For most of us, the war in Israel is a dull ache, a reminder whenever one happens to glance at the news that after all these years hatred is still thriving in the Middle East.
But here, at the Kol Ami Synagogue in the Salt Lake foothills, it’s more than that, much more. As sundown approaches on a recent Friday afternoon, signaling the start of the Jewish Sabbath, a police car, manned by an off-duty cop, is parked at the entrance, its blue and red lights flashing — the standard greeting now for congregants as they arrive for evening services. They pass through recently upgraded motion-detecting floodlights and then wait to be buzzed in at the front door.
Security is always an expense at the synagogue, as it is at virtually all Jewish places of worship, but Rabbi Samuel Spector says since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Kol Ami has been compelled to spend thousands more on safety measures.
The answer to ending the madness, to seeing the police car turn off its lights and drive away?