Pittsburgh's Jewish community ramps up security ahead of High Holy Days

The Jewish community is entering its High Holy Days, during which many will be celebrating and attending services. This comes as political tensions have created safety concerns for the community.

According to safety leaders in the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, there have been acts of violence and an increase in threats against the community.

The work to ensure everyone stays safe starts months in advance. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh works with local police and the FBI to address threats and safety.

"Threat actors know these holidays are coming," said Shawn Brokos, the federation's director of community safety. "They know the dates. They know the times. We have to be prepared for that."

According to Brokos, there have been several incidents of verbal and physical violence against the community locally.

"Five minutes ago I was in my office and somebody sent me derogatory rhetoric directed at the Jews," Brokos said.

The challenge for safety leaders is figuring out what is a threat and what is someone just expressing hateful views. They look for red flags or language pointing to taking action.

"We've had several examples of just hateful, directed rhetoric at the Jewish community threatening to harm or kill and that really becomes the dividing line for us," Brokos said.

At this point, there have been no direct or indirect threats to any synagogues. Brokos says the FBI arrested a local man who made generic threats against Jews, but he didn't give a location for the threat. There are expected to be more police patrols going around during the High Holy Days.

"We also have increased our armed guard coverage at our locations, so you'll see both," Brokos said.

The High Holy Days start with Rosh Hashanah on Friday at sundown.