WASHINGTON (JTA) – When the Department of Homeland Security convened a terror attack simulation for national Jewish leaders, they returned again and again to last month’s deadly shooting attack on a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Last week’s simulation, known as a “tabletop” exercise, posits a possible attack, depicted as… Read more »
Tagged Charleston shooting
Op-Ed: Saying kaddish in Charleston for slain church members
Rabbi Avi Weiss, right, visiting Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., July 1, 2015. (Courtesy of Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — My father died a few weeks ago. The hardest part of the shiva was when it ended. Friends and family were, by and large, no longer visiting. I was alone in pain and agony. I thought of this reality during my visit to the Emanuel… Read more »
Op-Ed: This is not the Charleston I know
Robert N. Rosen CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — The unspeakable murder of nine accomplished, beloved and respected African-American Charlestonians of faith in their own church on Wednesday has hit our city like an earthquake. These murders occurred in my neighborhood, across the street from Buist Academy, the public magnet school my daughter and… Read more »
Could an Israeli startup have prevented Charleston church massacre?
Mourners sing hymns during a community prayer service for the nine victims of last week's shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Second Presbyterian Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
As Wednesday’s massacre in Charleston demonstrated, houses of worship face a particularly difficult security challenge. Unlike schools, churches such as the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, where nine people were gunned down by a lone shooter on Wednesday, need to stay open and accessible to carry out their mission of… Read more »



