By Amy Zewe—
Most of you may have been aware of the news this past weekend wherein a hostile person invaded a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, during Shabbat services on Saturday Jan 15.
After an 11-hour standoff, no congregants were physically harmed, the four hostages including the Synagogue’s rabbi were released, and the assailant was killed at the scene by authorities.
Investigations are ongoing and the nuances of motive, mental state, even immigration status of the perpetrator are all being sorted out. I will not go into all those details—plenty of news and commentary is available for you to read in US mainstream media including (but not limited to)…
Fox News One America News Newsmax Even CNN and your local TV news stations.
And may I encourage you to read up on the topic in various news outlets such so you can get a good handle on the facts and draw your own conclusions:
Jewish News Syndicate (www.JNS.org) Tablet Magazine (https://www.tabletmag.com)
Haaretz (https://www.haaretz.com/) Jerusalem Post (www.Jpost.com)
I24 News (https://www.i24news.tv/en) CBN (https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews)
All Israel News (https://www.allisrael.com/) Times of Israel (https://www.timesofisrael.com)
And websites such as End Jew Hatred (https://www.endjewhatred.com/) and
Home – Jerusalem Institute of Justice (jij.org)
You can visit our Blog tab of www.TheJerusalemConnection.US where we also gather and post relevant articles from these sources.
You want to give yourself a wide breath of examinations of this event and not to get shoehorned into one point of view or analysis by any one outlet.
Read it all, cross reference it, and analyze in a prayerful mindset with scripture at your fingertips.
Commentators of all faiths and no faith were pondering the situation all weekend.
Here is what we do know: Antisemitism is alive and well and whether its violent arm is projected at an entire people, systematically, like we saw during the Holocaust or as we currently see by entities such as the Iranian regime, or if it is directed at a smaller head count such as a visibly Jewish person walking the streets of NYC, smaller gatherings of Shabbat services, and Jewish Community Center activities. The spiritual theme is still the same: Kill the Jew. One at a time, or many at a time—the motive is the same.
We can call this event in Colleyville a war on religion…and certainly many Christian churches feel threatened as was demonstrated in the Charleston Church massacre in 2015 (as well as others). We often say “first the Jew and then us” when we discuss violence against God’s people. Many churches have followed the lead, the unfortunate necessity, that synagogues have instituted to have security on site, armed congregants, and active-shooter trainings protocols in place.
But let us not hold up the Jewish community to be our canaries in the coal mine for our own defense or gain. Instead, let us recognize the ongoing battle Satan has against the Jew—individually or collectively—because the Jew is central to God’s plan. As Christians we must recognize this and work to comfort and protect our spiritual cousins—and not for our own sake, but simply because God commands us to.
Satan will use whomever he can get to do his footwork—a disgruntled Pakistani, teenagers in urban areas, and entire political bodies and the powerful individuals who find themselves in those political bodies.
We stand in solidarity with Jews worldwide. And, not for our own sake, but for Yahweh’s. Let us express that attitude and posture, each of us, in our daily lives, with our pocketbooks, with our votes, with our voices, and our actions.
Shavua Tov, have a great week.