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The feeling of fear and the need for increased security are felt far beyond the United States.
The Sri Lankan government has said that bombings of churches could have been a response to mosque fire in New Zealand. And in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, Shabbat services in synagogues across the country were canceled on the advice of the police. While New Zealand police no longer provide armed guards 24 hours a day in mosques, as they did immediately after the shooting, the attacked mosques still benefit from protection.
Barry Werber, who survived the shooting of Tree of Life, said he had a hard time believing that a service would meet without security. As sad as it may seem, meeting people without armed security is now simply myopic, he said.
"I had family in the concentration camps; they came to escape that, "said Werber, 77, whose parents immigrated from Poland to the United States. "Now he looks up again."
Since the October attack, two of the congregations gathered at Tree of Life have gathered in chapels of a nearby synagogue – and armed security guards now greet the people at the gates.
"How do you not provide that?" Asked Aaron Bisno, the rabbi of the host synagogue. This enhanced security protocol has a high price. Two security guards for 13 hours cost more than $ 1,000 a day, said Rabbi Bisno, a cost prohibitive for many congregations, especially the smaller ones. This is particularly demanding nowadays, as members of churches and synagogues in the country shrink in number and resources.
Since the Pittsburgh attack in October, the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York has conducted more than 200 synagogues security assessments and has received requests for additional synagogues since Saturday.
Dozens of synagogues in the city now employ armed security guards, while others, who can not afford to engage armed security services, have plans to block the attackers blocking the security forces. doors to enter the synagogue and evacuation strategies in case of active shooter, according to David Pollock, director of political and security public at the council.
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