In testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker credited security training with helping him and several congregants from Congregation Beth Israel, his synagogue in Colleyville, TX, engineer their escape. They had been held hostage for 11 hours. Rabbi Cytron-Walker joined other Jewish leaders in calling for a doubling of federal security funding for nonprofits. “Increasing funding for and making appropriate adjustments to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program would be an incredibly positive step in the right direction,” he said.

 

[In a Feb. 24 New York Times op-ed, Rabbi Cytron-Walker addressed the “sacred obligation to love the stranger.” He wrote: “I opened the doors of my synagogue and unknowingly welcomed the individual who would later attack me and my fellow congregants. That I opened the door will always weigh heavily on me. Still, I remain committed to the idea of welcoming and caring for the stranger and living that value.”]