Gun Zu Le’Tova?

By: Dr. Dovid Fox

Years ago, at my youngest son’s bar mitzvah in Jerusalem, our family davened at the Kotel. At a certain point, I glanced over at my father, a’h, who had traveled from Los Angeles for this simcha. He seemed transfixed on something, and I noted a faraway expression on his face. Later that morning at our seudah (festive reception), he got up to speak and clarified what had come over him. During the Second World War, he had been stationed in North Africa and upon being sent to Egypt and having some time off, he managed to take a train up to Jerusalem so that he could pray on Rosh Hashanah at the Kotel. In those days it was not in our hands and was still called the Wailing Wall, and the only safe way to get there was in uniform and armed. In his speech at the bar mitzvah, he referenced how at one point he had been lost in thought. He explained that a small group of IDF soldiers were making their way from the “Kotel Plaza” to pray. He saw the IDF soldiers in uniform and had a flashback to when he was there as a young soldier more than half a century earlier. He shared the emotions and thoughts that surfaced at that moment. He said, “I hope that Hashem spares our young men so that they never have to carry weapons and fight wars again.”

Later, I spoke with some of my nephews who lived in Eretz Yisrael and are officers in the IDF. They expressed confusion, not comprehending why anyone would not want to serve and carry weapons. It led to a rich discussion about Jews in the Diaspora, their history, and the contrasting realities of living at this time in history in the Holy Land.

How did civilization come to manufacture weapons? In the Torah, we learn about Tuval Cain (Genesis4:22), who is described as the first person to work with iron and metals. There is a midrash which says that he made possible the invention of weapons of war. As we follow the history of warfare as described in the Torah, we read about swords, knives, axes, bows, and arrows, and other tools that can become destructive weapons. Early weaponry was for close-up assaults. A sword is useful for hand-to-hand combat. For longer range assaults, a bow and arrow are useful to strike distant targets. With some understanding of physics, it was not long before catapults, crossbows, then gunpowder were employed to allow for remote attacks. And the rest is history. Our Sages speak about how soldiers carry weapons for offense and defense, but also as a mark of their official status as government forces. Weapons became part of one’s standard uniform, an insignia of one’s rank and role. People might see an armed soldier and instinctively keep a distance, so the weapon was a deterrent. With time, weapons were used to hunt animals for food. Eventually, weapons were used for sport, hunting game even when the game was not used for food. Our Sages began setting limits on Jews who manufactured weapons or who were brokers, cautioning them against selling them to those who might use them against us. Later authorities discussed the morality associated with sport hunting and proscribed this as a hobby not appropriate for Jewish people.

Years ago, as a yeshiva high school student in the militant 1960s, there were groups of Jews advocating martial arts and weaponry training for Jews. This was the generation after the Holocaust, when anti-Semitic incidents were picking up again, and Eretz Yisrael was surrounded by enemies waging war against our people. Many rabbinic leaders did not support the call to arm ourselves, and were not in favor of Jews rallying to arm themselves for the purpose of self-defense. When I was in the 11th grade, there was an incident when a motorcycle gang threatened to cruise the main Jewish thoroughfare and one of the zealous Jewish organizations chose to make a stand there, which aborted the attack. My Rosh Yeshiva’s wife, Rebbetzin Faiga Rachel Wasserman, a’h, who had been following the news, asked the Rosh Yeshiva, z’l, about his views on the matter. We were at the Shabbos table having lunch, and my rebbe said we needed to heed the directives of our Torah leaders. The Rebbetzin responded that she understood that it may not be the Torah way to become vigilantes even for a good cause, yet somehow, one could not help but feel some measure of pride that there are Jews who would stand up to adversaries.

The topic of purchasing guns and practicing at shooting ranges is beyond the scope of this article. What I wish to say, however, is that a responsible adult should think carefully on the subject. Is that gun serving to protect you and your family or are you following a fad, a hobby, something to create an identity for yourself? I think about a relative who lives on a moshav where all the men carry concealed pistols, and one in particular wears two holstered cowboy style six-shooters while wearing a Western ten-gallon hat and pointed leather boots. I wondered if this was an image he sought to portray, a fantasy showing how quick on the draw he was should the need arise.

Is your gun something that helps your children feel protected, or something that makes you look “cool”? Does it scare them? Do the wife and children want this firearm at home, and can it be locked and safe from them? Do they even need to know you have it? How much time do you spend at the range doing target practice? How did you use that time before getting that gun? Is the gun legal or are you slowly collecting an arsenal of munitions that are clearly not for self-defense? On a deeper psychological level, peering into the mind, how do you feel while you are out there shooting? Does firing a weapon create bravado, or are you using your weapon as a means to legitimately protect yourself and others? How does owning a weapon affect your mood? Have you become calmer or is there something about shooting that raises your irritability level? Have you somehow become tougher, possibly gruffer and angrier, which can happen when one joins the “gun culture”?

Studies of those who own guns show that while some owners report a higher sense of security, others report an increase in stress, anxiety, and hypervigilance. The bottom line is that with all the rationale to arm oneself during these uneasy times, it is just as important to examine all of the safety factors, and to be mindful of the impact owning a gun has on the household, which can affect each member of the family in significant ways. Will those guns and martial arts necessitate some marital arts? 

Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is a forensic and clinical psychologist, and director of Chai Lifeline Crisis Services. To contact Chai Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis helpline, call 855-3-CRISIS or email [email protected]. Learn more at ChaiLifeline.org/crisis.