Six weeks ago, Danny Phillips, the director of security at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., arranged for the FBI to hold an active-shooter training for the congregation, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the county.

That training potentially saved the lives of 140 children and their teachers on Thursday when an assailant rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into the building.

The education the staff received, the congregation’s rabbi, Josh Bennett, told Jewish Insider, “included the famous ‘run, hide, fight,’ and that’s exactly what our people did. And it’s only because he brought that to the front of mind that we are ready at the moment,” the rabbi continued, referring to Phillips.

The frightening incident unfolded on Thursday afternoon when Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, the brother of a Hezbollah commander who was born in Lebanon and became a U.S. citizen in 2016, breached the suburban Detroit synagogue, while it was filled with preschoolers.

Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside the vehicle, who killed himself after his truck caught fire during the gunfight with security officials. Phillips was the only other person injured during the attack — he was knocked unconscious and remained hospitalized on Sunday, and is expected to make a full recovery.

“That is the guy who is our hero,” said Bennett. Phillips previously spent 28 years working for the Bloomfield Hills Police Department. 

“Because of him, not just his heroic actions on Thursday, but the way he has treated the hiring of staff and the training of our teachers and staff, that’s what made a difference,” Bennett told JI.  “Yes, he was a hero in the moment and there’s no way to overstate how incredible he was, along with other members of our team who engaged this perpetrator. But it’s bigger than that.” 

Rachel Levine, director of Temple Israel’s early childhood center, said she gives tours to prospective families a few times a week “and everyone’s first question is always about security.”

“Every time I tell them, in my life, I have never felt so safe in a building as I do here,” said Levine, who has previously worked at Jewish day schools and public schools, some of which were in downtown Detroit. 

“The men that are there to take care of us have really made us always feel like they are taking care of us,” she continued. “I knew [in the] moment [of the attack] that they were going to do what they had to do to make sure that none of us were hurt. And literally, they did.” 

Even as community leaders are describing the outcome of the attack as a miracle, Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform congregations in the U.S. with 3,100 families, faces a long road to recovery and rebuilding. 

“Our staff and teachers who were in the building are at various levels of coping,” Bennett told JI. “We are putting together professional programs to support people. At the same time we are trying to figure out the rebuilding phase. The building has already been released by the FBI and we’re starting to have insurance walk through and help us understand rebuilding. It’s a massive project. We’re talking about moving our office staff, religious school and nursery school in the interim.” 

With the assistance of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the community has set up recovery spots for families, which includes support for mental and physical health care, as well as a space for retrieving children’s belongings left behind in the building. Bennett described it as an “emotional site as parents walk in.” 

“Everyone is in a tremendous sense of disbelief. I woke up today feeling angry that we are in this position,” added Levine. 

But the Temple Israel leaders also noted an “overwhelming” outpouring of support from near and far, including from political leadership in Michigan, some of whom faced criticism over muted responses as the state saw a spate of antisemitic vandalisms after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

“There have been really clear messages against antisemitism at the press conferences [from] both Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer and Sen. [Elissa] Slotkin (D-MI),” said Bennett. “There were pretty strong words that I have not heard before from leadership. I don’t know what that means in terms of legislation but we feel very protected and supported right now.”

The congregation also leaned on its longstanding relationship with the Chaldean community, Iraqi Christians who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s to flee persecution. “They have a huge population in our midst and their community center is directly across the street from us, a major country club,” which served as a reunification point for parents and children on Thursday, said Bennett. 

“On Sept. 11 we came together, on Oct. 7 they were in our sanctuary supporting us,” he continued. “They have been unbelievably gracious and gave us their social hall for Shabbat services,” where more than 1,000 people worshipped together on Friday evening, as many more around the world watched via a livestream.

“The outpouring of financial and emotional support from everyone has been at times overwhelming,” said Bennett, who is one of Temple Israel’s seven rabbis.

While the congregation’s adults grapple with trauma from the attack and discuss rebuilding, in a testament to how well security officials, staff and teachers protected the children, Levine recalled a conversation she had with a father who picked up his 4-year-old son from the reunification point. 

The boy described the day to his family not as scary, but exciting; full of “fire drills” and police.      

“We practice all the time so the kids are not afraid,” said Levine.