TABLET MAG
Armed Guards Aren’t the Answer
Liel Leibovitz
April 28, 2026

On a recent Sunday in New York City, my family and I went on a walk that turned from a nice neighborhood stroll into a survey of our current state of institutional security. First, we passed a synagogue with three armed guards outside; they had earpieces firmly in place and looked furtively around. Another shul had two armed guards, a set of locked doors, and more security cameras than your average bank vault. The Jewish community center had concrete bollards on the sidewalk—the sort you’d find in front of the American embassy in a European country—and a metal detector greeting you as soon as you walked in the door. According to recently available data, a typical Jewish organization spends about 14% of its overall budget on security, with the total communal expenditure now reaching $765 million—every year…What I want to propose here, without everyone losing their minds, is that our approach to communal security is creating more vulnerability—of all kinds. READ MORE