Joseph Glock helped arrest the terrorist who attacked Jews in Muncie • He refused to accept a prize offered to him by Jewish organizations
Monsey (illustration) // Photo by Getty Imagis
In the hours and days following the stabbing attack in Monsey during Chanukah, Joseph Glock's actions received special attention. The youngest resident of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood was in the rabbi's house as the doctor entered the attack. Glock, who serves as the backman of the nearby synagogue, threw a table at the stabber, prevented him from injuring a boy standing nearby, and then chased him, wrote down the identification plate number, and reported to the police.
Photo: From Twitter
For the role he played in the event, which ended in the wounding of five Jewish residents, one of them severe, Glock was grateful and appreciated by the State of New York as well as a $ 20,000 cash prize.
However, this cash prize did not come from the two Jewish organizations that first offered it to anyone who would assist in the arrest of the stabber.
Glock told News 12 Brooklyn last week that after being consulted, he decided to postpone the money from the Zionist Organizations - the Rockland County Jewish Federation and the Anti-Defamation League - because they do not represent the beliefs and values of the ultra-Orthodox community to which he belongs.
"I would not give my soul for $ 20,000. My identity for $ 20,000 was not for sale," he told News 12.
Instead, Glock's rabbi raised the amount "from people who admired his actions," according to the report.
Joseph Glock // Photo: Ben Sells
Rabbi David Feldman claimed in an interview with News 12 that the Jewish Anti-Defamation League and the Federation were about to issue a statement "that would encourage and advance the Zionist idea of Jewish self-defense, of fighting back, of fighting our enemies, which contradicts our tradition."
The $ 20,000 check was filed for Glock Thursday evening at a ceremony in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Just hours after the stabbing attack, police used information provided by Glock on the license plate to arrest Grafton Thomas, 37, who was charged with six attempted murder. The stabbings also include a federal indictment for hate crimes.
Thomas denies stabbing, and his family says he has mental illness.
In January, Glock received the highest award from the New York State Senate, the Medal of Liberty.