That “Call to Action” for Greater Protection? Wrong Number.

This site shared a Featured Post on February 27 which appeared again as a Top Op on March 2 expressing the urgent need for increased funding to keep our Jewish community safe (‘Close call’ vs. ‘call to action’: A US Jewish threat detection system is urgent). Let’s agree that there are people who want to kill us. The threat is obviously real. There is not a Jewish institution of any size or type that does not require vigilant around-the clock-protection. I am deeply appreciative of the heroic and smart work done by any and all of several self-defense organizations.  I am certain that for every intervention we hear about that keeps us safe, there are others that we will never know about.  Thank you for staying on top of all of that.

The author of the blog, having stated the case which is so apparent to all of us, went onto call for greater financial investment in regional intelligence analysts to support the work of organizations like his. This is not uncommon in the Blogosphere. People often make a case for an issue and then position themselves as the place that can fix it. I used to do that, too. But this is different.

The author’s appeal for increased funding seems to be a common-sense suggestion that Jewish philanthropists, organizations, and Federations should foot the bill. This is the dangerous flaw in his presentation and a critical mistake that perpetuates the way we all have been absurdly conditioned to think about how we address this persistent threat.

The raison d’être of government is protecting its citizens. On the national, state, and local levels, every constitution and charter contains pronouncements and provisions undertaking the responsibility to protect their own citizens, to provide for domestic tranquility, to safeguard life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The impassioned case for increased funding is aimed right back at the Jewish community itself and that is exactly the wrong direction. It would be irresponsible for Jewish leadership not to seek communal protection.  It does not follow that it is the Jewish community itself that should pay for it.

I’m not naïve and I understand that right now this is something we must do because no one else is. I also do not diminish the seriousness of the need.  But this funding strategy is self-defeating and unsustainable. I’ve seen the way security budgets have skyrocketed, of necessity. But it is this super-charged expense that is creating instability within these Jewish organizations themselves.  Some of the very Federations that the author thinks should step up are heaving under the ever-increasing weight of this responsibility that in the end is not theirs to bear. This unreasonable burden is diverting funds from other communal needs and is stunting our own growth.

This is not, like so many other societal interventions, a case for a public-private partnership.  It’s far more consequential than restoring a landmark building or maintaining a park.  This is literally life and death.  The responsibilities are too great, the cost is too steep, and the risks are too terrible.  And, this most of all – it is not our job.  I shovel my walk when is snows.  I do not plow the street.  I have patrolled the perimeter of my shul on frigid Shabbat mornings. I have stood outside on Yom Kippur with a radio in my ear instead of being inside with a siddur in my hands to say Yizkor for my father.  We will do our part, but it should not be at our ever-increasing cost to have a credible police presence on the scene, to have intelligence services sharing real-time data, doing their job, the very purpose of government.

The North American Federation system has been persistent, bold, and somewhat successful in lobbying for increased security funding from governments at all levels. These funds flow to schools, shuls, and Jewish agencies to bolster their ability to protect themselves. This kind of advocacy is the right thing to do, and ever-increasing pressure needs to be placed upon government for ever-greater support at all levels to step up and fund broader protective services.

I realize, too, that the way governments fund things is through taxes, and that increased pressure to produce increased funding to provide increased security may result in higher taxes.  Well, good!  Taxes are paid by all to provide services to all.  It is a violation of the social compact to carve out the security needs of town residents who face bodily harm as a budget item that is funded only by those who are threatened, and not by everyone else in town.  As it stands now, we are taxed not as municipal citizens, but as members/participants of any number of Jewish organizations who are tapping us for the money they need to pay for increased security.  It is time, and it is right to share that responsibility with everyone. Not just with other Jews.

It is safe to emerge from the bunker mentality that we are alone in fighting the bad guys.  We are not living in a ghetto where the people with uniforms are the enemy. Police departments and intelligence services want to help us, but they need more money.  The answer is not to plead for more Federation funds.  Governments fund these things, not Federations. Federations stepped up to fill the breach in the initial phase of an emergency situation.  The need is now confirmed and constant, no one doubts that.  It is time to hand off the job of keeping us safe to the governments that were created to do precisely that.  We will pay for these services with our taxes, along with all of our fellow citizens.

I realize that moving the dial radically upward in consistent public funding for public safety takes time, and right now we carry an unfair share of the burden because we cannot afford to sit back and wait.  That may be the way it is, but it is not the way it is supposed to be.  And it never will be the way it is supposed to be until we stop beating up on ourselves and our Federations and turn our demands towards our elected representatives.  And tell them to do their jobs.