Gun Totin’ Rabbis

September 8, 2009 · Filed Under Baum's Blog 

Okay, now some rabbis have taken it to a whole new level.  Check out this video which shows rabbis learning to shoot guns and defend their congregations against potential attackers.

Unfortunately, synagogue safety is a very serious matter and there absolutely should be safety procedures.  At big events, there should probably be a police officer or other trained security official.  But, I say let those professionals do what they do best and let the rabbis do what we do best.

I need to go write my Rosh Hashanah sermon, so I won’t say more about this here.  But, to hear more about it, click here to listen to this brief podcast from my colleague, Rabbi Robert Barr.

 

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Comments

One Response to “Gun Totin’ Rabbis”

  1. Cynthia Tyler Says:
    September 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Since I grew up with a military Dad, who shot on
    a Naval District Pistol Team, and I myself earned
    a Varsity letter in marksmanship on the university
    rifle team, and we had several cops in the family,
    I am probably a lot more comfortable with this
    scenario than many others would be. Rabbi Baum has
    a great point of view, that each should perform the task for which each is best trained. And I would rather have a professional, experienced policeman, or hey – a Mossad! – protecting me at
    services. But I applaud the very serious efforts
    of these men: 100 hours of training is enough for
    lessons to really start taking effect, and become
    invaluable in a crisis situation. And Rabbi-cop Moskowitz is a really cute guy! The question becomes, ‘How much should we depend on others to
    defend us? At what expense? What are we doing to
    protect ourselves?’ If I am not for me…..

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