A week after the Perelman Jewish Day School’s Stern Center and the Kaiserman JCC were evacuated because of a bomb threat, numerous officials spoke at a community meeting to address concerns.
About 180 people met in the JCC Monday night and received numerous assurances about their safety and that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
“The JCC, our town square, is … safe and secure,” JCC CEO Amy Krulik said.
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, state Sen. Daylin Leach, Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Chair Valerie Arkoosh and representatives from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League and the Lower Merion Police Department all spoke at the hour-long meeting.
Jeremy Bannett, the ADL’s assistant regional director for Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware, said the national organization was tracking 122 bomb threats so far in 2017, including seven in the region. He noted that while the number of bomb threats is unprecedented, the total number of anti-Semitic incidents remains at historic lows.
Naomi Adler, CEO of Jewish Federation, gave an update on the damages at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Northeast Philadelphia, where about 150 gravestones were damaged by vandals. She said the cemetery mapping project is wrapping up, although repairing all the damage would take a while.
She said a rededication ceremony is tentatively being planned for May.
Contact: [email protected]; 215-832-0797
