By Hadar Katsman, Features Editor
On February 12, a Yeshiva University undergraduate student, male, was assaulted in the Washington Heights subway station on 181st Street at approximately 7:00 PM, just a few blocks away from YU’s Wilf campus. YU sent a security advisory email to its undergraduate community immediately following the off-campus assault, which YU considered “an unbiased attempted robbery.”
The student who was attacked “is back on campus in good condition,” the email read. “YU Security is aware of the incident and is coordinating with law enforcement authorities.”
Dozens of students on YU’s Beren campus travel back and forth from the Heights for classes, residence and social gatherings. When Brooke Kohl (SCW ‘26) travels to the Heights about twice a week in the evening, she often takes YU’s free intercampus shuttle, the daily bus service between the Beren and Wilf campuses for all YU students. Sometimes, she takes what can be a more convenient mode of transportation, the subway, because it is less prone to being stuck in traffic and is often quieter and less crowded than the YU shuttle. “I’m not going to not take the subway just because this happened,” Kohl told the YU Observer. “I’m not naive but I’m not scared. I understand the risks of both options and I choose whatever is most convenient and comfortable.”
But the assault has caused some students, like Hayley Goldberg (SCW ‘26), who lives in the Heights, to be extra cautious when traveling around the city. For Goldberg, taking the subway or intercampus shuttle is imperative to her getting to and from classes everyday. Prior to the student attack, Goldberg was comfortable taking the subway in the mornings and evenings, which she said is often more reliable and convenient than taking the intercampus shuttle.
When Goldberg, later the night of the attack, took the 1 Train that passed through the same subway station, her “immediate thought was, How scary is it that I’m going to be going right past the scene of the crime,” she told the YU Observer. “It’s really scary knowing that there was an attack in the subway station near me.”
As Goldberg was very used to seeing the same people strolling around the Heights, she expressed that she felt almost invisible, as though nothing bad could happen to her. The attack has made her “a lot more careful at night,” and she now prefers to take the intercampus shuttle over the subway when possible. Sometimes, Goldberg takes the subway at 1 AM when traveling back from work in Brooklyn, which she said “can be really really scary.”
Some YU students feel that although a fellow Jew was the victim of the attack, it does not drastically change how safe they feel travelling around the city. On the other hand, it has made some YU students more aware of subway safety in general. “I don’t think that what happened recently is the reason that I should be more careful,” Kohl said. “This was probably a good reminder that the subway is dangerous but I don’t think that’s anything new.” Kohl continues to take the subway when it is convenient for her.
Sora Newmark (SCW ‘26) similarly expressed that just because a Jew was the one attacked, taking public transportation in the city is not any riskier. “There is always a risk when you travel in any city of getting hurt,” Newmark told the YU Observer.
Newmark said oftentimes Jews can mistake an attack that coincidentally happened to a Jewish person for a targeted antisemetic attack, but “the risk did not increase just because it was a Jewish person who was injured in an attack.” Newmark, who said she “do[es] not feel less safe after the attack,” continues to take the subway from her apartment in the Heights for her classes and work. “I walk at night around YU buildings and my apartment building and have never had a problem,” she said.
According to Josh Reback (SSSB ‘28), the attack was not discussed much on the Wilf campus. At first, Reback believed the attack was a result of antisemitism. Only after learning further details about the attack did he realize it was a result of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “We assume things have causes that we can explain,” Reback told the YU Observer. “It’s not antisemitism, it was just, I think, a fluke.”
Due to the rise in antisemitism post-October 7th, 2023, the Jewish world tends to make the assumption that every attack that happens to a Jew is antisemetic and not a wrong place, wrong time occurrence, Reback pointed out. “YU student gets attacked by five men, that sounds like antisemitism, but it’s not because it comes out of our bias and our experience.”
“I just think it’s a stigma [in] this area,” Reback continued, commenting that the reason the assault happened where it did corresponds more to the Height’s sketchy reputation rather than antisemitism. “I don’t think being Jewish is a problem in the Heights,” said Reback, who emphasized that the relationship between the general Heights community and YU’s Wilf community is “content.”
Reback did not feel a lot of anxiety in the Heights or on the subway either before or after the attack. “It doesn’t really change much of my doings around the city,” he said. Reback takes YU’s intercampus shuttle out of convenience but continues to take the subway at a reasonable hour.
The recent incident has brought public safety to the forefront of some students’ minds. For others, it has not made a strong impact on their sense of safety in the city and taking its public transportation, nor has it increased fear of antisemitically motivated violence.
Photo Credit: Shira Kramer