Chutz-POW!
A bunch of rabbis lately participated in a five-day “summer season camp” that includes in depth firearms coaching as Jewish leaders from throughout the US ready for the Excessive Holidays.
The pilot program, run by Los Angeles-based Jewish safety group Magen Am USA, introduced collectively 20 Chabad Hasidic rabbis from 12 states for an intensive crash course designed to assist them reply to potential threats at their synagogues and of their communities.
This system, which additionally included emergency medication and safety coaching, happened in August in Los Angeles. It got here as Jewish communities throughout California and the nation grapple with heightened safety considerations and rising fears about assaults on Jewish establishments.
For Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, the founding father of Magen Am, the reply isn’t merely placing extra weapons in spiritual leaders’ fingers.
“A lot of individuals, a lot of weapons, little coaching,” Eilfort advised the California Publish. “That may be unhealthy for the group.”
Magen Am is a registered nonprofit and California-licensed safety firm whose said mission is to coach and empower Jewish communities to determine safety groups inside their very own establishments.
The Anti-Defamation League recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2025, together with assaults, harassment and vandalism.
California ranked second within the nation with 817 incidents, whereas the Los Angeles area recorded 419. Though the general variety of incidents in LA declined from 532 in 2024, assaults jumped 22% — the very best quantity ever recorded regionally, in line with the ADL.
Eilfort mentioned the group works with group members, authorities officers and legislation enforcement to construct safety packages, whereas additionally providing firearms training to members of the general public.
The rabbi-specific program was created after Jewish spiritual leaders started approaching Eilfort for recommendation about firearms and safety at their homes of worship.
“We’re visibly Jewish and we stroll down the road and dozens of rabbis have individuals yell issues at them,” Eilfort mentioned, including that rabbis have more and more been focused with hate speech and protests.
A donor who requested to stay nameless stepped ahead to fund the pilot so taking part rabbis wouldn’t need to pay for the coaching. The response was speedy.
Thirty-seven rabbis utilized for simply 20 spots, in line with Magen Am.
Organizers prioritized candidates primarily based on their safety wants and the prevailing protections out there to their communities. Some individuals had by no means dealt with a gun earlier than. Others already owned firearms however didn’t really feel snug carrying them, whereas some had been skilled gun homeowners searching for extra coaching and steering.
The rabbis got here from states together with Alaska, Montana, Arizona, Florida, New York and Missouri, with California individuals stretching from San Diego to Santa Barbara.
The five-day pilot ran from morning by way of night, with Magen Am dealing with meals and hospitality in addition to the coaching itself.
The curriculum included accountable firearm possession, situational consciousness, emergency medical procedures and coordination with legislation enforcement.
Eilfort declined to say what particular legislation enforcement company was concerned within the coaching.
Contributors additionally acquired instruction on suspicious-activity experiences and the way such experiences are dealt with by fusion facilities.
“It’s not all in regards to the gun,” Eilfort mentioned. “It’s all about group security.”
The trainers themselves had been members of the Jewish group, with some who had served within the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) . Eilfort, who has a background as a rabbi, can be a licensed and authorized firearms teacher and a former MMA fighter.
“I’m not a safety skilled who discovered the Jewish group,” he mentioned. “I’m a Jewish group member who realized we want extra safety in our group.”
For Eilfort, firearms present just one layer of protection.
He emphasised secure storage, insurance coverage, proficiency, licensing and compliance — and rejected the concept that this system was supposed to encourage vigilante habits.
“I’m not calling for vigilantism,” he mentioned. “I consider in doing issues proper.”
One Los Angeles rabbi who participated within the pilot mentioned the organizers packed what would usually be weeks or months of instruction into simply 5 days.
The rabbi, who requested to not be recognized, mentioned individuals started their days with morning prayers and breakfast earlier than heading into school rooms or onto the capturing vary.
The schedule combined spiritual life with intensive safety instruction, together with classes on stopping extreme bleeding.
On the vary, individuals discovered the best way to safely deal with and holster a firearm, draw it, intention and reply to completely different emergency conditions. They had been additionally taught what to do if a firearm malfunctioned, the rabbi mentioned.
“On daily basis they had been constructing on the day prior to this’s studying,” he added.
The expertise was significantly important as a result of it was the rabbi’s first time firing a gun.
“Some individuals had been superb,” he mentioned. “They needed to develop into glorious. After which there was somebody like me that by no means touched a gun.”
By the top of this system, individuals had moved from classroom instruction to a “FBI-style,” sensible workouts at an indoor capturing vary, the place they confronted a check designed to demand a excessive stage of accuracy and firearm proficiency.
“It was a excessive stage of being correct and to know what you’re doing with a firearm,” the rabbi mentioned.
This system additionally seems to have tapped in to a rising urge for food amongst rabbis for this type of preparation.
After the pilot ended, dozens extra rabbis utilized to affix this system, with roughly 40 individuals positioned on a waitlist, in line with Eilfort.
Magen Am is now discussing extra funding and hopes to run one other 4 to 6 packages subsequent yr, doubtlessly increasing to as many as 10 to 12 packages the next yr.
The group has already begun increasing its broader safety operations, together with a brand new San Diego workforce.
However the greatest query for some rabbis is what function, if any, firearms ought to play of their spiritual tasks.
For the Los Angeles rabbi, finishing this system didn’t instantly translate into a call to hold a gun.
He mentioned he’s nonetheless contemplating whether or not firearm possession is correct for him and plans to endure extra coaching earlier than making that call.
“I’m nonetheless within the journey with it,” he mentioned. “My greatest takeaway is now I understand how to make use of a firearm. God forbid, if it’s a case of an emergency, as a rabbi, I’m ready.”
He additionally wrestled with the spiritual implications of carrying a firearm.
However Jewish legislation, he mentioned, locations a transparent emphasis on defending human life.
“If it’s a matter of life and loss of life, it’s a must to do all that you could to avoid wasting a life,” he mentioned. “So this might save a life.”
His hope, in the end, is that the coaching by no means must be used.
“If we might all be capable of get alongside and respect one another’s variations, that can actually make a group and a metropolis and a rustic so stunning,” he mentioned.
Obtain The California Publish App, comply with us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
California Publish Information: Fb, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn
California Publish Sports activities Fb, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X
California Publish Opinion
California Publish Newsletters: Join right here!
California Publish App: Obtain right here!
Dwelling supply: Join right here!
Web page Six Hollywood: Join right here!
