Situational Awareness

November 4, 2023

On Thursday, after a wonderful Shabbat Market at JCC, I attended the San Diego Jewish Academy’s 8-man football CIF playoff game at a school in Escondido. The market at the J was well-staffed with greeters, engagement staff, traffic patrol, and armed security officers. In juxtaposition, the football game had three volunteers checking tickets at the gates, and no traffic patrol security or police presence.. As I walked through the gates and to the visitors section, I looked for exits; I looked for hiding places; I looked at the people in the crowd and I made plans in my head of what I would do in the case of an emergency. I made a plan for myself, for my family that was with me, for the other parents in the stands, and for my son and his teammates and coaches, who were on the field.

Do you think the parents on the other team were using their situational awareness to make a similar plan?

I hope so… because safety and security awareness is necessary everywhere.

In America in 2023, ALL people must be trained to be more alert and an understanding of their immediate environment, including relevant conditions and potential threats. It is essential that people are aware of what is happening around them, assess the significance of those events, and make informed decisions based on that awareness. This allows anyone to better anticipate and respond to an emergency.

Because of my 25+ years working in JCCs, I am guessing that I have been trained in situational awareness many more times than the average person. In fact, I had the pleasure of being re-trained last Wednesday by Bill Ganley, our SCN Community Security Director through the San Diego Jewish Federation. Bill offered robust training for the entire JCC staff team.

As I said, I have had this training many times and this time it felt very different. As I was watching the JCC team test their ability to assess risk and look for people and things that seemed out of place, it dawned on me that situational awareness is so much more.

It is true that situational awareness is about identifying people or items that don’t seem exactly right or that don’t seem to belong. But what would it look like if situational awareness also meant looking at the faces of people in our community for the purpose of seeing them? Really SEEING them. Noticing when they appear flustered or sad; happy or in hurry; perhaps when they haven’t even stopped by in the last few days or weeks and checking on them before they even return.

In all of the years of my career, I wasn’t trained in this kind of situational awareness until 2021. My training began when I visited Sha’ar HaNegev (San Diego’s sister region in Israel) for the first time. I was amazed by the interconnectedness of the community. Granted Sha’ar HaNegev’s population is much smaller than San Diego but what I realized it didn’t matter. The residents of Sha’ar HaNegev knew each other; REALLY knew each other. When one person was struggling the community supported that person AND everyone that closely surrounded that person. Their parents or spouse, their siblings, and friends, were all included in the response because in Sha’ar HaNegev they know that no one suffers alone and no one thrives alone. This support was not just informed by the nature of the people or the conditions by which they lived so close to existential threats, Sha’ar HaNegev systematically designed and implemented situational awareness and action plans with the intention of building resilience. Resilience not only for the person who was struggling but for everyone who loved them and for their entire community.

Over the last month, we have all elevated our situational awareness. If you have yet to attend a training session with Bill Ganley, I highly suggest that you do. And with that said, I also ask you to take the lessons from our dear friends in Sha’ar HaNegev. Please try to see people, REALLY see them. Feel their humanity and reach out.

As we pray for the safe return of our hostages and find ways to fight against the rising waves of antisemitism everywhere, I ask you to remember that no one suffers alone and no one thrives alone. Be situationally aware; not only for your own safety but, also to build a more resilient community here in San Diego.

Shavua Tov,

Betzy Lynch, CEO