Just one day before a car ramming attack at 770, Rabbi Dovid Shushan, a Lubavitcher mohel, sofer, and rabbi in Queens, New York, was violently attacked while walking to shul.

Rabbi Shushan, who works closely with the Bukharian Jewish community, was assaulted on Holocaust Remembrance Day, highlighting the ongoing threat of antisemitism in New York City.

According to investigators, the rabbi, in his thirties and a father of three, was walking in the morning wearing traditional Jewish attire when a stranger approached him. The attacker hurled antisemitic slurs before physically assaulting him, punching him in the face and chest at Queens Boulevard and 71st Avenue.

“He punched me in the stomach”, Rabbi Shushan recounted. “I didn’t know him. There was no interaction beforehand.”

The assault escalated into a physical fight, with the two men grappling on the ground as pedestrians and motorists looked on.

“There were a lot of people around, but no one wanted to get involved,” Rabbi Shushan said.

The confrontation only ended when a passing driver intervened, forcing the attacker to flee the scene.

Despite the chaos, Rabbi Shushan deliberately documented the assailant on video, while the attacker made no effort to hide his face.

Rabbi Shushan then sought police assistance. Though only blocks from the 112th precinct, officers were not immediately present, prompting the rabbi to locate patrol officers himself and coordinate the next steps. Approximately ten minutes after the assault, the attacker was captured near a nearby subway station.

Police later identified the suspect as Eric Zafra-Grosso. Authorities described him as mentally unstable; he was sent for psychiatric evaluation following his arrest and was released under supervision by court order. Zafra-Grosso was arraigned on charges of assault as a hate crime, aggravated harassment as a hate crime, and assault.

“I just said, it cannot happen like this”, Rabbi Shushan said in an interview with ABC7 New York. “I must fight back and I just give him back. And I found myself in a fight I never… I’m not a fighter. I’m a rabbi here. And I found myself rolling on the floor, getting punched in the face.”

Rabbi Shushan emphasized the importance of responding with positivity despite attacks. “We need to promote light, and I talked of goodness and kindness. So, the darkness will be pushed away automatically,” he said.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the attack, stating, “I’m horrified by the antisemitic assault on a rabbi in Forest Hills. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, New Yorkers were confronted with a painful truth: antisemitism is not a thing of the past. It is a present danger that demands action from all of us.”

The assault occurred just a few miles from the Agudath Israel synagogue of Kew Gardens Hills, where earlier this month protesters chanted, “We support Hamas here.” Mamdani drew scrutiny for issuing a delayed condemnation of the chants.

Other New York leaders also spoke out. Six local elected officials issued a joint statement:
“We are outraged by the antisemitic attack that occurred in our district, in which a rabbi was verbally harassed, physically assaulted, and threatened for being Jewish. This was a targeted act of hate, and it has no place in our community or anywhere in New York City.”

Mark Levine, the city’s Jewish comptroller, posted on X: “Yet another sickening reminder of the scale of the hatred we are confronting. We need everyone in this city united in combating this.”

The attack comes amid heightened concerns about antisemitism across New York City. In response, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that police have “significantly increased security around houses of worship throughout all five boroughs.”

Just the following night, a Muslim man rammed his car into 770 Eastern Parkway, in one of the most crowded times of the year, drawing widespread coverage and condemnation.

“For the second day in a row, Jewish New Yorkers were the targets of antisemitic violence”, Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on X. “Thankfully, there appear to be no injuries – but an attack against the Jewish community is an attack against all New Yorkers.”

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