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‘Grateful to be alive’; Colleyville’s Beth Israel rabbi expresses appreciation hours after rescue

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker was one of 4 people held captive Saturday. All 4 were released unharmed after a day-long standoff.

The rabbi held hostage for 11 hours inside a Colleyville synagogue thanked the community Sunday for its support and expressed gratefulness for the peaceful resolution.

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

I am thankful and filled with appreciation for All of the vigils and prayers and love and support, All of the law...

Posted by Charlie Cytron-Walker on Sunday, January 16, 2022
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Cytron-Walker was one of four people held captive Saturday inside Congregation Beth Israel. All four were unharmed after a day-long standoff.

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The captor, identified Sunday morning as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram, is dead. Authorities released few details about what happened inside the synagogue but said Akram was armed.

Cytron-Walker said in a statement that the British man who held them hostage became “increasingly belligerent and threatening” during the standoff.

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Adena Cytron-Walker, center, blows into a ram's horn, traditionally known as the Shofar, as...
Adena Cytron-Walker, center, blows into a ram's horn, traditionally known as the Shofar, as her husband Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, left, bows his head during a Tashlich service conducted by Rabbi Charlie and the Congregation Beth Israel in the Timmaron Bent Creek Neighborhood of Southlake, on Tuesday, Sept. 07, 2021. The blowing of the Shofar symbolizes reflection and a "wake-up-call" to live a better life. The Tashlich service is a traditional ceremony, during Rosh Hashanah, of casting away of sins or wrongdoings from the past year by throwing breadcrumbs into a flowing body of water.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

Colleyville police were called to the synagogue in the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Road about 10:40 a.m. when the four people were taken hostage Saturday morning during a Shabbat service, which was being streamed live on Facebook. A man could be heard speaking. At times, he sounded angry and said he was going to die.

The first hostage was released about 5 p.m. The other three hostages, including Cytron-Walker, fled around 9:30 p.m., not long after a loud bang and the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team breached the building.

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“My heart immediately dropped into my stomach,” said Alia Salem, a friend of Cytron-Walker’s family. Salem heard about the situation via a news alert and said she immediately broke down, overwhelmed with emotion.

“You’re not prepared for the moment when somebody says an armed assailant is keeping [a loved one] hostage. And not only keeping them hostage but others. But not only that — it’s in their house of worship.”

Salem, who has known Cytron-Walker and his wife, Adena Cytron-Walker, for about 15 years, described the rabbi as a “kind, generous, loving person,” who “always [wants] to help and contribute wherever he can.”

A law enforcement team stages behind an armored vehicle outside Congregation Beth Israel in...
A law enforcement team stages behind an armored vehicle outside Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022.(Elias Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

In his statement posted to Facebook, Cytron-Walker said he was appreciative of law enforcement and first responders and that he was grateful for his congregation, the Jewish community and the “human community.”

Rabbi Gary Zola, a professor at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, said Cytron-Walker’s words were telling of his character. Zola taught Cytron-Walker while he was a student at the Ohio school.

“That’s how I think of Rabbi Cytron-Walker, that’s the kind of human being he is,” Zola said.

In Colleyville, he has worked with interfaith families, the LGBTQ community and local school districts.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the prime minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, commended the rabbi, saying: “Your leadership in this time of crisis was admirable. Israel stands united with the Jewish community in Colleyville. We are brothers.”

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Rabbi Andrew Marc Paley of Temple Shalom in Dallas, who said he was called by authorities to care for the hostages once they were safe, said it was a “surreal” day. He said he felt a “joyous release” when he knew the hostages were free and unharmed.

“It is obviously a very scary and uncertain time when communities of faith and buildings and institutions are involved in this way; it just strikes everybody in a very raw and emotional way,” he said.

“To be at the place to see Rabbi Charlie safe and doing OK, and be able to give him a hug, it was awesome — really, really amazing.”

Paley said his congregation, Temple Shalom, will be reviewing its security protocol.

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“This is obviously not a new scenario in the Jewish community, unfortunately,” Paley said. “We are versed in this, our history is replete with examples of this. We are ever-vigilant, of course, and we will continue to be so.”

Authorities said they didn’t have any information about why Congregation Beth Israel was targeted.

Matthew DeSarno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas office, said at the news conference Saturday, however, the hostage-taker was “singularly focused on one issue.”

Although officials did not release a motive, the a man was heard demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman serving a lengthy sentence for shooting at two U.S. military officers.

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Siddiqui is being held at a federal prison in Fort Worth, about 20 miles southwest of the synagogue. Her lawyer denied claims that the hostage-taker had ties to Siddiqui.