Chabad Lubavitch paranoia
Near my parents’ house in Potomac, Maryland is a section of road I call Religion Row. This relatively short stretch of Seven Locks Rd. has a couple churches, religious day schools, and two synagogues, all packed in one after another. At some points religious buildings take up both sides of the street, like a decades-long face-off between denominations. It’s a curious collection of religious buildings that always makes me feel a bit awkward driving past. One of the synagogues is reformed and the other is Chabad Lubavitch (which is very orthodox). Driving by the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue today, I noticed a new feature of their synagogue that would look more at home in the rough, terror-prone streets of Jerusalem than the calm streets of Potomac, Maryland.
The Lubavitchers have recently installed a vehicle barricade in the front of the temple’s lawn facing the street. The barricade consists of two dozen or so concrete poles, each about a foot in diameter (and no doubt sunk deeply), laid out in a straight line with about two feet between poles. The only concession to aesthetics is that the poles are painted rather than naked, but it doesn’t improve the look much.
As I was driving past this frightening installation, I was wondering to myself, what in the world are they protecting themselves from? Do they seriously think someone is going to blow up a car-bomb at their synagogue, despite that never having happened anywhere in the entire United States? Are they worried about someone ramming a vehicle into their temple at high speed? Potomac is an affluent, peaceful community with a large Jewish population. I can’t imagine what the Lubavitchers think they are defending themselves from. The barricade reflects more on their paranoia and subscription to strange end-of-the-world prophecies than the safety of the neighborhood.
Ignoring all of the money they’ve frivolously wasted on an unnecessary Israel-esque barrier, they’re making themselves look silly and paranoid. Around here, people don’t have a problem with synagogues. But some of them might have a problem with religious folk that look to be walling themselves off from the outside world, unnecessarily building militaristic infrastructure in a peaceful suburban neighborhood. Treat your neighbors with distrust and you may end up creating prejudicial feelings that weren’t there before. The Lubavitchers need to tear down their ugly, superfluous barrier and be fully integrated into the community.
August 5th, 2007 at 02:48
On 9/11, New York City was an affluent community with a large Jewish population. Israel, with bloody attacks daily, is an affluent community with a large Jewish population. Paris is an affluent community with a large Jewish population, and a Jewish man was tortured and beaten for days, and then left dead on the street this year. Bagdad, Amman, Damascus, and Cairo used to qualify; but they got rid of all of them. In 1935, Germany and Poland had the largest Jewish populations on Earth, but not anymore. As everybody knows, I could go on and on and on.
Paranoid? How much Jewish blood does it take? How many Jewish murders does it take? Perhaps you’ll tell me when you get to me and my kids.
August 5th, 2007 at 08:26
B.Frank: So you seriously think a synagogue in Potomac, MD is in real danger from terrorism? Your use of examples of pre-Nazi Europe shows me that you are overly paranoid. That’s not the situation here.
August 6th, 2007 at 00:54
There may not have been car bombs in the USA (have you done research on this?), but Synagogues have had bombs. The Aish Hatorah synagogue in LA a few years ago is but one example.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:36
The concrete barriers were installed with funds from a government grant in response to a security anti-terrorism survey which recommended that this be installed.
SK
August 7th, 2007 at 07:51
Your last sentence - The Lubavitchers need to tear down their ugly, superfluous barrier and be fully integrated into the community - sounds more like you are annoyed at what they stand for rather than some physical barriers outside the synagogue.
August 7th, 2007 at 09:14
Jack: The odds of a synagogue getting attacked are less than the odds of a bank or convenience store getting attacked and robbed. I’m just not seeing a justification for all of the security.
Rabbi: Great, so now anti-terrorism money is being wasted on these things? Why did you get a barricade in front of your synagogue while the one right next to it didn’t? Are Orthodox synagogues a more appealing target than Reformed synagogues? Just because the government gets paranoid doesn’t mean you have to indulge their fantasies. So what if the barricade was free? You could’ve turned it down.
Aussie Echo: It’s both, really. I find Chabad Lubavitch to be too insular and out of touch with mainstream society, and in addition, the physical barricade annoys me with its ugliness and superfluousness. Don’t try to psychoanalyze me and tell me what you think I’m “really” annoyed at. I’d be just as annoyed at any religious building that put up ugly barriers outside of it, but the only example I in my neighborhood to complain about happens to be Chabad Lubavitch.
August 26th, 2007 at 18:22
Do you even live in Maryland? This is not a uniquly Lubavitch thing. The government gave money to many of the religious institutions to put up fences in front of the shuls and schools as barricades against cars driving into buildings. Some of the other places to have such features include the Kemp Mill Synagogue and both Yeshiva of Greater Washington campuses. Oh, and if the shul that you are referring to that is next to the Chabad is Beth Shalom then it is a Modern Orthodox shul, not a Reform one. This is what happens when you live within 10 miles from the White House. We are one of the places that the GOVERNMENT has deemed in danger of threats against our religious institutions. If you lived in this community you would know that.
August 26th, 2007 at 20:14
Sara, you make the false assumption that someone living in the community would know a lot about the religious institutions. I can assure you, the atheists generally don’t.
August 27th, 2007 at 00:56
I’ve noticed that religious people tend to exaggerate their self-importance. That someone could just…not care is shocking! Clearly, you therefore don’t live in the state.
August 27th, 2007 at 02:15
Mike: You’re right on. I’m sure to Sara the temple may be one of the most important aspects of her life, but to me, it’s just another building I drive by frequently, except it happens to have out of place barricades in front of it. I haven’t been to a bowling alley in years either — does my ignorance about the local lanes thus make me not a part of the community?
August 27th, 2007 at 20:51
I’m sorry, I was not aware when I came across this blog that I was arguing with an athiest. Obviously I can’t expect you to understand about the local shuls or religious life, just as I would not expect someone who hasn’t been to a bowling alley in years to know about the local bowling lanes. Please excuse my ignorance about your personal situation.
September 2nd, 2007 at 04:46
About “Ceyde Weys”
“I’m very out-spoken and I love a good argument. I’m not particularly fond of religion.”…
- For those that neglected to click on the “About me”