Seaside Jewish Community adding new security to expansion

REHOBOTH, Del.-  Jewish communities have been under attack lately, but that’s not stopping the only Jewish congregation in southern Delaware from expanding.

The Seaside Jewish Community in Rehoboth Beach is doubling the size of their current sanctuary, but along with that they are also heightening security in response to recent anti-Semitic attacks, like the Hanukkah stabbings that happened in New York City.

“The fact that so many people are taking things in their own hands we didn’t feel that we had the luxury of continuing as we had in the past, and had to take active measures to deal with it, Matthew Ash, Project Manager of Seaside Jewish Community, said.

Congregation officials said they hope these new security measures will make their members feel more safe when coming to service.

“I’ve heard people say they don’t want to come to the services here in this building because we don’t have enough security,” Ash said.

Those concerns may have been warranted.  The original building only has locks on the front door for security which concerned members.

“You know there was a time many, many years ago we thought we were immune from problems, we were tucked away here in a nice sleepy beach community,” Ash said.

As that sleepy beach community has grown, so has the congregation with 600 plus current members. With the new space, Seaside Jewish Community hopes they’ll have enough space for anyone that wants to join.

“We noticed that a lot of the services were at capacity, it’s a small building and the fire marshal has given us a limit, so many cases we had to turn people away,” Ash said.

Seaside Jewish Community hopes that these renovations will add for more space and a more secure environment.

The community said that the department of homeland security is granting them $50,000 towards the costs of security features.

They hope the project will be done in the next six to seven months.