Forward: With an Orthodox Jew at their helm, two dozen recent graduates of the Guardian Angels training program � resplendent in their trademark red berets and red satin bomber jackets � last week launched the first Canadian chapter of the New York-based law-and-order group.Lou Hoffer, a former Toronto cop and security consultant, first considered the need for private crime fighters in Toronto two years ago after a rash of antisemitic incidents in the city’s Jewish neighborhoods. “I thought of the [Jewish Defense League], but the Guardian Angels deal with so many other social issues, not just antisemitism,” he told the Forward.Hoffer, a father of three who became Orthodox following a Conservative upbringing, liked that the Angels were not a sectarian movement yet had, in his view, a mission consistent with his religious principles. “It’s a perfect marriage for me,” he said. “The group’s two slogans are ‘Dare To Care’ and ‘Role Models for Real Life.’ If that isn’t in line with Judaism, I don’t know what is.”
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One Response
Kol hakovod. It’s wonderful to see people actually doing something to protect themselves, instead of kvetching in the comments of other peoples’ blogs that the police are not protecting them.
However, those berets and red satin jackets are pretty funny.