(Jewish Group) Texas rabbi details standoff: Gunman 'literally thought that Jews control the world'

[Behind the Aegis]

COLLEYVILLE, Texas — During the nearly 11 hours he was held hostage inside Congregation Beth Israel on Saturday, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker focused on what he’d learned in security workshops — “Do whatever you have to do to get out,” he said — and on making sure that the gunman saw him and the three other congregants inside the synagogue as human beings.

But Cytron-Walker was able to steal brief moments for reflection, silently praying the Sh’ma and offering the Hashkiveinu: “Grant, O God, that we lie down in peace, and raise us up, our guardian, to life renewed. Spread over us the shelter of your peace.”

As the hours passed and Malik Faisal Akram, the British gunman, became increasingly agitated, Cytron-Walker saw an opportunity to escape. One hostage had been released earlier in the day, and Cytron-Walker told the two men who remained with him to run for a fire door before throwing a chair at the assailant and sprinting after them.

“It was really a matter of looking and waiting for an opportunity where all of us could go and no one would be left behind,” Cytron-Walker said in an interview with the Forward on Monday morning.

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