Inside the ‘summer camp’ training rabbis how to use firearms

A five-day “summer camp” in Los Angeles where rabbis learn firearms safety, emergency medicine, and synagogue security sounds, on first read, like something out of a dark joke. Then you remember why it exists. Synagogues have been targeted. People have died. So the fact that 20 rabbis from 12 states felt they needed to spend their week drilling on tourniquets and threat response ahead of the High Holy Days is not a cultural curiosity. It’s a warning flare.

The interesting part isn’t that clergy are touching guns. It’s that they’re doing it in a structured, safety-first setting, alongside medical training and practical security planning. This is what “being prepared” looks like when you don’t have the luxury of pretending danger is theoretical. If someone has a better idea than trained, sober adults learning how to protect their congregations, we’d love to hear it. “Just call the police” is not a plan when seconds matter and patrol cars are minutes away.

Of course, the same people who sneer at armed self-defense often insist they’re serious about hate crimes and public safety. Here’s a concrete case where communities saw the risk, did the work, and didn’t wait for a press conference. You don’t stop a killer with a yard sign. And the left’s habit of treating every gun as a political prop doesn’t help the families trying to keep worshipers safe on a Saturday morning.

We also shouldn’t miss the quiet dignity in this. These rabbis aren’t playing cowboy. They’re taking responsibility for their people, with training that stresses restraint, competence, and emergency care. Security is now part of religious life in America, and that’s the tragedy. But until lawmakers and prosecutors take violent threats seriously, and until our culture stops romanticizing chaos, communities will keep adapting. They shouldn’t be shamed for it. They should be supported.