When Rabbi Geri Newburge started at Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim, she could just walk through the front door to get to work. It was always open at the Wynnewood synagogue.
That was only 12 years ago. For rabbis and synagogue leaders like Newburge, it feels like more than that.
“That changed within a year, year and a half, of my being here, when the front doors were locked, and you had to be buzzed in,” she said.
On March 13, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, part of the Shapiro-Davis administration, announced the recipients of this year’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program. More than 30 Jewish Philadelphia organizations in the five-county area were awarded grants between $15,000 and $150,000, according to pa.gov. More than 20 of those were synagogues.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program distributes security grants to nonprofit organizations — including synagogues, churches, mosques and others — across the state to help with security needs. Pennsylvania launched the program in the wake of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018, with a pool of $5 million. The administration of Jewish Gov. Josh Shapiro expanded it to $10 million in 2024.
Since Tree of Life, there has also been Oct. 7, 2023. And since 2015, there has been a steady increase in antisemitic incidents throughout the state and nation, as tracked by the Anti-Defamation League. In 2025 alone, there was the arson at the governor’s mansion in Pennsylvania targeting Shapiro, the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in Washington, D.C., and the Run For Their Lives attack in Boulder, Colorado.
Earlier this month, a man rammed a truck into a synagogue, Temple Israel, in the suburbs of Detroit. He then opened fire, though no one was seriously injured or killed.
Synagogue and community leaders thanked their security setup, personnel and training for that. They had been building it all for years in preparation for an attack like this, they said.
Local Jewish leaders told a similar story when explaining why they applied for security grants.
“People used to pay dues for the rabbi, the administration, the building, to take care of Torahs,” said Jerel Wohl, the president of Temple Judea of Bucks County. “Now we have these extra costs for security, and it makes it hard.”
Main Line Reform Temple only needed its state grant this year, of $25,000, to “request additional cameras and upgrade some of the system that we have,” said Lynne Balaban, the synagogue’s executive director.
“Which is what we do on a regular basis,” she added.
MLRT installed security cameras around the time that it locked its doors in 2015, according to Balaban. Since then, federal grants have helped the synagogue add more cameras, bollards and shatterproof front doors.
“We always have to be on top of it,” Balaban said.
Mark Snow, the immediate past president of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Phoenixville, said his synagogue’s security emphasis started in 2020, as members returned from COVID lockdowns.
That year, B’nai Jacob hired a security officer and began applying for grants. A past security grant allowed the synagogue to implement “a full alarm system that is always on when no one’s in the building,” Snow said. The Phoenixville shul also hires a private company for big events like High Holiday services.
B’nai Jacob’s 2026 grant, for $24,500, will help cover ongoing costs, according to Snow. The synagogue also has a security fund that members can contribute to when they have money available.
“It’s a combination of the fund and whatever we get from the grant,” Snow said.
Gratz College, the suburban Philadelphia school that offers advanced degrees in education, antisemitism studies and other disciplines, recently moved from Melrose Park to Bala Cynwyd. To open its new facility, Gratz needed to build a security system from scratch.
In 2024, the school received a grant that allowed it to build a security desk in the atrium of its main building. Behind the desk, the officer on duty can control the ID badging system, the alert system and the panic button, according to Naomi Housman, Gratz’s director of institutional advancement. That grant also supported new security cameras, monitors, anti-ballistic window film and emergency-exit doors.
With its new state grant for $85,000, Gratz will try to add a public address system with speakers, walkie-talkies, a burglar alert system, bollards, a perimeter fence around the building, perimeter lighting, an intercom system with video, cybersecurity and security training for staff and volunteers, according to Housman.
Every institution that applied for a grant did so before the Detroit-area synagogue ramming.
“It really does reinforce it for us,” Housman said. “But unfortunately, we’re not shocked by the news.”