A Jewish father of five was beaten in front of his own home as his attacker spewed antisemitic vitriol in Brooklyn on Friday — just a day before another man was robbed of his $2,500 traditional Jewish headpiece in the borough as antisemitism continues to rise across New York City.
Joshua Merenfeld, 40, was dressed in Jewish religious garb and enjoying the first night of Hanukkah when an unknown assailant attacked him and snarled, “Dirty Jew” in the victim’s front yard in Crown Heights.
“It was a real beating,” Merenfeld told NBC 4, noting that he was pummeled repeatedly, knocked over and stomped on. “Definitely doesn’t feel good to have this happen in your own front yard.”
As he was being attacked, Merenfeld said, the assailant “used a bunch of antisemitic terminology and profanities.”
Merenfeld, who now has bruises on his face from the violence, was left on the ground as the suspect snatched his phone and fled.
The masked suspect was later spotted entering the Kingston Avenue and Eastern Parkway subway station.
Merenfeld, who received treatment at Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital, said he was speaking out about the attack given the brazen nature of the assault.
“This is a dangerous person. It didn’t happen at twelve o’clock at night at a back alley somewhere. This happened in front of a well-lit building on Eastern Parkway at seven in the evening,” he told NBC.
Then Saturday, the NYPD released video of another antisemitic incident that occurred in Brooklyn when a 20-year-old Hasidic man was robbed in broad daylight.
CCTV cameras captured the moment the victim was approached by a man on a moped in the Borough Park neighborhood near the intersection of 53rd Street and 11th Avenue at 2:10 p.m.
The Jewish victim, wearing a $2,500 shtreimel – a traditional fur headpiece worn on the Sabbath – could be seen talking to a man in a black helmet and pink long-sleeved shirt.
After their brief interaction, the victim walks away from the suspect, who revs up his moped and approaches the Jewish man again, grabbing his shtreimel and riding away with it.
The NYPD said both cases are currently under investigation and has asked the public’s help to identify the suspects in each incident.
The cases are just the latest in a slew of new antisemitic incidents plaguing New York City, with another case occurring last week when a 66-year-old man was beaten by a male assailant shouting antisemitic bile at a Duane Reade store in Manhattan’s Financial District.
Mayor Eric Adams on Friday addressed the rise in hate crimes during a Hanukkah rally event, noting that the past two months have seen a 250% jump in attacks aimed at the Jewish and Muslim communities. The spike coincides with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“In this moment of high tension around the globe, it is more important than ever that we stand together as one, united against the rising tide of hatred and religious intolerance. We’re seeing it, and we’re feeling it,” Adams said at the time.
The mayor noted that the NYPD will remain on high alert throughout the Hanukkah season.