Israeli flags spray-painted and ripped from their poles. Signs in support of the Jewish state slashed and stolen. A fire set on the front steps of a Jewish museum.

These are a few of the dozens of antisemitic acts police say have taken place in Baltimore in the year that has passed since Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza last Oct. 7, slaughtering nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and sparking a cascade of protests, counterprotests and scenes of annihilation worldwide.

As the Jewish High Holidays begin, some members of Maryland’s Jewish community say a cloud of tension has settled in around a season usually characterized by reflection and hopefulness. Rosh Hashana starts at nightfall tonight, signaling the beginning of the Jewish new year and 10 days of repentance, culminating Oct. 12 on Yom Kippur, and security at Jewish institutions is tighter than ever.

At synagogues, campus Hillel sites, Jewish community centers and Jewish nonprofit headquarters, safety measures already stiffened due to a rise in incidents of anti-Jewish hate over a course of years have been enhanced. And while congregants and rabbis say they’re focused on enjoying this sacred time on the Jewish calendar, the spike in antisemitic incidents since last October has left many on alert.

“It’s the first High Holidays since the Oct. 7 attacks, and with the holidays coming — especially with commemorations of Oct. 7 falling right in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — and given the huge surge in antisemitism we’ve been seeing, antisemitic activity and security are at the top of everyone’s minds,” said Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, an agency of the Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore. “I think everyone is thinking about them more than ever.”

Antisemitism has a long, dark history in Maryland. It wasn’t until 1826 that the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill allowing Jewish citizens to hold public office. In the early- to mid-20th century, even as successful Jewish immigrants began moving to more spacious environs in the suburbs, traditionally white neighborhoods in Baltimore and elsewhere used restrictive religious covenants to bar Jews from owning homes. The federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 finally banned the practice.

More recently, academic studies show that an uptick in anti-Jewish hate incidents ranging from vandalism to assault and rape began in the mid-2010s in the United States and spiked to record levels in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The increase prompted synagogues and other Jewish organizations in Baltimore and beyond to take such measures as enhancing camera surveillance networks, upgrading alarm systems, installing new fences and developing closer ties with law enforcement.

Beth Am Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Reservoir Hill, drew on U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants to do “hardscape” improvements and hire on-site security guards, according to Rabbi Daniel Burg, its spiritual leader. Members also formed a security task force. Chabad of Howard County also took advantage of state and federal grants to bolster security measures at its synagogues and day camps.

Yanky Baron, rabbi of the Columbia-based organization, said its five synagogues have been striving to retain Chabad’s culture of openness while also maintaining safety.

“Everyone should know that Jewish people will guard themselves,” Baron said.

Then Oct. 7, 2023, happened. As news of the massacre spread, it hit the Baltimore area particularly hard, given the longstanding ties between many members of the local Jewish community and individuals and institutions in Israel. And the shocking nature of the attacks only intensified security concerns.

“Oct. 7 really was a game-changer for Jews in terms of safety and security,” Burg said. “It has affected us globally and nationally, and it has affected us here at Beth Am. We’ve certainly invested more in security protocols and paid even closer attention to what is required to keep anyone who comes into our building safe, whether it be worshippers or community groups who rent our space. It’s definitely something we’re tracking.”

For Burg and other Jewish leaders, what has happened in the time since is complicated. Opinions vary within his congregation about the actions of the Israeli government, he said, including a retaliatory military campaign that has left as many as 40,000 people in Gaza dead, most of them civilians, and prompted widespread condemnation and protest.

But Burg and others say that, while protesters are well within their rights to voice opposition to the actions of the Israeli government, including at the many pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place on college campuses, they’re hopeful that most respect the Jewish state’s right to defend itself and that opposition to the government’s policies doesn’t morph into hatred of the Jewish people.

That’s why it alarmed the local Jewish community in May when a vandal tore down an Israeli flag in front of a Baltimore doctor’s office and another spray-painted an Israeli flag red; in June when swastikas were painted on a sidewalk in predominantly Jewish Northwest Baltimore; in August when a fire was set in front of the Jewish Museum of Maryland; in December, when a vandal climbed scaffolding that was part of a construction project at Suburban Orthodox Congregation in Pikesville and stole an Israeli flag, and when someone tore down a sign in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza on the campus of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation — the first of five such incidents at the Reform synagogue.

Police swiftly launched investigations in each case. For his part, Rabbi Andrew Busch of Baltimore Hebrew says the vandalism has in no way diminished his congregation’s spirits. But as word of such incidents spreads, so does a sense of alarm, and synagogues and other Jewish institutions further stiffened security protocols.

Baron had gates installed at Chabad of Howard County properties for the first time, including at the group’s synagogues in Columbia and Ellicott City. He also instituted a policy of running background checks for visitors at events and is ensuring that at least one armed guard is present at all times.

That’s in addition to forging such close ties with law enforcement, Baron said, that the Homeland Security department called last week to schedule a time to go over Chabad’s protocols for the holidays — and local police have called to report an unfamiliar car in the parking lot.

“Even before Oct. 7 we were putting in security measures. We joke that now it’s like Ft. Knox,” Baron said.

Busch declined to share specifics about improvements, and so did other rabbis, including Jonathan Seidemann of Kehilath B’nai Torah Congregation, other than to say that the Jewish people have overcome attempts to destroy them throughout history — “We’ve seen this movie before,” he said — and to promise that his Orthodox synagogue in Cheswolde will be ready for any eventuality.

“I just want to say to anyone who, God forbid, seeks to do harm to Jewish institutions or schools or synagogues, you should know that we are prepared in terms of security,” he said. “I don’t think you want to try it. I feel confident in saying that every Jewish institution is prepared in the proper way.”

Libit’s organization strikes a less pugilistic if no less serious tone. The Baltimore Jewish Council has added $20,000 per month to its security budget since Oct. 7, bringing its annual total to about $1.5 million, and its head of security, David Folderauer, spends much of his time coordinating communication efforts between government partners such as the FBI, the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, and Baltimore City and County police, and the heads of local Jewish organizations and their constituents.

The former Baltimore County police colonel also facilitates educational sessions on security matters, including seminars on de-escalation techniques and how to deal with active shooters.

Last week, ahead of the holidays, Folderauer led a tabletop exercise that brought security personnel, county and city police officers, and representatives of an Israel-based security-equipment company to Beth Am to conduct tabletop exercises that tested the synagogue’s protocols against the latest potential security threats.

“Security is always heightened around the High Holidays, but with everything going on right now, internationally and locally, I am vigilant,” he said. “I don’t want to say ‘worried,’ because I don’t want to cause a panic. We are in a strange time.”

In the meantime, Jewish leaders say, they hope and expect that their congregants will enjoy the full experience of a sacred time on the calendar, whether it’s in the solemnity of formal prayers in synagogues, the cleansing experience of atonement for sins and shortcomings or the joy of anticipating a new year.

Baron said he hasn’t met anyone who doesn’t plan to attend holiday services. Seidemann said his flock’s faith is so strong it will render any antisemitic sentiments fruitless. And, according to Burg, his congregants are as motivated as ever to practice their faith, pray for peace, and serve the surrounding community, a promise they’ll fulfill by placing flowers on their neighbors’ doorsteps at the holidays’ end, as they always do.

“Every year we say, ‘It should be a good year, and ‘It should be a sweet year,’” Burg said. “After a particularly bitter year, we’re all the more hopeful that this one will be a sweet one. That’s what we work for and hope for.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan Pitts at jpitts @baltsun.com, 410-332-6990 and x.com/@jonpitts77.