Community Security Services coming to WJC

When you come to WJC this Shabbat morning, September 6, 2025, you will notice new Community Security Service (CSS) volunteers welcoming you as you approach the building and the main entrance.  These trained congregational volunteers will help screen visitors and ensure everyone’s safety during WJC’s first soft-launch of this exciting security program for our community.

What is CSS?

CSS is a national organization dedicated to protecting Jewish life and the Jewish way of life. The organization supports volunteers in affiliated synagogues with initial and on-going training and logistical support. CSS also coordinates with other Jewish security organizations to collect and share information to keep all its members up to date. You can learn more at www.thecss.org.

What Does CSS Do?

Training through CSS covers situational awareness, emergency protocols, and de-escalation techniques — skills that extend well beyond synagogue life. Many volunteers say that serving in CSS has made them more attuned to their surroundings in daily life, and more confident in responding to unexpected situations.

As our program grows, we hope we can have weekly volunteers stationed outside, keeping a welcoming yet watchful eye on arrivals and passers by, while others are stationed inside, keeping in touch with their teammates to be able to respond in case of an incident.

CSS members will partner with our paid security guards and will coordinate with local law enforcement and other CSS teams in Westchester, as needed.  This proactive approach of keeping a watchful eye in the moment and sharing information is designed to deter anyone interested in harming us and to prevent an incident from ever happening.

Why Does It Matter?

Sadly, antisemitic incidents have been increasing both nationally and locally. WJC has chosen to not retreat in fear and to stand together in community preparedness. CSS reflects our community’s commitment to the Talmudic teaching, Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh — all of Israel is responsible for one another.

Want to get involved?

Interested in learning more? There are no special physical requirements or past experience needed to become a CSS volunteer. Anyone over 18 who is willing to invest a few hours in training and volunteer to serve on Shabbat or Yom Tov will find a meaningful role on the team that contributes to our collective security. Our team members are both women and men, younger and older, and at all levels of physical fitness.

Each person who joins the team brings WJC closer to a full weekly staffing schedule. Our CSS team is rapidly growing, welcoming new volunteers into a shared mission of protecting the space we hold sacred — the place where our children learn, where we celebrate milestones, and where we comfort one another in difficult times.

If you’d like to learn more about the program — its training, its people, and how it supports our mission — reach out to Oraan Zorbaron (ozorbaron@gmail.com) or Mark Berger (mrkdbrgr@gmail.com).

Whether or not you choose to join, we invite you to take a moment this coming Shabbat to thank the volunteers who are watching over our congregation.