Despite all the security training they’d sat through and everything that the congregants knew about the heightened dangers of hate and ignorance, they still kept the faith and opened the synagogue door to for the stranger who knocked. He was welcomed inside Congregation Beth Israel where it was warm on a particularly cold Saturday in their small Texas community. He was offered tea. Then, he revealed his violent intentions. Wielding a gun, he made hostages of the rabbi and the three worshipers who were attending services in person on the Sabbath. The four escaped, not because police officers stormed the synagogue, but because security experts had schooled these civilians on how to be proactive, look for their moment and save their own lives. And when it appeared that the gunman, full of antisemitic bile, had grown more agitated and desperate, they bolted for the door and ran to safety.
