A year ago this Sunday, January 15, a hostage crisis occurred at a small suburban synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. For over twelve hours, a gunman held the rabbi and three other congregants hostage as their family and community looked on in horror. This was very personal to me, not only because it was occurring at synagogue on a Saturday morning, but because the rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, was a close friend of our family. His wife Adena and my wife Ashirah are the same age and had grown up together in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I remember the utter terror we felt knowing someone we loved and cared about was in such a precarious situation. As the hours went by our fears elevated. Would Rabbi Cytron-Walker ever see his family again? I remember the feeling of utter elation when at 12:15 that night Eastern Standard Time, we saw the images of our friend and his congregants running out of the building to safety.
This week we begin the journey of Exodus where we revisit the hundreds of years of slavery our people suffered under Pharaoh in Egypt. You only truly feel what it is like to be free when your freedom is taken away from you. To be so powerless and alone is something our people have suffered from many times throughout our history. On that dark Shabbat morning in January last year, I have never prayed harder about anything in my life. A year later, Rabbi Cytron-Walker has been a shining light of hope and resilience, speaking and teaching around the country and world about how to overcome adversity and still retain your faith in God and humanity. He will never be the same, his family will never be the same, but he has chosen to find blessing in the horror that he experienced. We send prayers to our friend and their family in their new home in Winston-Salem, South Carolina. May their strength lend us strength to overcome any adversity that come our way.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex