Perimeter security is critical in protecting religious institutions.

The car-ramming at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in New York City this week reinforces important issues related to the lack of protection provided by the City of New York and Chabad’s meager security preparations. Along with the mayor and the New York City Police Department, the organization itself must accept some responsibility.

Chabad-Lubavitch is a worldwide Chassidic Jewish movement headquartered in the United States. Its emissaries (or shluchim) run synagogues, community centers, campus centers, travel centers, summer camps, educational programs, social services, and work with Jewish prisoners and the military. Those emissaries have been victimized by antisemitic attacks not only in New York, but across America and places as far-flung as India, Greece and China.

Through all of this, it has mostly relied on “soft protection,” using volunteers, cameras and door locks. Typically, there are no armed security guards and few, if any, entry barriers. After the Dec. 14 mass shooting on Bondi Beach in Australia, where Chabad organized and held a “Chanukah by the Sea” event, the fact that there was neither a security presence nor access control in New York is hard to understand.

Chabad’s founding goes back to Russia in 1775, though the movement was almost wiped out by the Holocaust. It was totally revitalized by the seventh and last Chabad rabbi: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He became head of the movement on Jan. 28, 1951 (on the Hebrew calendar, the 10th of Shevat). The driver who rammed the headquarters building and synagogue did so during a crowded ceremony celebrating the 75th anniversary of Schneerson’s inauguration as chief Chabad rabbi.

The building stands at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. It includes two other buildings—784 and 788 Eastern Parkway—as Chabad has expanded and grown. The car hit a “side entrance,” which is actually the main entrance to the sanctuary.

When the entrance was rammed, an estimated 1,000 worshippers were inside, according to news reports, with crowds estimated at 10,000 near or around the complex.

The entrance itself is in a downward-sloping alleyway that was not protected, despite its use as a main entryway. Two wooden doors were crushed by the gray Honda that drove into them multiple times. In some cases, Chabad has placed somewhat hardened “flower box” barriers to try to prevent damage from such incidents. But 770 itself didn’t have any barriers to prevent a car or truck from being used as a weapon.

The attack is being considered a hate crime.

There is video of the car striking the building, backing up, accelerating and striking it again. The driver, identified as 36-year-old Dan Sohail of Carteret, N.J., was live-streaming the event. He was a known commodity and regarded by some as a threat. According to Rabbi Motti Seligson, spokesman for Chabad, “according to reports, (Sohail) has attempted to enter various Jewish institutions in New Jersey, including Chabad, but was rebuffed and in at least one incident, the police were called.”

This incident might have been prevented had there been a police presence, especially a patrol car, blocking the alley that evening. But one of the first actions that Zohran Mandami, the new mayor of New York City, did upon entering office was to cancel Executive Order 61, issued by his predecessor, which provided “heightened protection” and static (permanent) security details for synagogues and other threatened religious institutions.

Under pressure from the Jewish community, Mamdani reluctantly issued a far weaker Executive Order 62, which still eliminates physical police protection for threatened religious sites in the city. The fact that he showed up after the attack can be regarded as nothing more than a media stunt.

No one was injured, which is amazing. The police checked the Honda to see if there was a bomb in the car, but apparently found none.

Attacks similar to this have not only been used against synagogues but also against churches in the United States. For example, on Sept. 28, a mass shooting and arson attack occurred at a meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church) in Grand Blanc Township, Mich. The assailant drove his pickup truck into the main entrance of the church, poured gasoline on the building and began shooting with an assault rifle, killing four and wounding eight congregants.

In high-tension places, such as New York City and other major cities across the United States, a lack of police presence and growing threat to the security of worshippers is alarming. Despite his showmanship after the attack at Chabad headquarters, Mamdani is unlikely to direct the NYPD to protect holy places throughout the five boroughs.

Synagogues, churches, mosques and other religious centers need to understand that they will need to do more to protect their buildings and civilian congregations. Otherwise, they will continue to be sitting ducks for hate-filled assaults.

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