As NJ’s Jewish community prepares for the High Holidays, Attorney General Platkin brought interfaith leaders and law enforcement together to foster understanding around practices and public safety.

Law enforcement representatives included: County Prosecutors, local, state, and federal partners.

In addition, the event featured special guest Maud Dahme, a Holocaust survivor and champion of education.

Some of the points addressed at the event:

• While there are no clear threats, law enforcement is prepared and has been preparing for heightened security posture around the High Holidays.

• This calendar has important information about the sacred Jewish observances and the ways in which law enforcement can ensure that those observances can occur without interruption from those fueled by hate.

• Prayer times are listed so law enforcement can more thoughtfully engage with the community.

• Officers can know when to anticipate increased pedestrian traffic and provide necessary support such as crowd management, road closures or enhanced patrols.

• This calendar also provides details on customs such as fasting prayers and prohibition of work.

• The reality is that growing extremism and antisemitism across the country require that we remain vigilant and focused on combating hate at what is a sacred time for the Jewish community.

• The AG’s office is committed to being in solidarity with faith communities across New Jersey and to protecting and serving our communities during times of increased incidents of hate and bias.

• Unfortunately, as is nationwide, bias incidents are on the rise in New Jersey. Preliminary data shows that in 2023, New Jersey had 2,699 reported bias incidents, the highest number we’ve seen since we started tracking them.

• Through the end of August, there had been 1,792 bias incidents reported in 2024. That’s 9% higher than the same point one year earlier.

• Anti-Black and anti-Jewish bias continues to be the most common race- and religion-based motivations for reported bias incidents in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

• While we can attribute the rise in bias incidents to New Jersey’s excellent reporting system, better reporting cannot fully explain the rise in these reported incidents.

• Through enforcement, outreach, and prevention efforts, our office is taking steps to combat hate, bias, and discrimination.

• There is much work to be done, but work is being done to address bias and hate in New Jersey:

• Issued guidance for K-12 schools and guidance for colleges and universities on preventing, addressing, and responding to bias incidents,

• Provide free trainings on different anti-bias topics to members of the public.

• In the spring, we launched a new bias data dashboard that gives the public access to comprehensive bias statistics across New Jersey. The public dashboard is searchable and interactive and provides visual displays of data related to reports of bias incidents.

About Maud Dahme:

• During the Nazi occupation of Holland, Maud, and her sister were separated from their parents and taken into hiding by the Dutch underground for three years.

• After their family reunited after the fall of the German forces, the Dahmes eventually reconstructed their lives and moved to New Jersey in 1950.

• Since surviving the Holocaust as a child, Maud has become an advocate for education and Holocaust awareness.

• She was a member of the New Jersey Board of Education for over 20 years, serving five years as president.

• She also served as president of the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Interstate Migrant Education Council, and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.

• In 2006, PBS made a documentary on Maud called “The Hidden Child,” which focused on her life in hiding and the annual trip to Europe she hosts for teachers exploring areas affected by the Holocaust.