What we can learn from synagogue terror attack
Emotions have been everywhere over what happened in Colleyville Saturday night — relief, gratitude, anger, fear, frustration, exhaustion.
The attack on Congregation Beth Israel ended without the bloodshed of the innocent, an answer to many prayers being sent up from every faith community in this region. We are all thankful for that.
The fact that a Jewish synagogue was targeted is a reminder of how an entire people have been scapegoated and demonized throughout history. It can happen again, and we must not let it.
Even as we think about these things, there is also an opportunity to reflect on what is good.
Inside that synagogue, where Rabbi Charlie CytronWalker and three others were held for 11 hours, great courage and the deepest human decency were on display.
According to reports from the livestream of what were to be services, but that turned into terror, the hostage-taker was welcomed with kindness.
“They let me in. I said ‘Is this a night shelter?’ and they let me in and they gave me a cup of tea so I do feel bad,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. He went on: “I like the rabbi, he’s a good guy, I bonded with him, I really like him.”
This is at the heart of human goodness, opening the door to the stranger, sheltering him, feeding him. One of the great ancient offenses is to take advantage of those who would open their doors to us.
There is more virtue to appreciate. Throughout North Texas, so much important work has gone into interfaith understanding to create bonds that link people beyond their political and philosophical differences, as serious as those might be.
Imam Omar Suleiman, long a leader in interfaith dialogue that has brought him great personal risk, was among those to speak up for his “Jewish neighbors” and Cytron-Walker, a friend he knows as Rabbi Charlie.
The Council on AmericanIslamic Relations also quickly condemned the attack.
It matters that we speak up for one another and for those most at risk. American Jews are a tiny fraction of our population, but they are the targets of a disproportionate number of hate crimes, primarily from domestic extremists, according to federal authorities.
They are singled out and “othered” here and throughout the world.
We know that we are becoming an increasingly intolerant people — intolerant of one another’s differences and perspectives. Jewish people understand that comes at a terrible price when it turns from disagreement to prejudice to violence.
We should use this moment — thankfully without the spilling of innocent blood — to reflect on all of these things.
There were two kinds of people at Congregation Beth Israel. One was angry, ranting and threatening violence. The others had opened their arms and their hearts and called the stranger in from the cold.