After leading the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ for over a decade, Dov Ben-Shimon announced he was stepping down from the role in September. This month, he entered his new position as CEO of the Community Security Service, a national organization that trains and coordinates security volunteers for synagogues and other Jewish communal institutions.

The British-born Ben-Shimon joins the organization, which oversees thousands of volunteers across the United States, amid a marked rise in antisemitic activity across the United States and around the world, seen most recently with the killing of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates last week. 

As he enters the new role, Ben-Shimon spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy about what brought him to the new organization and where it sits in the broader Jewish communal effort to combat antisemitism.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

Judah Ari Gross: What attracted you to this field of security? This certainly overlaps with some of the work that you did as CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ but it is also, obviously, far more specific and focused.

Dov Ben-Shimon: It’s very much related to my experiences as the executive of a large Jewish community federation. I have been witness to a number of disturbing attacks on the Jewish community in my own home community in greater MetroWest, N.J., and nationally — since way before [the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018]. And since Oct. 7, my whole worldview has very much changed. I believe that I am representative of many people in positions of leadership and in the Jewish community as a whole, that the Jewish community has to take responsibility to a much higher and much more in-depth and strategic level for our own security and safety. I believe that our relationship with law enforcement on federal, local, state levels is vital and critical and important — and it is not enough. [In this day and age, the Jewish community needs] to heighten [its] sense of security awareness.

I do want to say that in the last 24 hours, CSS has been in touch with our friends in Chabad and delivered our love and our condolences to them [after the killing of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates last week]. And this awful terrorist act has been a reminder to us of the need for Jewish communities to maintain and elevate their security profile and protocols and to recommit to making sure that Jewish communities take responsibility for their safety and their security. 

JAG: There’s mounting criticism within the Jewish community about the alphabet soup of organizations out there working to combat antisemitism, that there’s too much overlap, not enough coordination and, ultimately, not enough getting accomplished. So why does there need to be a CSS? 

DBS: I am a pluralist. I believe that there is space for a number of Jewish organizations in the security realm. I do think that there is a delineation between most of the main Jewish organizations and I have learned that there is a very good level of collaboration, cooperation and coordination between the main groups that are focused on these issues. I do feel that really we need more organizational presence to keep the Jewish community secure. There are areas where we collaborate strongly with our friends at [the Anti-Defamation League], with our friends at [the Secure Communities Network], with our friends at the Jewish Federations of North America, with our friends at the Community Security Initiative [in New York] because Jewish life is kaleidoscopic and contains many layers of diversity and commitment and community structure. And CSS comes in at a unique value point where we are the largest national training and operational body to protect Jewish institutions and communities on the ground with thousands of volunteers supported by our professional and board teams. 

What’s clear is that for so many of us, the world has changed since Oct. 7, and this requires from us a higher level of coordination and collaboration. 

The other day, I went to see several training sessions of CSS volunteers at different levels of operational security for their Jewish communities. And what impressed me most was seeing a wide diversity of backgrounds for our security volunteers — men and women, younger and not so young, Orthodox, Reform, secular, Chabad — all training together with a deep commitment to Jewish safety and security. And when I spoke with many of these volunteers again and again, I heard this phrase in which they said to me, ‘I feel a sense of responsibility for my Jewish community,’ which has reinforced for me the message that CSS today not only stands to protect Jewish life and the Jewish way of life and to defend Jewish communities, but also to empower Jews to think about security and their place in that security equation in a way that we have not done fully in the past. 

JAG: For years now, but in particular since the Oct. 7, there has been debate in the Jewish community about where to focus as it relates to antisemitism: Should the focus be more on far-right, white supremacist threats or on the kind of far-left antisemitism that we’ve seen on college campuses over the past year? Where do you and CSS come down on this debate? Or is that less of a topic of discussion for a more ground-level organization like CSS?

DBS: The moment that anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist talk turns into hate speech… the practical effect is a warning sign of danger to the Jewish community. And in that respect, I do believe that there is significant merit to the ‘horseshoe theory of hate.’ At the end of the day, that hate is always focused against Jews and has a similar level of danger and threat to Jewish community life.

JAG: You’re coming at this as somebody not born and raised in the United States. The American Jewish community is generally used to operating without major security in houses of worship, unlike in the United Kingdom for instance, which has the Community Security Trust, which I believe served as the model for CSS. I know that some parts of the American Jewish community are concerned that a more prominent security presence would make synagogues seem less welcoming and open to newcomers or outsiders. How do you see this tension between wanting to have security and maintaining this uniquely American level of openness?

I believe that on one level, all Jewish communities face a similar threat. We’ve seen this since Oct. 7, with the rise of Jew-hating demonstrations and violent attacks across the world. And there is a uniqueness to the pluralist, to the diverse and widespread nature of American Jewish life that has to be respected and has to be understood differently from more centralized or smaller Jewish communities. I believe that we have to work collaboratively with our partners in other Jewish security, national Jewish security organizations across the world. We can and should learn together, share resources and information, and find ways to collaborate, while at the same time understanding the beauty and the richness and the beauty and the depth of American Jewish life. 

I think this is a useful reminder of why CSS’ local volunteer teams are so important. Because at the end of the day, a hired security guard who is paid by the hour doesn’t have the level of communal knowledge and an ability to track the nuances of who comes in through the door, for example, of a synagogue on a Shabbat morning. But there is a level of ability that local volunteers have when they protect their own synagogue or when volunteers are together protecting a Jewish communal event that is unmatchable and irreplaceable. And because I believe that we are in a different situation, the American Jewish community certainly, since Oct. 7, this heightened level of security requires from us more stringent questionings, more stringent supervisions, more stringent security guidelines, not just for the security teams, but for community members to be aware of the new normal. 

JAG: What are your plans for the organization in general? What are your plans for the next few months?

DBS: I am in a learning mode right now. I’ve been deeply impressed by the dedication, commitment and energy of the thousands of CSS volunteers, board leaders and professional staff who give up so much time and energy to deepen CSS’ commitment to the community. I intend to find as many opportunities as I can over the coming weeks and months to visit our many sites and programs to express my gratitude and to learn how we can deepen our collaboration with our partners across the country.