The rabbi of the Beth Israel synagogue in Texas thanked supporters during a special prayer service Monday night following Saturday’s hostage situation.
The healing service at neighboring White’s Chapel United Methodist Church was held in response to Saturday’s attack and livestreamed on Facebook. In an emotional speech, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, one of four people held hostage during a standoff that resulted in the death of the suspect, applauded his fellow hostages’ resiliency following the weekend’s terrorist incident.
“A huge thank you to the three individuals who joined me to pray together on Shabbat morning,” he said during the service. “And somehow, together, we made it through that traumatic ordeal. We are so thankful for the source of redemption, the source of blessing, the source of peace for redeeming us in our time of need.”
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The Jewish leader, who joked that someone left sticky notes on the lectern that said “let them see Jesus,” said that “while very few of us are doing OK right now, we’ll get through this.” He thanked God and local officials for helping him and the other three hostages survive. He said that the congregation planned to pray a personal prayer of deliverance during the upcoming Shabbat.
He also highlighted shared teaching between Jews and Muslims that “to save a life is to save the world. To destroy a life is to destroy the world.” The suspect, the only fatality of Saturday’s incident, had ties to Islam.
On Saturday, Cytron-Walker and three others were held hostage at their synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, by suspect Malik Faisal Akram, 44, a man who had been on British intelligence service MI5’s radar, according to the BBC. Akram was armed with a gun and claimed to have a bomb. President Joe Biden said Sunday that officials found no evidence Akram actually had a bomb.
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After an 11-hour standoff, Cytron-Walker and the two other remaining hostages escaped when he threw a chair at Akram, the rabbi told CBS Mornings on Tuesday. The fourth hostage was released several hours earlier, according to local police. Akram was fatally shot following the release of the hostages. All of the hostages survived.
Akram’s motive was the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence for the attempted murder of a U.S. soldier, according to officials. Siddiqui, 49, was previously married to a nephew of al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. She is being held about 25 miles away from the synagogue at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas.
