CCAR RESPONSA
Gun on Temple Property
5753.24
She’elah
Is it proper for your Temple superintendent, a non-Jew who lives on the synagogue premises, to keep a gun
in his apartment? Though the temple already has an electronic security system in place, he wants the added
protection of a gun for his own personal safety. Some members of our Board have expressed reservation about the
matter of safety as well as about the symbolism of a gun on temple property. (Rabbi Jonathan Stein, Indianapolis,
IN)
Teshuvah
A number of issues must be considered:
1. Self-defense. Both Torah and tradition deal with the principle at stake. The basic law is Exod.
22:1-2, which speaks of a thief engaged in housebreaking. It provides that if he does so bamachteret,
literally, while tunneling [under the wall] and is surprised in the act, may be slain, and the owner incurs no
guilt in doing so. By extension, this was applied to any attempted robbery perpetrated at night, but when it is done
during daylight hours, killing the intruder is not permitted under ordinary circumstances and the owner is held
responsible for manslaughter.
The Rabbis took these verses as the basis for extended legal considerations and said: When our life is
and a nighttime robbery suggests that we may take action in self-defense, even if this
requires that we shed blood. This was derived from Exodus 22:1.1
Thus they ask whether the killing stipulated in Exod. 22:1 may also be done on Shabbat, and the answer is
affirmative, because a superior principle is at stake: break the Shabbat laws which ordinarily would prohibit the use
of arms.
A general rule is then adduced: When someone threatens to kill you may anticipate him and kill him before
he has a chance to harm you. This applies even if there is no certainty that the intruder means to kill you. For,
coming at night and knowing that you will defend your property, he is likely armed and therefore must be considered
dangerous. This applies on Shabbat as well, even though you are not really certain that, in fact, he is armed. The rule
is: if there is any reasonable doubt about you personal safety, defending it has priority over everything, even Shabbat.
Self-defense by any appropriate means is therefore considered legitimate, and the locus of the defense (whether
outside or inside the temple) is immaterial. (Your state’s civil and criminal law will have additional parameters.)
2. Security. Is there any justified worry about security on the temple’s premises or in the
neighborhood? This is a question your Board will have to answer, and obviously the superintendent must be
consulted about the reasons why he feels threatened.
Security has another aspect: is the superintendent properly trained to handle a gun, and is he thoroughly
familiar with the laws that govern self-defense in your state? The Board must make sure to institute all reasonable
precautions against misuse of the weapon.
3. Temple as a model. Board members are worried about the image of a gun located on Temple
property at a time when there are already too many guns in the community. Citizens are arming themselves, and the
introduction of a weapon by an institution like yours may help to feed public hysteria. The Board of the Temple
quite naturally would not wish to contribute to this already highly charged climate. Gun use is not merely a
defensive enterprise, it is also a kind of communicable disease. The more guns the more shooting, and your
members are right to be concerned about this. If it is generally known that the Temple too is infected with this
anxiety virus, other members of the community may feel that they too must take similar precautions.
In sum, your leadership will have to make a reasoned assessment of the circumstances which cause the
superintendent to request a gun in the first place. If the answer is that a potential danger exists and the
superintendent’s precaution is judged reasonable, Jewish tradition and sensibility will not oppose that
conclusion.
Notes
- The Talmud went on to conclude that for the sake of saving life we may violate the prohibition of
work on Shabbat; BT Yoma 85b and Sanhedrin 72a-b.
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.