Charlie, not Charles

His legal name was Charles James Kirk, but everyone knew him as Charlie Kirk.

“Charlie” says “Haven’t we met before? Come sit here!” It’s an invitation to approach and engage.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated on 9/10 at Utah Valley University.

He was shot in the neck by a high powered rifle.

The shooter apparently fired from a nearby rooftop.

I met Charlie at a convention when he was a teenager.

He was clear-thinking, energized and wise beyond his years.

In 2012 he and a partner created Turning Point, focused on creating outreach on college campuses. Today, Turning Point has over 800 chapters.

Charlie’s greatest gift was that he inspired people.

Rabbi Chaim Mentz Bel AIr, California compared him to the Patriarch Abraham.

“Judaism is built on ideas,” Rabbi Mentz said. “Judaism began on education. The whole world’s religions and basic religions all came from came from a conversation in a tent.”

Rabbi Moshe Scheiner of Palm Beach Synagogue, Palm Beach, FL in speaking about the power of words, 9/11 and Charlie Kirk, said that last winter he met Kirk and learned that after 10/7 he donated protective vests to the IDF, encouraged renewed campus support of Israel and although a devout Christian kept Shabbat to the degree that he shut off all communication devices and spent the time exclusively with his wife and two young children.

Someone else will step unto the leadership of Turning Point.

They have killed the speaker not the message.

I hope that they bring Charlie to Israel and bury him in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, a 3,000 year old cemetery or Mount Herzl, home of fallen IDF soldiers.