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After Texas synagogue siege, rabbis wonder: welcome the stranger, or lock the doors?
For some American rabbis, 'being a fortress is not in the cards.'
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‘Now it is an imperative:’ Synagogue hostage-taking prompts a hard look at security
Once the hostages at Beth Israel were safe, Jews turned their attention to every other synagogue — and Jewish community center, day school and camp. Just how secure are they? And what should be done to make them safer? Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the spiritual leader of the Texas synagogue, said he drew on security training…
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‘We needed all the prayers’: Hero rabbi leads first service after escaping hostage crisis
SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Like many rabbis, Charlie Cytron-Walker has presided over plenty of solidarity services around crises and tragedies. But the one he led Monday night from the pulpit of an evangelical megachurch in this Dallas suburb was different. This time, the packed sanctuary was praying for Cytron-Walker himself – one of several people held…
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As MLK Day and Tu B’Shvat coincide, a ‘really special’ opportunity to pursue justice
On March 29, 1968, less than a week before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis to support a strike by Black sanitation workers who were exposed to hazardous chemicals and dirty air and water on a daily basis — far more often than their white counterparts, and for far less pay. That…
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Texas rabbi details standoff: Gunman ‘literally thought that Jews control the world’
COLLEYVILLE, Texas — During the nearly 11 hours he was held hostage inside Congregation Beth Israel on Saturday, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker focused on what he’d learned in security workshops — “Do whatever you have to do to get out,” he said — and on making sure that the gunman saw him and the three other…
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Texas synagogue attack ignites debate over delay in confirmation of special envoy on antisemitism
In the wake of Saturday’s attack at the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, a debate is brewing among Jewish American groups about whether the incident — which the FBI deemed as a terrorist attack — should be treated as domestic terrorism or as a global antisemitic attack. At the heart of the conversation is…
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Near Texas synagogue, a ‘bubble’ is pierced by attack
COLLEYVILLE, Texas – Lisa Bain Grossman, who lives next door to Congregation Beth Israel, had a sign on her front lawn Sunday that read “Love” with a Star of David in place of the “o.” Grossman said she had made the sign back in 2018, when 11 people were shot dead during Shabbat services at…
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Details emerge about hostage-taker as Jews upset by FBI remark on his motive
Update: In a statement released late Sunday, the FBI described the hostage-taking as “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted.” British authorities arrested two teenagers Sunday in connection with the Shabbat attack on a Texas synagogue in which a 44-year-old Briton named Malik Faisal Akram held a rabbi and several congregants hostage…
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Jews of Color call for community to get on right side of history – and present
How does the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy apply to equity, diversity, and inclusion in Jewish communities? A panel of Jewish changemakers all hailing from different racial backgrounds tackled that question at the MLK, Jr. Day – Jewish Social Justice Summit 2022 held online Sunday, Jan. 16, by the Atlanta Jews of Color Council….
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‘His entire persona is listening and dialogue’: Meet the Texas rabbi held hostage for 11 hours
Michelle Werner was a first-year rabbinical student in Jerusalem with Charlie Cytron-Walker on 9/11, and remembers vividly the two sitting with their classmates in the Hebrew Union College cafeteria and watching the video “over and over” of the airplanes hitting the World Trade Center. On Saturday, as Cytron-Walker was held hostage in his Texas synagogue…
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Temple U. rower says she will quit team and transfer because of antisemitic harassment
Shortly after their first year at Temple University began this past summer, Sasha Westrick said, her roommate began teasing her about being Jewish. Westrick said the roommate made comments about her dressing up for Shabbat and believing in God, and once asked her for money because she said she thought Jewish people had a lot…
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