With Safety Concerns, Should Synagogues Have Public Signage?

I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping. But the opportunity rarely presents itself. 

Usually, with my apparent Yarmulka, the only commenters on ‘the Jews’ are the intense haters - or lovers - of us. 

But sporting a baseball cap as I brought my daughters to the pool, I finally had a chance to listen to the more veiled thoughts. 

A neighbor of the Shul was complaining about the fence we had erected around Synagogue periphery. 

“If they’re so concerned about security, why are they putting up that sign?” 

In its best light, it’s a fair point. 

We had indeed begun construction of a prominent sign on 96th Street. 

The seeming contradiction of defensiveness and outwardness gave me something to ponder. 

The analogy is everywhere. 

With increased focus on defending schoolchildren, should schools minimize their signage? Google presence? Celebrations of education? 

With increased polarization and personal bridge-burning, should we relegate conversations that matter to private domains? To whispers? 

I found an interesting parallel in the Torah. 

G-d instructs the Jews to construct Cities-of-Refuge for when one kills another in a freak-accident. The relatives of the victim will (rightly) be incensed and want to inflict revenge. The (accidental) killer can flee to these refuges and be protected. 

Jewish law mandates that the roads to these cities must be expansive and well-signed so the refugee can find their way with ease. 

Won’t these navigable roads help the revenge-seeker as well? They will. But the promise of refuge is the refugee’s only hope. 

In the 50’s the Rebbe taught these laws metaphorically. 

He instructed: One should place themselves in a thoroughfare, as a signpost, and direct passers-by to where they can find meaning. 

This carries risks. Will the wrong energies find a new target? Won’t the sign post themself be outside of the refuge-of-meaning?

Yes. But, the City-of-Refuge is the only hope that there will one day not be anything to seek refuge from. 

Defensive measures are required up to the essence that will eject the need for defense in the first place.