On the seventh night of Chanukah this year, several people were stabbed when an attacker broke into an Orthodox rabbi’s home in Monsey for the express purpose of killing Jews in a shocking anti-Semitic attack.
The alleged attacker, Grafton Thomas 37, stands accused of using an 18-inch machete to carry out the horrifying attack at the home of Rabbi Rottenberg. He pleaded not guilty to 10-hate crime charges. One of the victims, 72-year-old Josef Neumann, is still in a coma, having suffered injuries including a fractured skull and other injuries.
Thomas “has also pleaded not guilty to state charges, including attempted murder, stemming the same attack,” reported the New York Post. “At his arraignment for those charges, prosecutors argued he was mentally fit to stand trial for the “deliberate and intentional” crime. Thomas is being held without bail in federal custody.”
Rabbi Rottenberg and his congregants had just concluded the lighting of the Chanukah menorah and were preparing to partake in a Melava Malka and Chanukah party at the adjacent synagogue. According to eyewitnesses, Thomas wore a mask when taking a machete out of its holder. He then began to stab those in sight. Five people were rushed to area hospitals for treatment and Thomas was eventually arrested by police in Manhattan later that evening.
At the scene of the attack was Joseph Gluck, 32, of Monsey. He threw a table at the attacker, chased him outside, then wrote down his license plate number. Police used the license information to apprehend Thomas who has been indicted on six attempted murder charges. Thomas denies stabbing anyone, and his family says he suffers from mental illness.
Joseph Gluck received a $20,000 reward for his role in apprehending the suspected Monsey synagogue stabber. The money, however, did not come from two Jewish groups that had offered the award for information leading to an arrest, according to a JTA report.
Gluck told News 12 Brooklyn last week that after consulting with his rabbi, he decided to reject the money from the “Zionist organizations” — the Jewish
