Congregants return to NYC synagogue after disruption, arrest: "Let's breathe in peace"

Members of a Midtown Manhattan synagogue returned for weekend services Saturday after they were disrupted Friday night by a Bronx man who police arrested on hate crime charges.

Police arrested Larry Montes, 46, from the Bronx after he allegedly acted irate and disrupted the 6 p.m. Shabbat service Friday. As he was being escorted out, Montes allegedly assaulted a 63-year-old woman and left her with a cut lip and pain in her forearm. Police say he also spit at and headbutted a security guard.

An NYPD sergeant working paid detail swooped in to take Montes into custody.

A social media account linked to Montes includes images supportive of Israel. Still, the NYPD says he's charged with assault and criminal mischief as hate crimes.

Longtime synagogue member Nancy Volkman was there Friday night.

"It was very scary and unsettling," she said.

Even so, she made sure to return just hours later for service on Saturday morning, led in by armed NYPD officers with bulletproof vests.

Worshipper Susan Schlecter echoed what fellow members said as they returned to their place of solace.

"It's about resilience and lack of fear. Nobody's gonna do that to us. We're New Yorkers," she said.

For New Yorkers like Lisa Katz, it's incidents like these that bring her back to her house of worship to pray in the first place.

"I hope the world gets better. The world needs some healing," she said.

Rabbi Andrew Kaplan Mandel addressed Friday night's disruption during Saturday's services, but didn't let it disrupt the lives of the faithful.

"So let's take a few deep breaths. Let's breathe in peace. Let's breathe out fear," he said. "We cannot allow anyone to rob us of our attention on Shabbat."

Last October, the synagogue's senior rabbi, Angela Buchdahl, spoke about rising antisemitism, citing then-candidate Zohran Mamdani for "dangerous rhetoric"

"His unwillingness to condemn phrases like 'globalize the intifada' and absolute opposition to Israel as a Jewish state contributes to an atmosphere of denigration and ostracization of Jewish people everywhere," she said at the time.

On social media, the New York General Consul of Israel Ofir Akunis said he considered the attack "a direct result of Mayor Mamdani's sustained campaign of incitement," adding, "Mamdani has failed to protect New York's Jews."

During the Queens India Day Parade Saturday, the mayor responded to that statement.

"I am more focused, frankly, on delivering for Jewish New Yorkers across the five boroughs," Mamdani said. "We have a Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism that we have expanded, that is now hard at work on creating the nation's first-ever municipal  response to antisemitism."

Mamdani has condemned individual acts of antisemitism and did so again Saturday.

"Our City Hall has a commitment to ensuring that not only are Jewish New Yorkers safe, but they are celebrated and cherished in this city," he said. "And over the course of the seven months in office, we have increased funding for hate crime prevention programming by more than 800%."

The mayor called the Central Synagogue attack "horrific" and praised the NYPD and synagogue security for the swift response. 

Police say Montes has had three prior arrests in New York City. All three were for robbery and took place between 2019-2023, police say.