'Go Back To Israel': Father Recounts Anti-Semitic Attack On UWS

Upper West Side NY

12 January, 2021

4:14 PM

Description

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Dovid Efune never thought he'd come face-to-face with a man shouting 'Heil Hitler' on the Upper West Side. However, that's exactly what happened on the first Sunday of January when he took a family trip to the UWS Barnes & Noble bookstore. Efune, 35, who lives on the UWS with his three children and wife, runs an NYC-based Jewish newspaper called The Algemeiner. Efune took to the paper on Friday to give a first-person retelling of how a stranger approached his family on the Upper West Side on Jan. 3 and started berating them with anti-semitic questions and insults. Efune, who describes himself as "conspicuously Jewish" due to his wearing of yarmulkes and tzitzis, was walking with his eight and five-year-old sons, his one-year-old daughter, and his wife to the UWS Barnes & Noble bookstore. A man began walking alongside them on Broadway and 82nd Street, according to Effune. The man who Efune described as 6-feet tall and well built, approached with the question "is it true that the Bible says Jews must live in Israel?" The 35-year-old father told him, "not that I know of," and tried to walk away from the man after he pushed the question again, according to Effune's retelling. However, the man continued to follow the family, prompting Effune to tell him to please leave them alone and that "there are children here." Here's the direct dialogue from what happened next, according to Effune's retelling. "No, I want to have this conversation. Why aren't you in Israel? Are you not Jewish?" the man said. "We are," Effune's 8-year-old son responded defensively. "Go away," Effune said forcefully. "Go to Israel! he shouted back. And then, furiously: Heil Hitler!" Effune wrote he could see burning hatred in the man's eyes as he said the words. The man eventually took off when Effune went to call the police, but the NYPD never arrived, according to Effune. The NYPD told Patch there was no report on file for the incident. You can read Effune's full break down of the events and subsequent commentary on The Algemeiner website