As dozens of Jewish New Yorkers gathered in Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s home to celebrate the seventh day of Hanukkah, a passerby spotted the Menorah, stopped, and walked toward the front door.

Worshipers had begun to filter into the synagogue next door for a holiday meal as 37-year-old Grafton Thomas barged into the home, pulled out a knife that looked “almost like a broomstick,” closed the door behind him, and said, “Nobody’s going anywhere.”