In response to the evil that came to Pittsburgh, ingratitude is already bursting out this week from Jews and other Americans from Santa Monica, Boca, Bethesda, to the Upper West Side. The Jews, like their brethren in the desert, will decry their freedom and demand to be returned to the chains of Egypt. They will call again, “we are weak, incapable of caring for ourselves, subject here to the fates and vagaries and vicissitudes of life. There, back in Egypt, in chains there is at least security, three -squares a day, a roof, clothes, and a strong guard at our door.” Thousands of my brother and sister Jews will do this by demanding greater attacks on our glorious Second Amendment -- more “common sense” gun control, more reliance on the State for care. But they will not recognize that in their call for such control, they exhibit deep ingratitude -- in the same way that their forefathers did millennia ago.

Here in America, for the first time in human history, each man and woman -- Jew, Christian, agnostic, and atheist -- has been born into a country where we recognize, embrace, and celebrate that inalienable right, the right to defend ourselves. Government does not dispense that freedom; it is intrinsic to our nature as a free beings created in the image of God. Nowhere has such a powerful freedom been accorded each individual. And no, that freedom does not mean the freedom to vote for a police force, an army, or a militia. It means that every individual, each life is considered precious, and every man is free to hold and wield a weapon to prevent evil from harming or killing him or his family.

In the United States, no Jew will be whipped by some slavemaster, no Jew will be dragged from his home by marauding Cossacks, no Jew will hear the pounding of the Gestapo on his door. Every individual should praise God for the Second Amendment. Every Jew here in this wonderful country should show some gratitude, parade it proudly through the streets. Show that you are a free, strong, brave individual American citizen. Do so by hiring some nice Jewish NRA instructor and learn how to use a powerful handgun. Have him teach your kids. Pull down the foolish, childish signs reading “Stop Gun Violence Now.” Instead, put a sign up in front of your synagogue, the same way that Israelis put up prominent signs: “Evil Beware -- Free, Brave, Strong and Well- Armed American Jews Inside.”

Thank God we have the Jewish State, powerful and armed to protect our free Jewish nation. Thank God we have America, recognizing that to be free, each of us must be able and willing to look evil in the face and cast it loudly and powerfully into hell. We Americans should be deeply thankful for our freedoms, especially our Second Amendment.  We should fight to strengthen it in every state. 

We should pray for our fellow Jews and Americans, pray that God comforts the souls of the murdered and those loved ones they left behind. Evil will come again. Hopefully, more Americans will be prepared.