The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
State leaders condemn attack at rabbi’s N.Y. home
The Connecticut AntiDefamation League joined a chorus of state lawmakers and Jewish leaders Sunday in condemning a stabbing at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, N.Y. which left five people injured the night before.
“Coming around Christmas and Hanukkah ... it’s outrageous. It’s disturbing,” Steve Ginsburg, director of the Connecticut region ADL, said Sunday morning.
According to the Associated Press, a knifewielding man stormed into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg about 10 p.m. and stabbed five people as they celebrated Hanukkah in an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City. Police tracked a fleeing suspect to Manhattan and made an arrest within hours of the attack Saturday night. Grafton E. Thomas, 37, had blood all over his clothing and smelled of bleach when officers stopped him, prosecutors said.
Thomas was arraigned Sunday and pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Bail was set at $5 million and he remains jailed.
The stabbings on the seventh night of Hanukkah left one person critically wounded, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The rabbi’s son was also injured, he said. Authorities have not provided a motive.
The attack was the latest in a string of violence targeting Jews in the region, including a Dec. 10 massacre at a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, N.J., in which six were killed including a police officer and the two shooters. Last month in Monsey, a man was stabbed while walking to a synagogue.
Cuomo said Saturday’s savagery was the 13th antiSemitic attack in New York since Dec. 8 and endemic of “an American cancer on the body politic.”
Ginsburg said that since the attack he has been in touch with the FBI and state police. His organization has also been working with the Connecticut Intelligence Center Unit, which coordinates with intelligencegathering agencies on criminal and terrorism threats.
“We thank law enforcement and our elected leaders for responding and being very clear,” said Ginsburg. “We want to make sure that the right actions are taken.”
There have been 10 antisemitic incidents in the New York and New Jersey region since Dec. 23, according to Ginsburg, who noted the ADL tracks incidents of antiSemitism.
Of those recent incidents, “many of them have been assaults on orthodox men women and children,” Ginsburg said.
He said he has been in contact with Jewish leaders in Hartford about organizing a response to the attack, but no plans have been made yet.
Ginsburg is one of many Jewish leaders in Connecticut who were deeply pained by the Monsey assaults, including Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus of Congregation Or Shalom in Orange. Wainhaus said many of those in his congregation are native New Yorkers, as is he, so the attack hits home in a deep way.
“I have relatives in Monsey,” he said.
But, Wainhaus said the stabbing wasn’t just an attack on New Yorkers, or even solely an attack on people of the Jewish faith. “This is an attack on what America stands for,” he said.
Wainhaus pointed out that many Jewish people, including his own parents, fled to America seeking to escape “these kinds of atrocities.” Given that history, “it’s extremely painful to hear about these attacks.”
Yet, he said, he still has faith in America, in spite of the stabbing in Monsey and other antiSemitic attacks in the region.
“I know that America is different and will always be different,” Wainhaus said. “I believe America will rise to the challenge and overcome this scourge of hate.”
Other local Jewish organizations that spoke out on the assault included the United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.
The federation issued a statement saying its members were thankful for the quick response by police, but saddened by assault.
“An attack on one Jew is an attack on us all and we must stand strong against hate crimes in any form,” the statement read.
In a tweet, the Connecticut State Police condemned Saturday’s attack. “Our hearts go out to all Jewish communities especially those effected by last nights attacks & those that preceded it,” the state police said. The agency said it was monitoring the situation and “do not have any info CT is at greater risk.”
Brian Foley, a spokesman for State Police Commissioner James C. Rovella, said in a tweet that the agency has a detective embedded in New York City. Police are also increasing their patrols of Jewish community centers and places of worship, Foley said.
In Norwalk, police have stepped up their presence at houses of worship throughout the holiday season, said Lt. Terry Blake.
“We are aware of the horrific attack in New York and we have been in contact with representatives from each of our synagogues,” Blake said.
New Haven police said they are also increasing patrols at Jewish houses of worship.
Several state lawmakers also voiced their outrage at the attack on social media.
“These latest antiSemitic attacks are horrifying, but also serve as a painful reminder that the targeting of Jews has never disappeared,” said Sen. Chris Murphy on Twitter.
“We must be vigilant in rooting out the causes of antiSemitism and holding the perpetrators accountable,” he added.
State Sen. Will Haskell, whose district includes Redding, Ridgefield and Wilton, called the attack “devastating.”
“It’s on all of us to confront hatred and bigotry long before it escalates into a tragedy like this,” Haskell said.