New York Rabbis Go On Armed self-defence courses

The self-defence classes are run by the International Security Coalition of Clergy, a group set up by Gary Moscowitz, a Queens rabbi and former police officer.

Practising with toy pistols, fellow rabbis and other worshippers are taught basic techniques such as bringing down an assailant by the neck or using a table as cover from gunfire.

More advanced combat moves include performing a running somersault while drawing a gun.

Mr Moscowitz, who also passes on his knowledge as a karate black belt, admitted few people took him seriously until police exposed an alleged plot by Muslim converts to blow two synagogues in the Bronx.

He said he had since been inundated with calls and had set up a 100-hour synagogue self defence course as a result.

Mr Moscowitz, 52, said police officers were unable to protect temples effectively as they were unable to recognise congregation members.

"A terrorist could put a yarmulke on, say, 'Happy holidays', and blow the place up," he told the New York Post.

"Jews are not like Christians. If I turn my cheek, I'm coming around to make a kick." Stuart Rosenberg, who provides martial arts training for the group, said: "Our idea is you can't be spiritual if you're dead. You have to be able to fight back to live another day." Mr Moscowitz stressed that the important Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are approaching, adding that the FBI regularly issued synagogues with terror alerts.

The rabbi has called for a New York state law that would allow at least five people at a house of worship to carry a gun if they have been trained.

A New York police spokesman said Mr Moscowitz was fired from the department in the 1990s.

Asked to comment on his new project, the spokesman told the Post: "Blessed are the tight of lip for they shall resist speaking ill of the ill-informed."