Send Page to a Friend Community takes aim at security concerns   By Jacob Sugerman The Jewish Advocate   More than 150 people from the Jewish community, including law enforcement officials and security experts, gathered at West Newton's Temple Shalom on Nov. 8 for the Anti-Defamation League's "Advanced Security Training for Jewish Institutions." The purpose of the day-long program, produced in collaboration with the Jewish Emergency Management Systems, was to bring community leaders up-to- date on security protocol for Jewish institutions throughout New England. During the training session, participants from synagogues, day-schools, law enforcement organizations and major Jewish organizations listened to speeches by top security experts on topics ranging from "Maximizing Law Enforcement and Government Resources" to "Preventing and Managing Emergencies and Disasters." A 40-minute presentation detailed threats of extremism in New England. Attendees also broke into roundtables, where facilitators led groups in discussions on security, learning from the experiences of others and working with community leaders in an effort to find ways to strengthen safety measures with the advice of group members. "We feel security for the Jewish community is a matter of high concern, and the more opportunities to learn from security experts in the field, the better," said Bob Hill, executive director at Temple Shalom, the host of the training session. "We will certainly be reviewing our own safety procedures today and looking for more opportunities if we need to." David Passer of the Rashi School added: "It's crucial that all Jewish community institutions and organizations are learning together to improve all of our security. I'll be bringing back information and practices that other institutions are doing to enhance Rashi's efforts at improving security at our school." JEMS, under the direction of a joint coordination between Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council, is an emergency response program for the Greater Boston Jewish community. In the works since early this year, JEMS has created a community-wide network to respond to different types of emergencies. The organization also acts proactively by building relationships with security organizations in the event of an emergency. "[More than] twelve months ago we all woke up and there was a big hurricane in New Orleans, and it took our community three weeks to figure how to respond to that effectively," said Patty Jacobson, project manager of JEMS and vice president of marketing services at CJP. JEMS is comprised of a number of bodies, including an executive committee with senior representation from CJP, the ADL and JCRC. A group meets every two weeks to discuss further preparations for the new system. There are representatives from more than two dozen major Jewish organizations in Greater Boston that are part of the JEMS board, including groups such as the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and the Bureau of Jewish Education, that play leadership roles and are active participants in the working group.