To a certain extent, you could say that Omicron saved the lived of members of a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, where a 12-hour hostage standoff ended Saturday. If the fifth COVID wave hadn't hit the US, many more worshippers would have been in attendance at the 160-seat Beth Israel Reform synagogue when the hostage taker targeted the community.
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Texas is home to some 160,000 Jewish residents, most of whom live in Houston and Dallas. Only about 100 Jewish families live in Colleyville, a suburb about 30 minutes away from Dallas. The Jewish community there is small, founded in 1999. The local synagogue was built only six years later, in 2005.
"This is a warm, close community, based mainly on volunteers, mutual responsibility, and support, Sharona Israeli-Roth, VP of Online Education at the Israeli American Council (IAC), tells Israel Hayom.
"We went through some difficult, tense hours. We're happy that the hostages came out safely," Israeli-Roth says.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker has been in charge of the congregation since 2006. Israeli-Roth describes him as a "special man, devoted to education and bringing people together, who works closely with the Muslim and Christian community in our area. We met at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and since them we've been working with him on online education to bring Israel into his congregation in the framework of the IAC Ofek [study] program.
"Our cooperation allows the community to continue its study of the spirit of Israel with the best teachers and close, warm contact between teachers and students," she says.
The Colleyville community, like many across the US, is not backed by a local Jewish federation, and mainly meets the religious needs of the people who live there. Actually, it works closely with a local church to provide the services its members need – after-school activities are held in the church.
"The congregation members' connection to Judaism is confined to the synagogue – beyond that, they identify as Americans," Gilad Katz, former Israeli Consul General to the Southwest US, tells Israel Hayom.
"In a certain sense, a congregation like this is fragile and could fall apart because people tend to move around," he adds.
While the synagogue has 160 seats, it is rare that they are all taken.
"In this instance, the most important goal of the congregation is to remain in existence. I think that an event like this [the hostage standoff], which we still don't fully understand, generally strengthens the community. The immediate response will be a fear to go to synagogue, but after that, if the rabbi works properly and inspires respect, he can strengthen the congregation and create an atmosphere of action," Katz says.
In the broader context, Katz say, "It's no secret that antisemitism is rearing its head in the US. At least one in four [Jewish] institutions is being attacked and US Jews are reliazing that something bad is happening for US Jews. The way in which US Jewry confronts these difficulties will be its biggest challenge in the next few years."
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