• “Security is no longer a precaution − it is a necessity that comes at a significant cost,” said Katie Katz, Executive Director of Teach New Jersey.

TEANECK — Local law enforcement vowed to step up security measures ahead of Passover, amid a global surge of antisemitism that has left North Jersey Jews grappling with anxiety.

Nearly 150 people gathered with local leaders and law enforcement at a community safety meeting held at Heichal Hatorah/The Jewish Center of Teaneck on March 25 to discuss strategies for securing houses of worship.

The event, organized by Deputy Mayor Elie Katz, came just a week before the beginning of Passover and in the wake of a March 8 incident in which a 19-year-old Jewish Teaneck resident was shot 10 times with gel pellets outside another Orthodox synagogue.

Days later, a Michigan man rammed an explosives-laden truck into a suburban Detroit synagogue and preschool, the latest in a string of anti-Jewish attacks that have picked up pace since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran.

In Teaneck, home of one of New Jersey’s largest Jewish communities, residents expressed concern about recent antisemitic events and how to combat them. Shari Silverstein, a mother of two college students, asked law enforcement if she can carry pepper spray to defend herself.

She was reassured that she’s legally permitted to carry the substance, but “it’s not the most effective because it tends to get all over the place, including on yourself,” said Seth Kriegel, Deputy Chief of the Teaneck Police Department.

Others were concerned about whether there would be adequate patrols of the neighborhood over the Passover holiday, when many people will likely be walking around the neighborhood late at night to get to and from synagogue and their Passover seder, or ritual feast. Law enforcement officials said they were aware of the unique schedule of each Jewish holiday and would have extra police patrols.

Tim Torell, Jewish Community Security Director at Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, said the local community has had numerous incidents in which Jewish people were targeted even while walking to and from synagogue. “Things were thrown at them from vehicles and people shouted at them,” he said. “The number of antisemitic incidents are vastly underreported,” he said, emphasizing that it’s important to report every incident, even if it seems minor.

The number of assaults against Jews worldwide has increased by 34% since the joint attack on Iran by Israel and the US, according to research by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, a non-partisan group based in Kansas devoted to fighting antisemitism.

Attacks have multiplied around the globe in recent weeks: In the Netherlands, bombs were planted at Jewish institutions; in Toronto, synagogues were sprayed with gunfire; and in Jackson, Mississippi, a synagogue was set afire by someone who announced he wanted to hurt Jews.

‘Targeted purely because I am Jewish’

Closer to home In Teaneck, police arrested two teens after they reportedly targeted Jewish worshippers on March 8, including a 19-year-old by the pellet gun attack outside of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun. According to authorities, occupants in the car first asked him whether he supported Israel or Palestine.

More: This NJ synagogue spends $650K a year on security as threats multiply

The victim of that incident − a Yeshiva University student named Netanel who asked that his last name not be used − spoke at the event. He said that on the evening of the attack, he was walking near his synagogue wearing a prominent white kippah, skullcap, and tzitzit, ritual fringes, which were visible against his black clothing.

“I was targeted purely because I am Jewish…The purpose of actions like this is clear: The perpetrators want to instill fear in us so that we feel uncomfortable living openly as Jews in our own neighborhoods. They want us to hide,” he said.

He asserted that he will never hide and never be afraid to be afraid to publicly identify himself as religious Jew.

He urged the prosecutors of their case to “make an example out of these Jew-hating assailants” for anyone else considering a similar hateful act that they will be punished “with the full severity of the law.”

Police, who did not identify the teens because they are minors, said they will be prosecuted in the Family Division of New Jersey Superior Court.

That decision led Elie Rubin of Teaneck to ask the community to push for a tougher punishment. “We have to show that the law matters. If they are old enough to drive a car and serve in the military, why can’t they be charged as adults. This was more than one bias incident. No one stopped them the first time. We need to send a message that they can’t do this.”

But before that incident, Teaneck had heated protests outside of the council chambers and in front of synagogues in which rhetoric against Jews and Israel grew nasty. There were reports that some participants said: “Gas them, you filthy Jews.”

For many Jewish Americans, the shocking uptick in antisemitic incidents have confirmed their worst fears about their safety in America. It also highlights the need to counter the extremism through more education and to take more vigorous measures to defend themselves.