It was Dec. 15, 2023, and a small Jewish Sabbath dinner was being held at a hotel in Phoenix, near Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest.
More than two months earlier, Hamas had invaded Israel, murdering approximately 1,200 people, and taking 251 others hostage.
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, who lives in Israel, helped organize the dinner, which Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk joined. The two spoke about the importance of the Jewish Sabbath, or “Shabbat” in Hebrew, which Kirk, an Evangelical Christian, somewhat observed by shutting off his phone between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday.
Wolicki and Kirk would encounter each other again on a group call the day before Kirk was assassinated. …