Charlie Kirk’s Assassination: The Day The Civil Discourse Died

Yesterday, the world was shocked to learn that Conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated on a Utah campus, while engaging in civil discourse with students. The far right and the far left have come together in recent times, uniting in their hatred of Jews and Israel. Both sides are a threat to the safety of Jews, Israel, and democracy. I am a radical moderate and believe in reaching across the aisle to fellow moderates who also stand for democracy, free speech, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people. If the extremists have aligned against us and resort to violence to further extremists goals, moderates must align with one another to bring moderation to the world.

I do not profess to know everything he said, and what I heard I certainly did not always agree with, but Charlie supported Israel, and I don’t take that for granted in this climate. His videos would sometimes come across my feed, and it was comforting to see him debate Jews haters on the far right and far left about Israel’s right to exist, Israel’s right to prosecute a war against Hamas, and conspiracy theories about Jews. (Though I will say that his recent platforming of people like Tucker Carlson and Dave Smith was of growing concern to me with their unabashed Jew hatred.) Love him or hate him or feel somewhere in between, not only is it horrific to murder an innocent person and celebrate his death (as many on social media are doing), Charlie, a devout Christian, spent his life respectfully debating people across the country, an act that should be celebrated and emulated.

Civil discourse is the most Jewish thing out there. The Talmud is compiled of thousands of pages of civil discourse. Engaging in dialogue is not only about self-expression. Human beings have the attribute of “dibur”  in Hebrew – literally “speech.” Like God Himself, we are the only creatures on this planet who are able to speak words. And speaking words with people from different perspectives allows a person to pursue truth.

The most famous of rabbis of the Talmud to disagree with one another were Hillel and Shammai. Despite vehemently debating constantly, they shared a mutual respect and a passion in reaching the truth. In fact, the Talmud (Yevamos 14a) explains us that their heated arguments did not prevent them from marrying into one another’s families. They never backed down on their positions, but they also didn’t dehumanize the other side.

Because the US was founded on Judeo-Christian values, free speech and open dialogue are the bedrock of this nation. I spoke to several people who were not even the biggest fans of Charlie Kirk who explained that they felt that his assassination hit differently than other violence. It occurred to me that what we just experienced is similar to what singer songwriter Don McLean might have been feeling when he wrote “American Pie.”

According to McLean, on February 3, 1959, the tragic plane crash of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens was the day the music died. The tragic murder of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, may have been the day that civil discourse died. We don’t only mourn for a father, husband, son and brother. We mourn the moment that it became fatally dangerous in the United States of America to express an opinion.

We can’t let that happen. We can’t allow speech to lead to violence. In recent times a new phrase has come into popularity “words are violence.” This is a twisted perspective that must be vigorously countered. Jewish law prohibits gossip, hateful speech, and lying (unless it is a white lie that will preserve peace) but it does not categorize these types of speech as violence. Considering speech violence is a call to violence and once we get there, people with opinions we don’t agree with can end up shot dead in broad daylight.

When the news of Charlie’s murder broke yesterday, I couldn’t believe it was only Wednesday. This past week has been one of the most event filled weeks in recent memory. I woke up to news of a Hamas sponsored bus shooting on Monday morning in Jerusalem, killing six Jews and injuring dozens. Then it was reported that thousands of film workers signed a pledge to boycott Israeli institutions. After that was the targeted assassination attempt of Hamas leadership in Doha by the IDF. And of course today is 9/11. While these events might seem unrelated, I see a through line. There is deep moral confusion in the world right now (especially in younger generations) about what is right and what is wrong, so I will break it down:

1. Killing random civilians on a bus is morally repugnant, as there is never an excuse to target non-violent people.
2. Boycotting an entire country’s art is racist and morally repugnant. It is OK to disagree with individuals and not want to work with them. Lumping an entire country together is highly problematic and against the free expression for which art stands.
3. Targeting terrorists, who have blood on their hands and are planning more violent attacks is just. We have a moral responsibility to prevent people from physically harming others and holding them accountable when they do.
4. Gunning down a political pundit, whose views you disagree with is morally repugnant. Engage in respectful debate or just walk away.
5. Flying planes into the World Trade Center, murdering thousands of citizens is morally repugnant.
6. And for good measure – two more issues that did not specifically come up this week but people seem to be confused by – collateral damage in war is tragic and is mourned by all good people. But it is NOT the same thing as targeting innocent people, as terror attacks do.
7. Calls to incite violence – like globalizing the intifada – is not “civil discourse,” and people who incite violence should be handled by law enforcement, so that violence doesn’t ensue.

Charlie Kirk knew all of these things. He used his platform to educate youth on issues like these, issues that used to be self-evident to people of all ages and political persuasions. There are no platitudes that will help grieving family and friends, but good, moderate people around the world can make sure that we never dehumanize the people with whom we disagree. We can and should respectfully engage all those we encounter. The extremists of the world hate this kind of nuance and grace, and so we all must defeat them by practicing radical moderation.

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