Stabbed Lubavitcher Returns to Mivtzoim the Next Day

Less than 24 hours after being stabbed in the back in a suspected antisemitic attack in Manhattan’s Diamond District, Lubavitcher bochur Yosef was back on the same streets, helping Jewish businessmen put on tefillin.

Yosef, a 26-year-old bochur from Crown Heights, travels to Midtown Manhattan daily to visit Jewish merchants and craftsmen, helping them put on tefillin and encouraging them to strengthen their Yiddishkeit.

On Wednesday evening, while walking along West 47th Street, Yosef was followed by a woman who stabbed him in the back with a sharp object believed to be a large syringe. He was treated by Hatzalah and transported to Bellevue Hospital.

The NYPD is investigating the incident as a suspected antisemitic hate crime, and the attacker remains at large.

Despite the frightening experience, Yosef returned to his regular mivtzoim route on Thursday, determined not to allow the attack to deter him.

“I’m still shaken,” Yosef told Chabad.org. “I never imagined I’d be stabbed simply for being Jewish, right here in New York City.”

He explained that he drew strength from the example of his grandparents, Holocaust survivors who went on to build a proud Jewish family.

“I know what they’d tell me now: Don’t back down. Go back out there and help another Jew put on tefillin. Do another mitzvah. Stand taller and prouder than ever.”

“That’s why I came back today,” he continued. “Their answer to hatred was more Jewish life. Mine will be too. We’ll never back down. We’ll just keep spreading more light.”

On Friday, a tefillin booth was set up at the very location where the stabbing occurred, turning the site of the attack into a place of increased Jewish pride and mitzvos.