Magen Am recently hosted a five-day training class for rabbis in southern California after an anonymous donor funded 20 spots for rabbis from a dozen states. The group turned away nearly as many applicants and now has a waiting list of about 40 while planning up to six similar courses next year. The California nonprofit licensed security company trains Jewish communities to form security teams at their institutions, provides firearms education, and launched the rabbi sessions when religious leaders sought advice on protecting those sites.

The Anti-Defamation League counted 6274 antisemitic incidents across the country in 2025, California second with 817 and Los Angeles at 419 where assaults rose 22 percent even as totals dropped from 532 in 2024. Some participating rabbis already owned firearms; others including a Los Angeles rabbi who had never handled a gun fired for the first time, plans additional training, and now knows how to use one in an emergency.