Every Jewish household should have at least one firearm in their home for each adult, and they should go to the range and become familiar and comfortable with it. We are lucky in the United States to have the 2nd Amendment, in addition to the 1st Amendment, which allows us to practice our faith as Jews and live our lives as Jews, and to arm ourselves for self protection and protection of others.
Shooting is relaxing, meditative, even peaceful. It will give you confidence and allow you to sleep comfortably at night. Turning weapons into plowshares is aspirational, but Israel should never put down its weapons, nor should Jews outside of Israel. To do so is folly.
I agree with everything you said and I will add that protecting ourselves physically is of course important, but protecting our assets against lawfare is essential. All of us who own weapons should not only know how to use them, but when to use them, and how to handle the aftermath of a shooting incident. Homeowners policies will generally not cover an intentional act of self defense. One must obtain self defense insurance including criminal defense and civil liability coverage at the highest limits affordable. Shalom
thank you for writing this. I am sure that many other, like me, can relate. I experienced a lot antisemitism as a youngster growing up in a Deep South town with few Jews and though my fears faded after I moved to bigger cities, it came roaring back after Oct. 7th. I began having panic attacks at night when I reviewed the news of the day regarding protests and Jew Hate. So, I got involved with a few non-profit groups fighting antisemitism (which has become nearly a full-time job for me) and that has helped me a LOT because I feel like I am doing something, helping in some way. I guess that is called "empowerment." I still feel very concerned and sometimes stressed when I read the news, but the panic attacks have stopped and I can function much better. I will continue to work to fight antisemitism and spread the word about Islamic extremism and its threat to the civilized world. What else can we possibly do other than that?
I've had many people I work with reach out to see how my family is doing, including many Indian-born engineers. The only ones who really haven't were a pair of 'progressive' Jews, one of them married to a Jewish convert JVP member. I cut those people out of my life.
I used to be a progressive. None of my old left wing friends reached out to me. I now live in a small purple town where most of my friends happen to be right wing, and none of them reached out to me. I reached out to my sister and my cousin. My sister said to me, "How could you not have expected this, having grown up in Fall River [Massachusetts]?" Well I remember the vicious antisemitism of my youth but I figured that was just Fall River. Silly me. In the last decade, well before 10/7/23, I lost a couple of close friends and access to my Norwegian husband's entire family because of antisemitism. I was primed but I was still saying, "These are individual antisemites." The international reaction of 10/7 made it clear they were not individuals, that antisemitism is in the air we breathe. A commenter on Substack made the point that 10/7 was a global Kristallnacht. He was right. Technology has made Jew hatred far more widespread and potentially far more lethal than it ever was.
When I was a software engineer, I reflexively considered how every new technology could be used against the Jews. I refused to work with technologies I thought were especially dangerous because I didn't want to be an enabler, but of course someone is always willing to fill that job. To understand *how* technology could be used to destroy us is not the same as knowing how technology could be used to save us.
In my 30s, I called the Aliyah office to say, "I'm an engineer, I have skills, I'm Jewish, I want to come and help." I spoke to a woman who listened to my progressive credentials and told me, "We don't want you," and I wasn't that surprised because I had been cast out of my family for intermarrying; the Jewish answer was always "we don't want you." I didn't pursue it further because I had a recurring theme. So I never came and helped. I think now how different my life would have been if I had spoken to someone else.
Lately I've been reading the Prophets and it is only in the old texts that I find any consolation at all, and I find myself arguing fruitlessly with my credulity. We will need G-d's protection, and I find myself believing because I need to believe.
Oh yeah, wanted to add that the first words I said to myself when I heard about what happened Oct. 7 were "Okay enough." And that day changed me in many ways; my political views are 50% different I'd say; to whom I donate is entirely different; we purchased our first gun and are getting comfortable with it (something I never thought I'd do).
100% agree with what you say regarding donations to American universities, and students at universities who exhibit malice toward America - out! Same for all immigrants, students or not. (I have not had ANY non-Jewish friend ask how I'm doing; your understanding was good to hear). Two out of my three children have encountered anti-semitism at work -- they both reported it and it was addressed, happy to say (the third works at home, so . . . ). With 39 years in corporate America I think I overheard one anti-semitic remark one time. So, great blog. Thank you. And yes, after Saturday comes Sunday.
Thank you and I agree. Oct 7 is the turning point for me. The antisemitism is building in America. The 1968 Gun Control Act by Thomas Dodd is written using verbatim plagiarizing of whole paragraphs from the 1938 Nazi Weapons Law which took guns (and sabers) from Jews. That should scare us into action. I did not know the families massacred in Israel were not armed.
What you have got to understand is that Racial Hatred in general, and Anti-Semitism particularly, is nurtured to survive from generation to generation eternally by The State and Far Right Elements in The Government. Anti-Semitism is then brought out and used to justify the power of the Elites in the State in times of Peril, whether the peril is either real or imagined. Racial Hatred is thus Protected and Used by The State. We monitors have proved this fact once again here in Europe. Our Reports of the many years we have been watching this are with EVERYONE who needs to know, both in the Jewish and The Non-Jewish Communities. Job done.
Please tell us more about the Muslims and Arabs who vote for Far-Right — oh wait, no, Far-Left — politicians and those who acquiesce to them. The year is 2024, not 1924. Antisemitism is as much of an issue on the Left as it is on the Right nowadays. Wake up.
The absolute difference between antifungals from the right and from the left is that, on the right, it is a few thousand, mostly disorganized complainers, who love tiki torches and are despised by the Republican party. In the left you have hundreds of thousands of extremely well-organized Jew haters, who make our lives miserable every single day, not just one day in Charlottesville. These a-holes are totally embraced and loved by the Democrat party, who funds their activities through NGOs and supports their efforts by electing politicians like those in the squad.
There could be more difference between antisemitism from the right and left. I hate both, but I fear what comes from the left.
Ask yourself how many right wing nuts have shot at Jews since October 7th. I'm pretty sure the number is zero. Ask yourself how many Jews (and others) have been killed (like Paul Kessler), injured or attacked (including the maintenance workers held against their will at Columbus, or Jewish UCLA student blocked from getting to classes) by antisemites on the left. The number is way above zero.
And to compound the problem, you see the Democrat district attorneys in these jurisdictions claiming there is "no evidence of hate crimes" and a general refusal to prosecute, or to plea bargain charges to misdemeanors.
So, yes, if you're talking about possession of firearms, you are rm correct. The nuts on the right are better armed. But if you're talking about actual harm being done to Jews, both mentally and physically, anti-Semitism on the left is far more aggregious.
Our monitoring has been of State Fascism. Certainly, both sides of the political spectrum have a problem. I agree there is a problem with Anti-Semitism in the Left, but this is Not in The Government, and is not State policy. But Nazism and The Re-Formation of The Nazi Party by Elements of The State, which is now on the record, was and is at the top of MI6 here in Europe. Nazism in The Elites here in Europe is of supreme danger to the world, not only to Jewish people. Our monitoring has been of this State Fascism, which is now out and in the Record. Job done.
The biggest Nazis today are Islamists and their far-left lackeys, who actively harass, vandalize and attack diaspora Jews worldwide. The biggest Nazi sympathizers today are the 'progressives' who support the actions of the far-left and join them in their anti-Israel vitriol.
"I recall tales of Nazism (from firsthand experience) as told by my teachers to be … something of a relic. These firsthand stories were impactful for me to hear, but were mentally placed on the shelf of history. For me, it was an abstraction"
and
"The day that October 7th happened, a day in which more than 350 people were slaughtered at a music festival and hundreds more murdered in utterly gruesome fashion across southern Israel, I was at a music festival with my wife in Texas. What are the odds? I later thought that could have be"
Jewishness has been so watered down in America, especially among the left leaning Reform and Reconstructionists, that their identification with Jewish history is shallow at best, superficial in the main, and trivial for the most part. Like this writer, my early teachers were Holocaust survivors, but unlike his detached attitude, mine and my fellow classmates to the horrors being recounted was that were we there then, that would have happened to us.
By the way, “Sheket bevakasha!” literally translates as "Quiet please" not "Shut up and lisiten."
This misinterpretation is but another example of the tone of low self esteem and self deprecatory attitude that permeates this article.
One does not have to be ultra-Orthodox to be proud of a 3,500+ year history, culture, and accumulation of wisdom-lore.
Every Jewish household should have at least one firearm in their home for each adult, and they should go to the range and become familiar and comfortable with it. We are lucky in the United States to have the 2nd Amendment, in addition to the 1st Amendment, which allows us to practice our faith as Jews and live our lives as Jews, and to arm ourselves for self protection and protection of others.
Shooting is relaxing, meditative, even peaceful. It will give you confidence and allow you to sleep comfortably at night. Turning weapons into plowshares is aspirational, but Israel should never put down its weapons, nor should Jews outside of Israel. To do so is folly.
I agree with everything you said and I will add that protecting ourselves physically is of course important, but protecting our assets against lawfare is essential. All of us who own weapons should not only know how to use them, but when to use them, and how to handle the aftermath of a shooting incident. Homeowners policies will generally not cover an intentional act of self defense. One must obtain self defense insurance including criminal defense and civil liability coverage at the highest limits affordable. Shalom
thank you for writing this. I am sure that many other, like me, can relate. I experienced a lot antisemitism as a youngster growing up in a Deep South town with few Jews and though my fears faded after I moved to bigger cities, it came roaring back after Oct. 7th. I began having panic attacks at night when I reviewed the news of the day regarding protests and Jew Hate. So, I got involved with a few non-profit groups fighting antisemitism (which has become nearly a full-time job for me) and that has helped me a LOT because I feel like I am doing something, helping in some way. I guess that is called "empowerment." I still feel very concerned and sometimes stressed when I read the news, but the panic attacks have stopped and I can function much better. I will continue to work to fight antisemitism and spread the word about Islamic extremism and its threat to the civilized world. What else can we possibly do other than that?
My heart 💔 aches for your pains. Thank you for sharing. Shalom. I am Yisrael Chai!
I've had many people I work with reach out to see how my family is doing, including many Indian-born engineers. The only ones who really haven't were a pair of 'progressive' Jews, one of them married to a Jewish convert JVP member. I cut those people out of my life.
I used to be a progressive. None of my old left wing friends reached out to me. I now live in a small purple town where most of my friends happen to be right wing, and none of them reached out to me. I reached out to my sister and my cousin. My sister said to me, "How could you not have expected this, having grown up in Fall River [Massachusetts]?" Well I remember the vicious antisemitism of my youth but I figured that was just Fall River. Silly me. In the last decade, well before 10/7/23, I lost a couple of close friends and access to my Norwegian husband's entire family because of antisemitism. I was primed but I was still saying, "These are individual antisemites." The international reaction of 10/7 made it clear they were not individuals, that antisemitism is in the air we breathe. A commenter on Substack made the point that 10/7 was a global Kristallnacht. He was right. Technology has made Jew hatred far more widespread and potentially far more lethal than it ever was.
When I was a software engineer, I reflexively considered how every new technology could be used against the Jews. I refused to work with technologies I thought were especially dangerous because I didn't want to be an enabler, but of course someone is always willing to fill that job. To understand *how* technology could be used to destroy us is not the same as knowing how technology could be used to save us.
In my 30s, I called the Aliyah office to say, "I'm an engineer, I have skills, I'm Jewish, I want to come and help." I spoke to a woman who listened to my progressive credentials and told me, "We don't want you," and I wasn't that surprised because I had been cast out of my family for intermarrying; the Jewish answer was always "we don't want you." I didn't pursue it further because I had a recurring theme. So I never came and helped. I think now how different my life would have been if I had spoken to someone else.
Lately I've been reading the Prophets and it is only in the old texts that I find any consolation at all, and I find myself arguing fruitlessly with my credulity. We will need G-d's protection, and I find myself believing because I need to believe.
I wish everyone would read this. I’m relieved we have 2a in the US.
This is how I feel every single day. So difficult to express in words.
Oh yeah, wanted to add that the first words I said to myself when I heard about what happened Oct. 7 were "Okay enough." And that day changed me in many ways; my political views are 50% different I'd say; to whom I donate is entirely different; we purchased our first gun and are getting comfortable with it (something I never thought I'd do).
100% agree with what you say regarding donations to American universities, and students at universities who exhibit malice toward America - out! Same for all immigrants, students or not. (I have not had ANY non-Jewish friend ask how I'm doing; your understanding was good to hear). Two out of my three children have encountered anti-semitism at work -- they both reported it and it was addressed, happy to say (the third works at home, so . . . ). With 39 years in corporate America I think I overheard one anti-semitic remark one time. So, great blog. Thank you. And yes, after Saturday comes Sunday.
I am shocked with myself for fully agreeing with the premise of this article!
We have all changed.
Thank you and I agree. Oct 7 is the turning point for me. The antisemitism is building in America. The 1968 Gun Control Act by Thomas Dodd is written using verbatim plagiarizing of whole paragraphs from the 1938 Nazi Weapons Law which took guns (and sabers) from Jews. That should scare us into action. I did not know the families massacred in Israel were not armed.
I wonder what the gun laws are in Israel; most everyone knows how to use them.
What you have got to understand is that Racial Hatred in general, and Anti-Semitism particularly, is nurtured to survive from generation to generation eternally by The State and Far Right Elements in The Government. Anti-Semitism is then brought out and used to justify the power of the Elites in the State in times of Peril, whether the peril is either real or imagined. Racial Hatred is thus Protected and Used by The State. We monitors have proved this fact once again here in Europe. Our Reports of the many years we have been watching this are with EVERYONE who needs to know, both in the Jewish and The Non-Jewish Communities. Job done.
Please tell us more about the Muslims and Arabs who vote for Far-Right — oh wait, no, Far-Left — politicians and those who acquiesce to them. The year is 2024, not 1924. Antisemitism is as much of an issue on the Left as it is on the Right nowadays. Wake up.
100%. We have the "progressive" left, the Neo-Nazi right and the radical Islamists. It's a regular rainbow of anti-semitism.
The absolute difference between antifungals from the right and from the left is that, on the right, it is a few thousand, mostly disorganized complainers, who love tiki torches and are despised by the Republican party. In the left you have hundreds of thousands of extremely well-organized Jew haters, who make our lives miserable every single day, not just one day in Charlottesville. These a-holes are totally embraced and loved by the Democrat party, who funds their activities through NGOs and supports their efforts by electing politicians like those in the squad.
There could be more difference between antisemitism from the right and left. I hate both, but I fear what comes from the left.
Good point. Although the right seems to be very armed. So there’s that.
Ask yourself how many right wing nuts have shot at Jews since October 7th. I'm pretty sure the number is zero. Ask yourself how many Jews (and others) have been killed (like Paul Kessler), injured or attacked (including the maintenance workers held against their will at Columbus, or Jewish UCLA student blocked from getting to classes) by antisemites on the left. The number is way above zero.
And to compound the problem, you see the Democrat district attorneys in these jurisdictions claiming there is "no evidence of hate crimes" and a general refusal to prosecute, or to plea bargain charges to misdemeanors.
So, yes, if you're talking about possession of firearms, you are rm correct. The nuts on the right are better armed. But if you're talking about actual harm being done to Jews, both mentally and physically, anti-Semitism on the left is far more aggregious.
Well said Joshua
Our monitoring has been of State Fascism. Certainly, both sides of the political spectrum have a problem. I agree there is a problem with Anti-Semitism in the Left, but this is Not in The Government, and is not State policy. But Nazism and The Re-Formation of The Nazi Party by Elements of The State, which is now on the record, was and is at the top of MI6 here in Europe. Nazism in The Elites here in Europe is of supreme danger to the world, not only to Jewish people. Our monitoring has been of this State Fascism, which is now out and in the Record. Job done.
The biggest Nazis today are Islamists and their far-left lackeys, who actively harass, vandalize and attack diaspora Jews worldwide. The biggest Nazi sympathizers today are the 'progressives' who support the actions of the far-left and join them in their anti-Israel vitriol.
The author makes two interesting observations:
"I recall tales of Nazism (from firsthand experience) as told by my teachers to be … something of a relic. These firsthand stories were impactful for me to hear, but were mentally placed on the shelf of history. For me, it was an abstraction"
and
"The day that October 7th happened, a day in which more than 350 people were slaughtered at a music festival and hundreds more murdered in utterly gruesome fashion across southern Israel, I was at a music festival with my wife in Texas. What are the odds? I later thought that could have be"
Jewishness has been so watered down in America, especially among the left leaning Reform and Reconstructionists, that their identification with Jewish history is shallow at best, superficial in the main, and trivial for the most part. Like this writer, my early teachers were Holocaust survivors, but unlike his detached attitude, mine and my fellow classmates to the horrors being recounted was that were we there then, that would have happened to us.
By the way, “Sheket bevakasha!” literally translates as "Quiet please" not "Shut up and lisiten."
This misinterpretation is but another example of the tone of low self esteem and self deprecatory attitude that permeates this article.
One does not have to be ultra-Orthodox to be proud of a 3,500+ year history, culture, and accumulation of wisdom-lore.
So terribly and sadly true