Hero Texas Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker fought back tears to lead a prayer service Monday night, just two days after he rescued his congregants from a hostage situation at his synagogue by throwing a chair at an armed terrorist.
The emotional rabbi took several deep breaths before admitting he feared he and his congregants were going to be killed during Saturday’s 10-hour ordeal at his Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville.
“I have led or helped to lead too many of these services. I have mourned at too many vigils,” he finally told the livestreamed event held at a large neighboring Methodist church.
“And I’m so grateful, so unbelievably grateful, that we tonight — unlike every other service like this that I have done — tonight we will not be saying our traditional prayer for mourning,” he said.
“No one will be saying Kaddish Yatom for me or for any of us,” he added after taking another deep breath and clutching his chest.
“Thank God — thank God. It could have been so much worse, and I am overflowing, truly overflowing, with gratitude,” he said.
During his emotional address, Cytron-Walker raised a chuckle when he noted how Colleyville was somewhere “no one has ever heard of before.”
But he said that those watching online and showing their “desire to offer support after a Jewish congregation experienced trauma” meant “the world.”
“This coming together of diverse peoples with a goal of healing … this is a life-saving and a world-saving endeavor,” he said.
“When terrible things happen to me and you feel it — that’s empathy. That’s compassion. And that’s what enables us to see each other in spite of all of our differences,” he said.
He noted that he was speaking on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, saying that it was “at the root of Dr. King Jr.’s beautiful teaching: Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
Still, he acknowledged that the “violation of our spiritual home was traumatic for each and every” member of Congregation Beth Israel.
“To my CBI family — I wish I had a magic wand. I wish I could take away all of our pain and struggle,” he said.
He then led affirmations to “stand together against hatred, bigotry and violence” as well as “stand together in love in support of each other.”
“It is up to us to build the world we hope to see,” he said, ending his powerful address.
The rabbi had earlier Monday revealed on “CBS Mornings” how he fought back against British terrorist Malik Faisal Akram when it “didn’t look good” because the hostage-taker was becoming “increasingly belligerent and threatening.”
“I threw a chair at the gunman,” he said, crediting active-shooter training he had received for helping him know what to do.
Akram was shot dead after all four hostages had fled. He was able to fly into the US late last month, despite having a history of mental illness, a criminal record and reportedly a previous investigation by UK spy agency MI5.
