Synagogues: Welcome the Stranger or Protect Your Own?

The rabbi offered the man at the synagogue door a warm place to stay and a cup of tea. But the gesture, seen by most Jews as a commandment to welcome the stranger and offer hospitality, is now under severe strain. What happened next is well-known. A 44-year-old British citizen entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday morning (Jan. 15) as Shabbat services were about to be livestreamed, and took four people, including the rabbi, hostage at gunpoint.