Synagogue receives grant for security upgrades
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents were up 34% in 2021, which represents the highest number of incidents since the league began tracking them in 1979.
Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer, spiritual leader at Congregation B’nai Abraham in Butler, takes rising antisemitism seriously and is working to keep her flock as safe as possible.
Gray-Schaffer applied for a grant through the state Nonprofit Security Grant program signed by Gov. Tom Wolf one year after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that claimed the lives of 11 worshippers.
Wolf on Thursday announced the churches, synagogues and nonprofit centers across the state will share $3.9 million in grant funds.
“While it’s a shame this has been necessary, I’m proud to have secured nearly $20 million over the past three years to protect Pennsylvania’s diverse and vulnerable communities from hate-driven violence,” Wolf said. “I look forward to a day when the goodness of humanity prevails.”
Congregation B’nai Abraham, the only organization in Butler County to receive a grant, will be reimbursed for up to $25,000 in security features added at the synagogue.
Gray-Schaffer said the grant is the second the synagogue has received since the grant program was created in 2019.
In the last grant, interior and exterior cameras and an intercom system were installed at Congregation B’nai Abraham.
In this grant, several doors that are not up to security standards will be replaced with either security doors or walls.
The work will be completed, then Gray-Schaffer will submit invoices to be reimbursed with the grant money.
She said she is alerted every week with reports of antisemitic incidents across the country.
“You would not believe some of them,” Gray-Schaffer said. “Recently, there was a threat against all Pittsburgh-area synagogues.”
Since the Tree of Life Shooting in 2018, a security guard has been present outside all services and events at B’nai Abraham, Gray-Schaffer said.
In addition, state police from Troop D in Butler, Butler city police and county sheriff’s deputies have toured the building and provided active shooter training.
“They all have the architectural plans of our building in case of an emergency,” Gray-Schaffer said.
“When I first came to Butler, I thought ‘This is just like my rural home in upstate New York,’” the longtime cantor said. “It’s not like that anymore. Sadly, we are getting used to it.”
She did not know when construction will start on the new security features, as there are several more steps in the grant process that are required by the state.
