Staying safe during the High Holy Days
“There are going to be a lot of Jewish people out on the streets, we become more of a risk.”
Hatzolah and Community Security Group (CSG) are urging everyone, especially high school students, with phones to download the JEAP app this High Holy Days season.
JEAP stands for Jewish Emergency App, and it was created as a collaboration between Hatzolah and CSG. Through JEAP you can call CSG, Hatzolah and even 000.
General manager of Hatzolah Leon Landau extolled the virtues of the app, saying, “It’s absolutely lifesaving.”
“We get the phone call, then we also get a notification of who’s calling and the location of where they are. Which means that if someone, and it’s happened plenty of times, is unable to talk or someone goes unconscious after they dial, or if they can’t talk, they can dial with JEAP and we can hear what’s going on, and we know where they are,” Landau said.
He added, “JEAP is incredibly powerful at identifying where the person is,” however it cannot track you: “It only sends us your information when you call us.”
Landau also explained that when those in need call through JEAP it streamlines their response capabilities and saves valuable time.
“It brings the whole process one step earlier,” he told The AJN.
CEO of CSG Justin Kagan also explained, “The time that it will take you to find that number [of CSG or Hatzolah] can be difficult. So one of the benefits is that once you open the app, straight away you can call one of us.”
Kagan also explained that during the High Holy Days, “There are going to be a lot of Jewish people out on the streets, we become more of a risk.”
Therefore, reporting antisemitic incidents is also of grave importance to CSG. “It’s vital that we get our community to understand what to do with antisemitic incidents and that they have to be passed on to CSG,” Kagan said, adding, “We want our community to be aware of what’s happening, and if they see something suspicious, to report it to us and to use JEAP to do so.”
Whether it is someone screaming abuse, someone is seen making a Nazi salute, the use of swastikas or posters, CSG wants these incidents reported to them, and they want these reports to be made through JEAP.
Kagan explained that CSG has a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week response team. “We can respond to any antisemitic incident,” he assured.
“It’s really important from us that you do call us via JEAP because we’re able to get out as quickly as we can.”
Hatzolah and CSG also use JEAP as a way to communicate with the community, as they use the application to push out emergency notifications.
Both Landau and Kagan assure that they only use this function to alert the community on emergency situations such as missing persons cases, or when an area is unsafe JEAP will let people know to stay away.
Kagan said that they encourage all parents and all schools to encourage their children to download the app: “It is purely there to keep them safe.”
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