After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Yonkers barber Slava Shushakova took down the mezuzah on the door of his Yonkers Avenue barber shop, fearing that he too would be targeted. Despite removing the obviously Jewish symbol, Shushakova was viciously attacked on August 29 by one of his customers, who grabbed the barber’s own scissors and stabbed him repeatedly in his hand and arm, while yelling antisemitic words and saying he was going to kill him.

Since that day the attacker has been in the Westchester County jail and the crime is being prosecuted as a hate crime. Because of the injuries to his dominant right hand, Shushakova has not been able to work. Chabad of Yonkers’ Rabbi Mendy Hurwitz said, “Because Slava was stabbed because he was a Jew, he now realized just the opposite. Let me not run away from Judaism, let me come very strongly back to it.” Shushakova was adamant that the mezuzah be reinstalled before he would consider returning to work.

With the help of Rabbi Hurwitz, he has now reinstalled the mezuzah, an especially beautiful one presented by Dr. Ira Savetsky, the plastic surgeon who addressed the physical injuries.

“Since October 7, there have been lots of violent hate crimes against Jews,” said Dr. Savetsky. “He is one of several whom I have taken care of. Slava left his native country due to antisemitism. He came here for a better life, something [about which] my great uncle, who was a Holocaust survivor, said ‘As much as you try to run away from your Judaism, you can’t run away from it.’ The important lesson today that you are teaching your kids is a very important lesson: to really embrace your Judaism and to not hide.”

Said Dr. Savetsky’s wife, Lizzy, “A lot of people think that the mezuzah is a symbol to protect us from the outside world. But the reason we have the mezuzah is to remind us of who we are. Unfortunately you had a very vicious and brutal reminder of who you are. My prayer for you in this coming year is that with hanging this mezuzah you should only be reminded of who you are as a Jew in a beautiful way and never in a negative, violent way, ever again.”

The mezuzah was attached and a special blessing was said. Rabbi Hurwitz also blew the shofar, and helped Slava and others put on tefillin.

Speaking and joining the installation of the new mezuzah were Yonkers City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy, Westchester Jewish Council members Pam Goldstein and Michael Scheffler, Westchester 10th District Legislator Judah J. Holstein, former Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick and his wife Dr. Beth Schorr Lesnick, Dr. Savetsky, Lizzy and their four children, and former New Rochelle firefighter Norman Hauptman.

Robert Kalfus has been an award-winning photojournalist since 1970 and may be contacted at (917) 379-4165 or [email protected]