Contact: Stephen Steiner May 21, 2009
Director of Public Relations
212.613.8318; steiners@ou.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IN WAKE OF FOILED SYNAGOGUE ATTACK, OU PLEDGES CONTINUED EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF PROTECTING SHULS AND OTHER JEWISH INSTITUTIONS
Following the capture of four suspected terrorists planning to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of New York, including Orthodox Union member congregation Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC), the OU pledged today to continue its work to protect synagogues and other Jewish institutions.
A member of the OU’s Synagogue Services department, Laya Pelzner, was dispatched to RJC early Thursday morning and helped the synagogue’s staff handle the press calls and media response. On Friday morning, the OU will co-sponsor a meeting at RJC of faith and community leaders who will come together to condemn the attempted bombing. And later that day, OU member synagogue rabbis, presidents and executive directors will take part in a conference call which will feature an insider’s look at the situation, pertinent security information including details about Homeland Security Grants, and, schedule permitting, a representative from the NYPD.
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt and Executive Director David Winter of RJC will be featured in the conference call.
In a letter to Rabbi Rosenblatt and Rabbi Judith S. Lewis of its neighbor, Riverdale Temple, OU President Stephen J. Savitsky and Executive Vice President Rabbi Steven Weil declared, “All Jewish institutions must be on guard against such hatred and such murderous activities. The OU will continue to work diligently to seek ways of improving security at Jewish houses of worship, schools and other communal organizations, and will continue our efforts to secure Jewish lives and Jewish institutions.”
In the letter, the two OU leaders expressed “our deepest feelings of pride in the work of the FBI, NYPD and New York State Police, which have so magnificently monitored the suspects and prevented them from carrying out their nefarious plans.”
They told the rabbis, “It is with gratitude to God that we express our solidarity with 1
the Riverdale Jewish Center and to its neighbor, the Riverdale Temple, in this time of potential tragedy, that you have received deliverance and that this disaster has been averted.”
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