A Hasidic man walking with his four sons (aged 7 to 14) from synagogue on Saturday morning was harassed by a couple of high school students who yelled “I love Hitler!” at them twice.
According to the victim, Mr. Rosenberg (not actual name to protect victim’s identity) “As I was walking through the campus grounds of the Franklin D. Roosevelt High School two Asian students began yelling at me and my kids ‘I love Hitler! I love Hitler!’ My kids were terrified and I was in shock, so I asked them to repeat themselves to make sure I heard correctly, but the students put hoodies on and began walking away. I went immediately to report the incident to the school’s administration, and was told to file a police report at the 66th precinct, which I did later that evening at the end of the Sabbath.”
Because the harassment was verbal all that can be done by the police is to document the case. If this doesn’t outrage the sensibilities of good and decent New Yorkers and Americans then it may be time to accept this as the new normal. But are we ready to accept that? Are we ready to accept that Jews being harassed for being Jewish is commonplace in 2019 NYC? So far, city leadership is failing to deal with the outburst of antisemitic hate crimes, but it’s not too late. Yet.
