Monday, September 7, 2009
Will daven for ammo: Go ahead, make my high holiday - Mazel-tough guys gunning for terrorists
It's high noon for the high holidays.
Fearing jihadists will attack synagogues during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a group of badass rabbis has developed a program to turn your average shul-goer into a lean, mean fighting machine.
The group, which calls itself the International Security Coalition of Clergy, was founded by Rabbi Gary Moscowitz, who boasts a black belt in karate, teaches martial arts and was an NYPD cop for nine years.
He's teaching others basic and advanced fighting moves -- how to take down a terrorist by the neck, how to use a table as cover from gunfire and how to execute a nifty running somersault while drawing a gun -- that he says can be used by Jews if they're attacked by terrorists during prayer.
"Jews are not like Christians," Moscowitz said. "If I turn my cheek, I'm coming around to make a kick."...
[h/t: Eric D.]
I had to laugh at these warrior wannabees trying to find cover from .45's or .357's behind a thin layer of foam in the synagogue chairs or, like the rabbi himself, collapsing a folding table while he tried to play Baruch Willis at Nakatomi Plaza.
DEAD. That's what this embarassingly amateur security training is going to do to someone's aging uncle or the post- bar mitzvah boy in this video.
The New York phone book has several numbers of qualified security services -- if the shul wants to provide real security and not just scare people.
I still don't understand why the majority of New Yorkers (and Americans) didn't immediately take security/self defense classes after 9/11. Terrorists target civilians, which makes us all 'first responders'. We're all responsible for providing for our own security, whether we want to be or not.
The blackout that occurred in NYC was proof that we can't always depend on the city to respond reasonably or effectively. The average fireman or policeman does an excellent job, but they are managed by bureaucrats and politicians.
The table probably wouldn't provide good cover. There are reasonable security/defense courses that are being taught in every city.
I believe Rabbi Gary Moscowitz used to be a New York City police officer and was once profiled as a Cop with a Kippah.
The person who said 'turn the other cheek' was not a Christian either. He is a Jew too.
I'd like to see more Christian Priests and Ministers show this type of courage. Self-defense requires no explanation or justification because human life is of infinite value and must be defended.
Some Christians have the mistaken notion that Jesus, although a pacifist Himself, requires all Christians to be pacifists. This is not true; Jesus understood the need for self-defense; something He personally was willing to forego as He gave His life as a sacrifice. Pacifism is noble when joined to sacrifice, but it only represents cowardice without sacrifice.
Jesus had the opportunity to tell the Roman Centurion to renounce the use of arms but He didn't. Jesus had the opportunity to tell the man who defended Him with a sword to throw away his sword, but Jesus only told him to re-sheathe the sword i.e.: to keep his sword; and Jesus also gave the man a warning regarding the illegitimate use of the sword. Jesus had this advice for His followers:
"And He said unto them, when I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said nothing. And He said unto them, but now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet; and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword."
My conclusion is that although Jesus was a courageous pacifist with a mission of self-sacrifice, God the Father is sometimes a warrior.
When Jesus instructed His followers to turn the other cheek it was in the context of social interpersonal relationships. One would be wise to follow this instruction in social settings; this was not however a command for His followers to forego self-defense when life or limb is in danger.