Waitlisted Rabbis Train With Guns and Trauma Kits, Not Just Prayer

Twenty rabbis, five days, and a waiting list longer than the class roster — that's the shape of a firearms training camp for Chabad-Lubavitch clergy that a Los Angeles-area Jewish security organization ran this summer, and it says something about where American religious communities are right now. A video covering the program argues that demand for this kind of training is outstripping what one group can supply, and that the reasons behind it — rising antisemitic threats and skepticism about relying on outside protection — are worth understanding whether or not you belong to the community in question.

The short version

According to the video, a Los Angeles-based Jewish security organization organized a summer firearms camp aimed specifically at rabbis, and the first class pulled twenty Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis from twelve different states. Over five days, the attendees worked through rifle and pistol instruction along with medical training, the kind of trauma care skills that matter if a firearm is ever actually needed in a real incident. The video reports that the program had far more applicants than it could accommodate, leaving a waiting list of rabbis who wanted in but couldn't get a seat this round.

The speaker in the video frames this as more than a one-off curiosity. The argument is that clergy in Jewish communities are increasingly deciding they need to be able to defend their congregations directly, rather than counting solely on local police response times or on the informal hope that violence won't come to their door. The video also uses the camp as a jumping-off point to criticize gun-free-zone policies at houses of worship, arguing that communities that train and arm trusted members are better positioned than communities that legislate themselves into being unarmed targets. That's the source's opinion, not a settled fact, but it's the throughline of the piece.

Key points

• Attendance: Twenty Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis from twelve states attended the five-day camp, according to the video.
• Curriculum: Training covered rifle handling, pistol handling, and medical/trauma care, not just marksmanship.
• Demand: The video reports the program was oversubscribed, with more rabbis applying than could be accepted, resulting in a waiting list for future sessions.
• Organizer: The camp was run by a Jewish security organization based in the Los Angeles area, per the source.
• Argument made: The video's speaker argues that this kind of grassroots training reflects real, felt threats to Jewish communities and makes the case against gun-free-zone policies at religious sites, though this is presented as opinion rather than established policy analysis.

Bottom line

This is a small, specific story — one organization, one class, twenty rabbis — but it points at something bigger that gun owners and trainers should pay attention to: religious communities that have historically been targets are moving from talking about self-defense to actually training for it, medical care included, not just trigger time. For anyone who runs or attends training programs, or who serves a house of worship's safety team, it's a reminder that a credible program needs more than a square range day — it needs a plan for what happens after the first shot, which is exactly why medical training was part of this curriculum.

Summary by Firearm Discounts. Watch the full video from Colion Noir on YouTube.