community Network (SCN) and welcomed Jason Roebuck as our SCN Regional Security Advisor.
As one survivor of the Pittsburgh attack said, "I would have been the 12th casualty that day had I not had the training provided by SCN and our Community Security Initiative."