A Jewish man in New York said that he was insulted and threatened by a woman on the subway on Sunday after she spotted his kippah.Jonathan Gray revealed the episode on social media, stating that he also reported it to the police.”This lady started yelling and cursing at me. Including F&@k all you Jews. Tried to film quickly. And she threatened to beat me up,” Gray wrote on Twitter, posting a video of a young woman yelling at him.
This is real.Just happened to me. Walked onto the NYC subway wearing my yarmulke. (Costume off) and this lady started yelling and cursing at me. Including F&@k all you Jews.Tried to film quickly. And she threatened to beat me up. Having the station attendant call the police now pic.twitter.com/7fynGMUisn— Jonathan Gray (@udontchap) January 5, 2020
He specified that the woman started to threaten him physically after she noticed he was filming. Following the exchange, he added that he got off the train at the following stop and then decided to report the incident to the police. “Just left precinct after some of the higher ups wanted to speak to me. And it has been filed as a hate crime, first of 2020,” he tweeted about two hours later.Earlier on Sunday, Gray participated in the big protest against antisemitism that saw about 25,000 people marching through the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
At the beginning of January, the man, who describes himself on Twitter as a marketing consultant and staff accountant, made headlines for participating in the big event of the Siyum Hashas, the celebration for completing studying the Talmud, dressed up like Waldo.Waldo is the protagonist of the children’s book series “Where’s Waldo.” He wears a red and white striped shirt and a matching hat. Among the 90,000 participants at the celebration held in a stadium, mostly Orthodox men wearing black, Gray stood out pretty conspicuously and was photographed and film by many participants as well as reporters covering the event.As revealed by the pictures from the march against antisemitism he posted on Twitter, he chose to wear the same Waldo outfit also for this event.However, he wrote that by the time he was riding on the subway, he was not wearing the costume anymore. “Thank you everyone for reaching out after today’s event. The easiest option for me today would have been to ignore her verbal abuse and go on with my day. But enough is enough,” he further wrote on Twitter.
*story by Jerusalem Post