Chabad Jew returns to wrapping tefillin day after being stabbed in NYC

A 26-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch man named Yosef returned to wrapping tefillin on 47th Street in Manhattan's Diamond District the day after being stabbed there. The attack is being investigated as a possible hate crime. The assailant is a woman in her 40s; no arrests have been made. Yosef was treated at Bellevue Hospital with no internal bleeding and no stitches needed.

Less than 24 hours after being stabbed in midtown Manhattan, Yosef, a 26-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch man from Crown Heights, returned to the same street where he was assaulted to help Diamond District employees wrap tefillin. Yosef, who did not share his last name for privacy, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he was back on 47th Street on Thursday afternoon, the day after the stabbing, without missing a beat in his Monday-through-Thursday routine. The attack occurred Wednesday evening around 6 p.m., and Yosef was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where medical staff determined he had no internal bleeding and did not need stitches. The assailant is described as a woman in her 40s; no arrests have been made, and police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Yosef said he was 'still shaken' but felt it important to continue his work, stating, 'we need more mitzvahs in the world, we need more light in the world.' On Friday, multiple Chabad men stood under a yellow tent on the sidewalk wrapping tefillin for workers, and Chabad officials met with NYPD representatives for their annual security meeting ahead of the movement's international conference in Crown Heights, which begins November 5. The article notes that Jews have been targeted in more than half of hate crimes committed in New York City in 2026, despite making up about 12% of the city's population.