Robin Washington
Forward, Jan. 19, 2022
The Texas rabbi celebrated around the world as a hero for freeing himself and several congregants from a gunman in an 11-hour synagogue siege is set to leave the community in June, the Forward has learned, having resigned last fall amid debate about whether his contract would be renewed.
The circumstances that led to Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s departure are somewhat unclear. Anna Eisen, a co-founder of Colleyville’s Congregation Beth Israel, said Wednesday morning that it was a mutual agreement of the rabbi and the synagogue’s president. But a congregant and former cantorial soloist for the shul said Cytron-Walker had resigned after the board of directors voted in October to recommend his contract not be renewed.
Rabbi Ben Sternman of Adat Chaverim in Plano, Texas, part of a foursome of area Reform rabbis including Cytron-Walker that meets weekly, said that in October, “he showed up for lunch one week and he was looking very upset.”
Jodi Rudoren, Lauren Markoe and Arno Rosenfeld contributed reporting.
Robin Washington, an acclaimed veteran journalist based in Minnesota, is the Forward’s Editor-at-Large. A longtime senior editor, columnist, radio host and documentarian across mainstream and ethnic media, he was one of the founders of the Alliance of Black Jews and early pioneer of the term, “Jew of color” more than two decades ago. Contact him at rwashington@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @robinbirk
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