The federal prosecutors have rightfully sought the death penalty in the Pittsburg synagogue shooting in which 11 people were killed, the deadliest attack on Jews in US history, notwithstanding statements from some rabbis from one of the more leftist denominations of Judaism.
The classical statement of Jewish self-defense from the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law& theology, is “If Someone Comes to Kill You, Rise Up and Kill Him First.”
If the congregants in Pittsburg had been encouraged to train and arm themselves for self-defense, a suggestion that is now sweeping Jewish congregations of all flavors across the country, perhaps the gunman might have been stopped well short of the 11 who were massacred.
So, the reality of the world in which we now live is that all Americans, not just Jewish Americans, should adhere to the admonition of “If Someone Comes to Kill You, Rise Up and Kill Him First.”
It was true centuries ago and is true today.
