The chair a Texas Reform rabbi used to throw at a terrorist, momentarily averting his attention and allowing himself and his congregants to escape, is being moved to a museum for posterity.

A teacup used by Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker to serve the terrorist before he took the synagogue hostage is also going to a museum.

The hostage incident occurred on Shabbos, January 15th, Malik Akram, a 44-year-old British Pakistani armed with a pistol, took four people hostage in Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.

Hostage negotiations ensued, during which Akram demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national and alleged al-Qaeda operative imprisoned in nearby Fort Worth for attempted murder and other crimes. He released one hostage after six hours, and the remaining three hostages escaped eleven hours into the standoff. Tactical officers from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team subsequently entered the synagogue and fatally shot Akram.

The synagogue has now donated the items to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia for a new exhibit on modern-day antisemitism in America, which will open to the public this spring. The exhibit will be accompanied by a video interview with the rabbi and the three congregants who were held hostage inside his synagogue.

“We look forward to a time when future generations will not endure this Anti-Semitic hatred,” Congregation Beth Israel’s board of directors said in a statement. “The Weitzman Museum will play a large part in allowing the public to visit and learn as well as protect religious freedoms for Jews in America and worldwide.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)