Go Ahead, Make my High Holiday

You know what the difference between paranoia and Jewish paranoia is? Paranoia is when you think someone is out to get you. Jewish Paranoia is when you know someone is out to get you.

Some New York-area congregations can rest easy during these High Holidays: as the New York Post reported, "a group of badass rabbis has developed a program to turn your average shul-goer into a lean, mean fighting machine." I have always noticed a modest uniformed police presence during the High Holidays at my family's St. Louis-area reform congregation. But, unlike some congregants in New York (who call themselves the International Security Coalition of Clergy), I do not believe that members at my family's place of worship are "packing heat" in preparation for potential jihadists.

Check out the video below to see how Rabbi Gary Moscowitz "leads fellow heat-packing holy men in a self-defense drill at a Queens synagogue." Plus points if you notice the blooper toward the end.