The Vacation Is Over!

Print Friendly and PDF

By Rabbi Cary Kozberg. April 12, 2022

This past week here in Columbus, Ohio, it was discovered that Thomas Devlin, a guard from a private security firm hired to protect the local Orthodox Jewish day school, had posted an anti-Semitic post on the dark web holding up a handgun and had threatened violence against parents dropping their children off. It made national news.

Fortunately—but totally by accident—the post was discovered, and the man was arrested before any harm could be done. He faces a several federal charges and is in jail on $1M bond.

How could this happen? At a community meeting to discuss what happened and how to prevent something similar from happening again, we learned from Homeland Security’s liaison to our Jewish community that he himself had hired the man. How? Because the man was a member of the National Guard and was highly qualified for the security position. Moreover, there was absolutely no indication or evidence in his background that he was a white supremacist and Jew-hater. He was discovered when a fellow member of his National Guard unit who also participated in this hate chat group, died.

When the mother of the deceased was going through his personal belongings, she began to look at his cell phone and discovered the postings. She turned the phone over to the National Guard who did more investigating and determined that Devlin was a member of this group. This information was then shared with our local Homeland Security team. Telling the folks at the meeting this story, our liaison expressed a deep sense of shock, embarrassment, and a tremendous sense of betrayal. It was as if he had inadvertently put his own family in danger. But given that there was no prior indication of his beliefs and given that his qualifications were superb, he seemed the perfect candidate. At the end of the day, what had happened was an anomaly.

In the discussion that followed, the focus was how to strengthen security at our schools and synagogues, so that this kind of anomaly would not happen again. We were assured that in the future, only police officers and not private security personnel would be used. However, we were also told that these days--for various reasons--off-duty officers were not as available as they once were.

During the question/answer period, I mentioned that when I was in synagogue on the previous Saturday morning, a woman commented that discovering the true intentions of the security guard was a “great miracle”. I told the crowd that I had agreed with her but reminded her that the Talmud teaches us that we should not rely on miracles. In other words, we Jews must be better prepared, even for anomalies.

I told the crowd that this incident was further evidence that while “best practices” may dictate that police officers be the first line of defense (in my opinion, up for debate), they must not be the ONLY line of defense. We need to be responsible for our own safety and security—which means that members of our own community need to be recruited and responsibly trained to use firearms and respond with force if necessary—as “back-up” for the professional(s) on site. Fortunately, others in the crowd expressed their agreement, and the conveners assured us that, regarding improving security measures, “nothing was off the table”.

In truth, I’m not convinced that at community leadership will really take such a suggestion seriously. To be sure, some synagogues here in Columbus have already begun to implement having armed and trained laity as part of their own security programs. Regrettably, other synagogues continue to have strict “no guns allowed” policies—despite Pittsburgh, Poway, and Colleyville. Predictably, those synagogues that are “pro-firearms” are usually Orthodox with a large number of members being politically conservative, while those that are “anti” are non-Orthodox (Reform Reconstructionist, Conservative), whose members are generally politically liberal or progressive.

Regrettably, it is those non-Orthodox Jews who continue to allow their emotions to eclipse reason. Indeed, some rabbis who serve such congregations maintain that, following the mandate to “welcome the stranger”, they also would have let the Colleyville intruder in.

What remains puzzling to me is this: as I write this, Passover is around the corner. At our Passover seder tables we will recite these words from the Passover haggadah: Not only one (person or nation) has arisen to annihilate us, but rather in each generation, they arise to annihilate us. But the Holy One Blessed be He, rescues us from their hand. Our annihilation was not just the goal of past enemies; it is the goal of present-day enemies, be they a nation like Iran or an individual like Thomas Devlin. So why don’t more American Jews affirm that the time has come to be more serious about self-defense and responsible firearm use?

Three reasons come to mind. The first seems obvious: the de facto religion of most American Jews—particularly among the “non-Orthodox—is not Judaism, but liberal/progressive politics, the tenets of which teach that firearms, not human beings, are the cause of so much violence.

The two other reasons seem to contradict each other. One is that the reluctance to integrating self-defense into Jewish life and teaching is a “hold over” from living as victims in the Diaspora for 2000 years. Wherever Jews lived, suffering/dying because they were Jews was part of our particular “cross to bear” (!). Throughout our Diaspora history, “sanctifying G-d’s name” was understood as the noble reason we suffered and died as Jews. But after the Holocaust and certainly since the creation of the State of Israel with her determination to defend herself, many Jews have begun to consider finally putting down this cross. But not enough of them.

Which brings us to the third reason. The third reason more American Jews have not embraced the need to learn self-defense and firearm use is this: by and large, the American Jewish experience has NOT been one of suffering/dying. This is not to say that anti-Semitism doesn’t exist in this country. It does, and always has. But violence--threatened or actual--against Jews in this country has always been rare. Indeed, it has been said that because violence against Jews in this country has been the exception and not the rule, American Jewry “has been on a vacation” from Jewish history.

But given the fact that hate crimes against Jews have dramatically increased and Jews are the #1 target of hate in this country… THE VACATION IS OVER.

“In each generation, they arise to annihilate us…” We Jews in America live in a time when current events tell us that these are not just words to be recited as we wait for dinner at the seder table. They remind us that our history of being the targets of hate is beckoning us back. Our vacation has ended. The question is: how will we respond?

By spending time and energy trying to reason with, and educate those who hate us (when has that ever worked)? By nobly suffering in silence?

Or, by following the 73+ year-old example of the State of Israel and not rely on others to help us, but taking responsibility for our own security and safety?

The quote from the Passover haggadah concludes: But the Holy One Blessed be He, rescues us from their hand. However, the old saying should be heeded: G-d helps those who help themselves. If the Holocaust taught us anything, we cannot expect or rely on miracles of the magnitude of the exodus from Egypt. But that does not mean G-d has abandoned us. Rather, He seems to want us to be a more active partner in our own rescue.

King David understood this well. The composer of the some of the most beautiful spiritual literature ever created, he was a warrior par excellence who sung:

“Blessed is the Lord, My Rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war” (Psalm 144:1) *

*This verse is on my carry holster.

smalline

Back to Top