Daughter of Monsey Stabbing Victim Sends Message of Finding “Light in All the Darkness”
By: Ilana Siyance
Three years ago, at this time of the Festival of Lights known as the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, Josef Neumann was brutally killed at a holiday gathering at the Monsey home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg. Grafton Thomas, then 37, a madman had allegedly entered the home randomly and started slashing and stabbing the worshippers with an 18-inch machete. Five people were hospitalized due to injuries from the attack. Neumann, 72, was critically wounded with cuts to his skull, which made contact with his brain, leading to a coma. He had succumbed to injuries and passed away three months later.
His daughter, Nicky Kohen, opened up to the Post in a recent interview, on how the family is enduring after the tragic loss. She admitted that now the holiday naturally serves as “great reminders of sadness”, especially since her father had, “loved preparing for the holidays,” she said. Still, she presented a message of hope, saying the Kohen family has found “light in all the darkness” in the recent years thanks to the births of her son and a nephew.
“As Jews, we don’t give that up just because something bad happened,” Kohen, 31, told The Post, visually choking up at times. “There’s family celebrations. We light the menorah with our children every day.” “We get together, we celebrate both Hanukkah and his life,” she added. Kohen, herself now a mother of three, was one of Neumann’s seven children which he tragically left behind. Kohen says, the current situation following her father’s death, with a renewed surge in anti-Semitism, is deeply disturbing. “My father’s parents were survivors of the Holocaust. Growing up, I thought it would never happen again,” she said. “Nowadays, I’m not certain.”
The Anti-Defamation League found in its April report that anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2021, with New York leading the country with 416 troublesome incidents. “I definitely see some political leaders speaking very ignorantly, and public figures, which obviously influences people,” Kohen added, referring to Kanye West, who has praised Adolf Hitler and has vowed in his anti-Semitic rants to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
As per the Post, Neumann’s alleged killer, Thomas had previously scribbled anti-Semitic ramblings in his journal, and had searched online for “Zionist Temples” before carrying out his vicious attack. He was arrested and pleaded not guilty to murder and hate crime charges — but he has been found unfit to stand trial because of mental conditions. His lawyers claim he was not an anti-Semite, but rather mentally ill and had been off his medications. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is currently being held at the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center in New Hampton, NY, as per federal prosecutors. “Even if he doesn’t go to prison, I believe he’ll never get out of this mental institution,” Kohen said. “I do feel safer that at least he is unable to do this to anybody else, Jewish or not.”