Members of Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan returned to worship Saturday morning with heightened security after an assault took place the night before.<\/p>\n
A live stream of Friday’s service shows a loud thud, followed by yells of panic. When the camera flips to another angle, police can be seen escorting a man out of the synagogue.<\/p>\n
In a social media post<\/a>, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the man damaged property and hit a member of the congregation.<\/p>\n Police took 46-year-old Larry Montes into custody and charged him with two counts of assault as a hate crime, among other charges. His attorney information wasn’t immediately available.<\/p>\n Rabbi Andrew Kaplan Mandel acknowledged the assault during Saturday morning’s service.<\/p>\n “Our day of rest was interrupted last night by a security incident in our main sanctuary, but we are OK, we are safe, we are grateful to be here,”\u00a0he said to those in attendance, as seen on the synagogue\u2019s live stream. “We are grateful to our security for supporting us.”<\/p>\n Nearly a dozen armed police officers stood near the entrance of the building as members gathered for an intimate participatory worship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes me sad that there\u2019s this much hatred in this country, and intolerance,\u201d Ruth Shuman said. “We\u2019re all God’s creatures, and we have to find the best in each other.”<\/p>\n Several days ago, Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a closed-door session with several rabbis about how to combat antisemitism and keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.<\/p>\n