On One Foot
Rabbi Adam Wright TEMPLE EMANU-EL, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
I THINK if someone knows that there is a well-trained civilian popu- lation—let’s just say it’s the Ameri- can Jewish community—people are going have second thoughts about whether or not they will engage the threat. I don’t think we have a gun problem; I think we have a violence problem. I’m an ardent fighter for Jewish self-determination. I think,
after October 7, Israeli gun ownership increased. They made it this respon- sibility to prevent future attacks. I don’t want congregants carrying them to the sanctuary. I would say, for synagogues today, you have to have formidable security. We know that, when there’s an armed security officer outside with lights, you will deter 99% of threats. That should
be sufficient. But what if they’re on their phones, if they’re futzing around, if that first line of defence goes down, who’s next? There should maybe be one to two people carrying in the sanctuary. I think you can make it a Shabbat value because it has the potential to stop a threat. We saw that in Jersey City, we saw that in Monsey, New York.
Rabbi Steven Wernick BETH TZEDEC CONGREGATION, TORONTO
I AM NOT always opposed to gun ownership. I do feel that it’s not a bad thing for Jews to know how to operate a gun. That being said, having spent most of my life in the United States and a good chunk of it now in Canada, I’m just not convinced by the argument that gun ownership actually solves the problem. I think that it is too easy to access weapons, certainly in the case of the United States. There are not enough reasonable safeguards on gun ownership, and there’s way too much violence that happens as a result of that access in the United States. Looking at that as the model and now being here in Canada, which
mary example is in the Ten Com- mandments. In the Christian Bible, it gets translated as, “Thou shalt not kill.” But the Sixth Commandment is actually, “Thou shalt not commit murder.” And there’s a qualitative difference between murder, which involves premeditation, and killing, versus self-defence. Killing is still wrong, but if it happens in self- defence, it’s not punishable because there’s a mitigating circumstance. So our tradition understands the necessity and the circumstances that will inevitably develop for people living in society where self-defence is necessary.
has tighter civilian ownership re- quirements, I don’t believe that Jews should own a gun—but at the same time, I wouldn’t condemn someone or judge someone who wanted to own a weapon, especially in this time of rising antisemitism. When we already have had shots fired at a Jewish day school in Toronto, I don’t feel that I can, in good conscience, condemn people who feel the need to do that. I would just caution them to follow all the reasonable safeguards and precautions that should come with gun ownership. Our Jewish tradition understands the need for self-defence. The pri-
preservation of life is mandatory in almost all situations, which includes avoiding endangering other people’s lives. Any Jew contemplating gun ownership should reflect on their intent. Is there a genuine need for it, or is it more a matter of psychological reassurance and boosting morale? Are they willing to commit to rigorous training and safety protocols to ensure that the gun nev- er risks causing avoidable harm? In short, this is not a matter to enter into lightly, and the bar is very high.
THE RECENTLY RELEASED film Guns & Moses , about a fictional rabbi hunting down the person who attacked his small-town congregation, points to a growing sense that many Jews are increasingly interested in guns and their capacity to defend themselves. There is also correspondingly vocal resistance to this trend, one that does not want Jews to go down this path and preaches non-violence instead. It seems clear that Judaism does not believe in pure non-violence: self-defence is a virtue and
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