The Terrorist at the Synagogue [Angela Buchdahl]

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl recounts Jan 15 2022, when she received a phone call from the terrorist holding a Dallas area synagogue hostage.

The essay weaves in the man’s delusions about Jewish power, the irony that he saw in R Buchdahl a woman who in youth really struggled to be seen as a Jew, something of an American Chief rabbi, the way R Buchdahl tried to maintain her Shabbat plans despite the situation, the simulateous feeling of responsible and powerless as well as how security training had prepared the members of the synagogue before law enforcement could come.