#ruth graham

[mometal]

Temptation and testing (or a trial) are two sides of the same coin. Satan uses an occasion or a person to tempt us to fall; God uses the same to try us and make us stronger.

Ruth Graham

[mometal]

“Temptation and testing (or a trial) are two sides of the same coin. Satan uses an occasion or a person to tempt us to fall; God uses the same to try us and make us stronger.”

[a-ginlynn]

Love without clinging, cry if you must, but privately cry, the heart will adjust.

[a-ginlynn]

we need a тoυgн нιde вυт a тender нearт

[quotesfrommyreading]

At Park East Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Benny Rogosnitzky, a cantor, said that leaders are “always on high alert.” Still, after Saturday’s hostage taking spurred deeper anxieties among congregants, the synagogue plans to post additional security guards at entrances and closely monitor foot traffic.

“You think to yourself that if this goes to Texas, in a tiny community with so few people attending services, it really can happen anywhere,” Cantor Rogosnitzky said, adding that finding a balance between safety and neighborliness has become a significant challenge.

“It’s a very, very sensitive line that we have to walk,” he said. “You want the house of God to be a place that’s open to people. If you walk past our building and to get into the synagogue, and you see two or three armed security guards, that doesn’t give you a feeling of closeness or intimacy with God.”

  —  The Hostages Escaped. But Synagogues Ask, How Can They Be More Secure?

[quotesfrommyreading]

Acts of sudden violence have become a grim part of American life. In cities and small towns, churches, schools and concert venues have become the settings for terrifying scenes of mayhem.

Synagogues have been even more acutely aware of threats since 2018, when an assailant armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and multiple handguns entered the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on a Saturday morning. The man, who was shouting antisemitic slurs, killed 11 people.

“The Jewish community security world is looked at as pre-Tree of Life and post-Tree of Life,” said Stuart Frisch, a national training and exercise adviser at the Secure Community Network.

In August, Mr. Frisch provided an hourslong training session to Rabbi Cytron-Walker and several dozen congregants in the sanctuary at Congregation Beth Israel.

Jonathan Greenblatt, who leads the Anti-Defamation League, said that Jewish congregants and synagogue leaders are more actively participating. “They’ve all done active shooter drills,” he said. “They’ve all learned how to handle a hostage situation. They’ve all learned how to cope with terrorism.”

Rabbi Cytron-Walker compared the courses he took to C.P.R. training, noting that it is rarely needed, but crucial when the moment arises.

“This kind of instruction is necessary for all of us as a society,” he said. “Whether it’s synagogues or grocery stores or mosques or shopping malls, it can happen.”

 —  The Hostages Escaped. But Synagogues Ask, How Can They Be More Secure?

[quotesfrommyreading]

More American synagogues seemed to be embracing security measures like the ones in Europe, said Mr. Greenblatt, who leads the Anti-Defamation League.

“In Europe, Jews have learned to live — from Istanbul to Madrid, to London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen — with very intense security precautions,” he said. “And what I would suggest to you is that a number of leaders in our community are concerned that that is now here.”

Over the weekend, the Jewish Federations of North America announced that it was speeding up the launch of a $54 million program to drastically expand its security initiatives. The Secure Community Network is a partner in the effort.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, took classes on security and situational awareness through the Jewish Federation shortly before the shooting there.

“I’m alive today because I had that kind of training,” he reflected on Monday. “The sense of sanctuary that houses of worship in America used to be able to provide has disappeared.”

  —  The Hostages Escaped. But Synagogues Ask, How Can They Be More Secure?

[kjlamon]

A Thousand Goodbyes by Ruth Graham

A Thousand Goodbyes by Ruth Graham

Welcome back to Lamon Reviews. Today we have a memoir by author Ruth Graham recounting her work as a ‘Funeral Celebrant’. That title alone has so many questions flying around my brain. How did she get started down this career path? What is the strangest funeral request she has gotten? What is involved in the job? Did any one funeral really break her heart? (All Funerals tend to be sad, but was…

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