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‘Grateful to be alive’: Rabbi at Texas synagogue relieved after rescue

COLLEYVILLE, Texas — The rabbi held hostage with three other people at a North Texas synagogue Saturday went on social media after his release early Sunday to thank the community for its support and prayers.

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“I am thankful and filled with appreciation for all of the vigils and prayers and love and support,” Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker wrote in a Facebook post. “... I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive.”

Cytron-Walker was one of four people held captive Saturday inside Congregation Beth-Israel in Colleyville. All four people were released unharmed after an 11-hour standoff between a hostage-taker and authorities, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The hostage-taker is dead, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Details of the rescue and the man’s death were not immediately released.

Officials said they had identified the man but were not yet ready to release his name, according to the Morning News.

>> Texas synagogue standoff: All hostages released, hostage-taker dead, officials confirm

Cytron-Walker, 46, has served as the congregation’s rabbi since 2006, the Star Tribune of Fort Worth reported. He is originally from Lansing, Michigan, and public records show he lives with his wife and two daughters in North Richland Hills, the newspaper reported.

His family belonged to Congregation Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing, and he attended Camp Tamarack, The Times of Israel reported. While in high school, he was president of both Lansing’s temple youth group and the National Federation of Temple Youth’s Michigan region, according to the newspaper. At the end of every regional convention, he would show up wearing the same outfit: a T-shirt riddled with holes, adorned with the words, “Oh No… Acid Rain!”

“It wasn’t just Charlie being silly,” Cytron-Walker’s childhood friend, Rabbi Aaron Starr, wrote in an email to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It was him educating others and calling us to action without any meanness or judgmentalism.”

According to his biography on the synagogue’s website, Cytron-Walker has worked to bring a sense of spirituality, compassion and learning to the community.

Cytron-Walker graduated from the University of Michigan in 1998, according to The Detroit News.

As a college student, he spent 48 hours on the streets as someone who was homeless and danced for more than 24 hours as a part of a Dance Marathon, according to the synagogue’s website. He has also worked at Focus: HOPE, a civil and human rights organization in Detroit, and was assistant director of the Amherst Survival Center in North Amherst, Massachusetts, the News reported.

He attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at its Jerusalem and Cincinnati campuses and was ordained in 2006, the newspaper reported.

In January 2020, the congregation led by Cytron-Walker held a service to stand against hate and bigotry after five people were wounded in a stabbing while celebrating Hanukkah in New York City, the Star-Telegram reported.

“The whole idea is about solidarity,” Cytron-Walker said at the time. “It’s a way to stand up against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.”

On Saturday, the synagogue was holding its Shabbat service, which began at 10 a.m. CST, when the incident occurred, the Morning News reported. The service was being streamed live on Facebook, and a man could be heard speaking. The livestream remained on Facebook for nearly four hours before it was removed shortly before 2 p.m. CST.

The Texas Department of Public Safety told The New York Times that the hostage-taker had demanded earlier in the day to see his “sister,” identified later as Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida.

Authorities have not yet determined if the hostage-taker was actually a blood relative of Siddiqui’s but did confirm that she is in federal custody for “terroristic events” in Afghanistan, the Times reported.

Cytron-Walker’s mother, Judy Walker, is still a member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing, The Times of Israel reported. The congregation’s rabbi, Amy Bigman, stayed with her on Saturday as news of the hostage situation emerged. Through Bigman, Walker declined to comment to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency but said that she appreciated prayers.

“I’ve known Charlie since he was in high school,” Bigman told the agency. “He is quite simply a mensch.”