As the bloody war between Israel and Hamas rages on in the Middle East and antisemitism reaches frightening new levels in America, gun ownership in California’s Jewish community is on the rise — and one rabbi is committed to ensuring that community can safely lock and load.
An instructor for the National Rifle Association (NRA), Rabbi Yossi Eilfort founded Magen Am, an organization operating in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Ariz., that is dedicated to “training and empowering members of our Jewish communities.”
“Magen Am’s mission is to train and empower the community to deter and respond to security threats,” Eilfort said in a recently released video produced by the NRA. “We’re trying to give everybody the tool to be empowered to protect themselves.”
(Video: YouTube)
“NRA instructor Rabbi Yossi and Magen Am have always been at the forefront of empowering and protecting their community, a commitment that took on even greater urgency after the horrific October 7 massacre,” according to the NRA’s executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre. “They’ve trained thousands of men and women in their community, including many first-time gun owners, while also protecting everything from synagogues to schools.”
“Magen Am makes a real impact on the security and protection of the Jewish community,” Magen Am states on its website. “We are the only Jewish, non-profit organization licensed to provide physical, armed security services on the West Coast of the United States. We operate a number of programs to empower communities to be protected and feel secure.”
“We are fully licensed and insured, follow all regulations set forth by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services and municipal code, and have a reputation for providing high-quality, professional security services,” the organization adds.
According to Fox News Digital, Magen Am “trains volunteers and community members in extensive classes on gun safety, hand-to-hand self-defense, de-escalation, verbal tactics and the use of intermediate weapons such as Tasers or batons.”
Elifort doesn’t just know how to handle a gun, the rabbi is a former MMA fighter.
“Magen Am means ‘nation’s shield,'” he explains in the NRA video. “I like to say we’re like a shield. We’re about 30-30-30: Where one-third is hired professionals dealing with institutional security; one-third dealing with community training; and then one-third is working with government law enforcement,”
Since the savage Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the disturbing pro-Palestinian sentiment that has flooded America’s cities and universities, those in the Jewish community who are availing themselves of Magen Am’s services are understandably frightened.
“I feel like a target,” one Magen Am customer said in the video. “Explosives have been thrown at the synagogue right behind my house.”
“It’s unbelievable, the fact that these people can be on the side of terrorists,” noted another.
“As an NRA instructor, Rabbi Yossi embodies the Association’s commitment to self-defense and community safety,” LaPierre said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are proud to count him as one of the NRA’s 125,000 dedicated instructors – the unsung heroes who help train Americans to safeguard themselves, their loved ones, and their communities every day.”
As BizPac Review reported in October, Jewish Americans across the country have been abandoning their traditional disdain for firearms and signing up in droves for gun training classes.
American Jews signing up in droves for gun training classes: ‘Not safe anywhere now’ https://t.co/GoJqoBtzyu via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) October 22, 2023
“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people, purchasing firearms,” David Kowalsky, the Jewish owner of the Florida Gun Store in Hollywood, Fla., told NBC News at the time.
Like Magen Am, Kowalsky provides his customers with gun training safety classes.
“I’ve seen a surge in interest in individual training as well as group training,” he said.
Russell Stuart, owner of Beverly Hills Guns and a longtime friend of Rabbi Yossi, told Fox News Digital that he’s seen sales go “through the roof” in the wake of Oct. 7th.
“The firearm sales have been absolutely through the roof. It has been a 3X minimum increase in typical sales around this time of year,” he said. “But what’s been more concerning to me … from my humanistic side, is listening to people say that this is a second Holocaust. Listening to people say they’ve never seen just the outright Jewish hatred in the streets from people that have no idea what they’re even talking about.”
Stuart makes it a point to discuss with each customer who comes into his store their reasons for wanting a firearm. The stories his Jewish customers have shared have shocked his employees.
“You don’t even see a gun until we’ve had a discussion, and I kind of know where your head is at,” Stuart said. “And hearing these stories has probably been the most gut-wrenching thing because – it’s almost like a psychologist – listening to hundreds and hundreds of horrific stories, including family members with kids who are still serving in the IDF.”
He finds the fact that “fear” is fueling their decision to buy a firearm concerning.
“There’s a difference between wanting to defend your family by owning a gun and exercising your Second Amendment rights, and coming in because you are afraid,” he said. “And you are afraid of being you because you were born under a certain religious or geographical or ideological designation. That strikes fear into you.”
But training with Magen Am is making some in the Jewish community feel “stronger.”
“Going in, I felt kind of powerless. I felt kind of scared,” one woman said in the NRA video. “And at the end of the session, I feel empowered. I feel stronger, and I feel I can better defend my family and myself.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.