Lock-Down Drill

We were at home in New York this past weekend and spent Shabbat morning at our regular synagogue, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. This week the synagogue’s Community Security Service had scheduled a “lock-down drill” which was described in detail in the weekly bulletin. While this information is available to anyone looking for it, I am not going to post the details here lest I make it easier for someone who might use it for less than honorable reasons.

Before the drill, we had been instructed on where to go and wait for an “all clear” announcement, and the process proceeded smoothly. When we returned to the sanctuary, my eyes happened to meet those of a woman who had been sitting across from me and had also returned to her seat. She looked somewhat familiar although I did not know her name. But I noticed immediately that her eyes, like mine at that point, were moist and red, and we chatted quietly about just how upsetting this experience had been, highlighting, as it does, the very real possibility that something so horrendous could take place in our beloved synagogue. I am well aware of the incidents that have occurred in places of worship over the past few years, but our brains have a clever way of convincing us that it will never happen wherever we or our loved ones happen to be. This drove the reality home in a very powerful way.

Let us all hope and pray that we never need to implement all the plans we have put in place.

Love,

Rebecca