Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker is celebrating his freedom after surviving a 10-hour standoff in Texas.
The rabbi made a public statement in the form of Facebook post said:
“I am thankful and filled with appreciation for all of the vigils and prayers and love and support, all of the law enforcement and first responders who cared for us, all of the security training that helped save us. I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for the CBI Community, the Jewish Community, the human Community. I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive …”
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker is a Michigan native and University of Michigan graduate who spent some time working at Focus: HOPE in Detroit. His former colleague, Athena Miller, spoke to Local 4 about his character and how he would always go the extra mile.
“You wouldn’t want this to happen to anybody, but for it to happen to somebody like Charlie … all a person had to do was just ask for help. They wouldn’t have had to do anything further than that. And he would have gone the extra mile to help them and get the other folks there out of the situation,” said Miller.
Other faith leaders such as Rabbi Asher Lopatin also have been praising Rabbi Cytron-Walker for his work ethic in bridging together religions.
“I hope that, thank God, his work can continue. His work of being an outstanding Rabbi and also be commuted to interfaith work,” said Lopatin.
We know this had to be stressful for everyone inside the synagogue. In a comment on that same Facebook post, Cytron-Walker also said he’s hoping to finally get to sleep.
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