Central Synagogue members return to support community after Shabbat service attack

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 17:03:03 -0400

Service resumed at Central Synagogue on Saturday, just one day after a man burst into Shabbat service and attacked two people, police say.

Many in the community told FOX 5 NY that they believed it was important to show their support on Saturday.

Central Synagogue in Midtown East was a chaotic scene on Friday night.

The NYPD says 46-year-old Larry Montes from the Bronx burst into the service Friday night and, out of nowhere, attacked a 63-year-old woman, cutting her lip and arm.

When a security guard moved in to try and stop him, police say Montes went after him, spitting in his face and headbutting him.

Montes has been charged with assault as a hate crime and criminal mischief as a hate crime.

No one was seriously hurt in the attack.

Hannah Poll was at Friday's service. She called the interruption "very disturbing and frightening."

Poll said that she and the other congregants "stood still, we watched. There was no fear overcoming everything. We just trusted, and it was Shabbat, and we knew we had our God with us."

Others, like Susan Schlechter, said it was important for her to be at Saturday's service.

"When I heard about it, I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m going,'" Schlechter said. "You have to show up. That's what you need to do."

City leaders also responded to Friday's attack.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that "we reject this with every fiber of our being. This is a city where every single New Yorker should be safe, and Jewish New Yorkers should be able to go to their synagogue without having to fear for our lives."

For City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Friday's attack hits close to home. Central Synagogue is the synagogue her family has belonged to for years, where her children went to Hebrew school.

"The first thought I had is, my mother and grandmother came to the East Side of Manhattan to what was then known as Little Hungary to build a better life after surviving the Holocaust, and they were welcomed into the community," Menin said. "They were welcomed as Jews into New York City, and what is happening now to the Jewish community with incident after incident of horrific antisemitism is completely unacceptable."

Central Synagogue had no comment about the incident.

The NYPD is continuing to investigate.

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Central Synagogue members return to support community after Shabbat service attack