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SUNDAY, NOV 11

Rachel Kadish

2 pm / CCPL Beachwood Branch FREE

TUESDAY, NOV 13

Jeremy Balkin

7:45 am / Mandel JCC

$12 Members / $15 Community

WEDNESDAY, NOV 14

Rabbi John Rosove

7 pm / Fairmount Temple / FREE

THURSDAY, NOV 15

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SUNDAY, NOV 18

Kids Day Character Breakfast with Pete the Cat am / Mandel JCC

$20 Family Pass $25 Extended Family Pass

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Cleveland’s Own, Local Author Day 2-4 pm / Mandel JCC / FREE

MONDAY, NOV 19

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Synagogue came after the Federation held an unscheduled security meeting Oct. 31 to review security procedures, training options and share information learned from the Pittsburgh attack.

Jim Hartnett, director of community wide security at the Federation and a former FBI agent, led the meeting where local police chiefs, synagogue representatives and other security personnel were present. More than 30 representatives attended.

Hartnett said the meeting was assembled quickly because it was important to meet with the synagogues to go over information that he’s learned from his FBI contacts in Cleveland, local police chiefs and the director of security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. He said he wanted to stress one of the reasons why some of the survivors were able to get out of Tree of Life was in part a result of recent active shooter training they received.

“They had made sure they had cleared all their emergency exits in the event that they had any kind of incident – fire, bomb threat or any kind of threat – that they could safely evacuate without anything kind of impeding their egress out of the building,” he said. “They had recently gone through this training and said it definitely helped save lives because people knew instinctively what to do once the gunman entered the synagogue.”

He also added everything he’s heard from his contacts indicated the shooting was an isolated incident.

“This individual acted alone and at (the time of the meeting) there was no connection that any investigators have seen at that point to our Cleveland community,” he said.

Additional investigations are happening as to who the shooter was contacting and what he researched to “try and get a picture of this shooter’s world and, potentially, if there was anyone else connected on a larger scale, which at this point there isn’t,” Hartnett said.

The day of the shooting, Hartnett said Federation security went to all local synagogues to let congregants