JANUARY 27 • 2022 | 15

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service when she heard
ranting and shouting. She was
shocked to learn her rabbi
and three congregants were
being held hostage.
“During the ordeal, I
thought, if I was ever in such
a situation, [Rabbi Charlie]
would be the person I would
want with me because he’s
such a calming presence,” she
tells the JN. “
After learning
the details since they escaped,
I feel certain that he is the
reason they all survived.”
The recent incident hit
close to home not only
because of Cytron-Walker’s
local ties — his Michigan
family includes his mother,
brother, sister and extended
family — but also because a
terrorist disrupted a sacred

community on a sacred day
in a sacred space, Starr says.
He says he hopes people are
moved to do something more
in their Jewish journey as a
result of recent events and
that each Shabbat service
will bring more people
in attendance, whether
physically or online.
“Our response to
antisemitism has not
changed,” Starr explains. “The
best response to antisemitism
is to do our utmost to protect
Jewish lives, including
supporting the State of Israel,
and also to live meaningful,
committed Jewish lives in
which we find joy, pride and
blessing in our Judaism.”
In addition to all the
agencies working behind the

scenes, Michigan’s Jewish
community leapt into action
Jan. 15 as word of the crisis
spread. “The Talmud tells
us every Jew is responsible
for one another,” Starr says.
“
And the Torah tells us to
love our neighbors as we love
ourselves. I think if you merge
those two ideas, you have the
community that we have, that
truly cares and supports each
other when we need it most.”
Local rabbis and Jewish
agency leaders mobilized
quickly to offer Cytron-
Walker’s Michigan family
support as the situation
unfolded.
Hearing the news in
Texas, Rabbi
Mark Miller of
Temple Beth El
in Bloomfield
Township
immediately
reached out to
Cytron-Walker’s
sister, a congregant. He met
her brother when Miller was a
rabbi in Houston.
“From the start, my goal
was just to be supportive in

JCRC/AJC
Receives
Interfaith Support

STACY GITTLEMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive
director of Detroit’s Jewish
Community Relations Council/
American Jewish Congress
(JCRC/AJC), said that in the
days following
the Jan. 15 terror
attack, there was a
great outpouring of
statements of sup-
port by community
leaders and lead-
ers of other faith
groups, including
Christians, Muslims
and Hindus — all condemning
the terror attack.
They referred to the incident
as antisemitic, and several
lauded Rabbi Charlie Cytron-
Walker for his leadership and
bravery.
They also expressed grati-
tude that the hostages survived
physically unharmed.
Lopatin said the terror attack
occurring on the Shabbat of
Martin Luther King Jr. weekend
made it even more jarring. Yet,
he said he could feel the love
and support of the wider com-
munity as he spent the week-
end participating in events to
mark the holiday.
He went to synagogue
Sunday morning and then on
to an interfaith church service
with the Coalition for Black
and Jewish Unity at Greater
New Mount Moriah Missionary
Baptist Church in Detroit.
The service was led by Rev.
Kenneth Flowers with par-
ticipation from local Jewish
clergy. Lopatin said he felt
the embrace and support of
Detroit’s Black community.
“Rev. Flowers spoke about
how concerned he had been
and praised the Lord for the
release of the hostages,”
Lopatin said. “The Jewish com-
munity is strong … but we do
need that love and embrace.”

“A RABBI, BY HIS OR HER NATURE,
HAS TO BE COURAGEOUS IN

WAYS LARGE AND SMALL.”

— RABBI AARON STARR

Rabbi
Asher
Lopatin

NY JEWISH WEEK

Rabbi Mark
Miller

TEMPLE BETH EL

Rabbi Charlie
Cytron-Walker with
congregants at
Congregation Beth
Israel in Colleyville,
Texas.