Two days after he was attacked by a stranger in front of a Manhattan kosher restaurant in what police say was an antisemitic attack, an Israeli tourist remains bruised but undaunted. In fact, Rami Glikstein, 59, returned on Wednesday to the restaurant, Mr. Broadway, the same grub establishment where he was blocked from entering and then punched out on Monday.“He ate a sandwich,” Rivi Glikstein told the Sun in an exclusive interview, referring to her 59-year-old husband who suffered a brain bleed after being leveled on Monday afternoon by a burly maniac, who remains at large.The entire unprovoked attack that turned Mr. Broadway, an upscale Glatt Kosher eatery located on West 38th Street and Seventh Avenue, into a makeshift thunderdome. The sinister scene outside the restaurant. Mr. BroadwayMr. Glikstein, an observant Jew who had arrived to grab a bite at the eatery, was seen on surveillance cameras, outside the restaurant, holding a coffee when the burly attacker – dressed all in black and wearing a once-trendy Von Dutch hat – allegedly badgered him about his beige yarmulke. The stranger allegedly griped: “What’s your religion? What’s your religion?”Mr. Glikstein, as he later told his wife, chose to remain mum. “He told me that he didn’t want to answer,” she said, recounting her conversation after the incident with her wounded husband. Rami Glikstein recovers in the hospital after being assaulted. FacebookIn the video footage, the imposing tough – seen clad in a black coat, tactical vest and Von Dutch baseball cap – then swats the innocent’s yarmulke off his head with his left hand. The perp then is seen stepping on and apparently spitting on the yarmulke, a skullcap worn by Jewish men as a sign of humility and reverence for God. “My husband was thinking what to do and he decided to take it from the ground,” his wife said. A yarmulke that falls to the ground is supposed to be quickly picked up – and according to some Jewish traditions, kissed – out of respect. Yet Mr. Glikstein’s enraged attacker allegedly belted, “Don’t take it. Don’t touch it,’” Rivi says, recounting her husband’s account of the incident. Rami Glikstein (wearing yarmulke) is accosted by this suspect who has not been identified. Mr. BroadwayAs Mr. Glikstein attempted to fetch the yarmulke from the ground, again his wife, 55, said her husband heard the suspect warn, “Don’t do it!”When he defied the threat, the man (who Rivi referred to as a “refrigerator” based on his large stature) clocked him. In his own words, Mr. Glikstein posted on social media that he was targeted while walking in Manhattan because of the “dome on my head”. He added: “The attacker prevented me from entering the restaurant.”Rami and Riva Glikstein. FacebookThe video shows the suspect squaring up to Mr. Glikstein in a fighting stance and shuttling to the right a couple times before he raises his left fist and cracks the tourist with a roundhouse. The blow sends Mr. Glikstein several feet backward, spilling onto the Seventh Avenue bike path. Then, with the tourist appearing to have blacked out, the suspect leans over his fallen prey. By this point, several passers-by are taking notice but fail to intervene. One appears to be a courier wheeling a stack of cardboard parcels in a dolly. Rami Glickstein gives a lecure. Instagram.Each swivels their heads toward the melee — but nobody offers to help Mr. Glikstein. This lack of empathy irks Rivi. “I see on the video how some people are shocked and stop and see what’s happened but don’t help him,” she explained. “I’m sorry about the citizens here because people don’t care about other people here.”But two Good Samaritans did eventually come to Mr. Glikstein’s rescue. The assault occurred outside Mr. Broadway, an upscale midtown Manhattan kosher restaurant. Mr. BroadwayOne man, who Rivi said was Jewish, approached the suspect and used his arm to keep the attacker a safe distance from the dazed Israeli. And another man joined him. It appears their heroics incited the suspect and he then starts to challenge them to a duel until they drift out of the camera frame. Meanwhile, Mr. Glikstein finally comes to and at first crouches down and then stands up and wobbles into Mr. Broadway for help. The Sun reported how the staffers there helped the tourist call for an ambulance and also tended to his bloodied face. Once admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital, it was determined that Mr. Glikstein suffered a brain bleed and cuts to his face. Rivi (who is Mr. Glikstein’s second wife after his first wife passed away from cancer) said her husband is a father to seven and grandfather to 12; and works as a respected historian and lecturer and was a reserve major in the Israeli army. The woman is fearful given the fact the southpaw suspect lurks out in the streets. “They haven’t catched him yet,” she said. When he was able to leave the hospital, Rivi said he made good on returning back to Mr. Broadway. He was hungry because for two days he didn’t really eat,” she said.She said that her husband’s going back to Mr. Broadway was also meant to be a bit of a statement about being undeterred even in the wake of the vicious violence he suffered. Her husband had vowed in Hebrew on social media – from his hospital bed – to return to the eatery. “I won’t let him and his intellect win,” he wrote. “This evening I’ll be back there despite my injury.”And he made good on the promise, enjoying a tasty sandwich, Rivi confirmed. “My husband told me that nobody is going to stop a Jewish person from going to any restaurant, especially if it’s kosher.”Asked if her husband or her might consider returning to New York again she said: “We will come again.” Why? “Because we should end and finish the evil — not the good.”
