A Jewish mother has shared her harrowing account of antisemitism at Broadway Barber Shop in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where her 11-year-old son’s peyos were forcibly shaved off against explicit instructions.

The mother, who initially selected the barber shop based on its stellar online reviews, described the incident in a heartfelt and deeply disturbing Facebook post that has since gone viral.

According to the mother, she carefully explained to the barber how she wanted her son’s haircut, stressing that his peyos should not be trimmed or touched. She even provided a picture for clarity. However, moments after the haircut began, the barber reportedly ignored her instructions, cutting off one peyah entirely while her son began to cry.

Horrified, the mother shouted for the barber to stop, but her pleas were ignored. Desperate, she turned to the shop owner for help. Speaking in Arabic to the barber, the owner did nothing to stop the actions. Instead, the barber reportedly proceeded to shave off the other peyah, leaving the boy in tears and his mother devastated.

“They were smiling at each other,” the mother wrote. “My son was crying and feeling violated. I yelled at the barber to just stop, but he kept going.”

The mother and her son left the barber shop in tears, with his haircut unfinished and his peyos completely removed.

The mother likened the incident to the humiliation tactics used by Nazis during the Holocaust, when Jewish men were forced to shave their peyos as a means of dehumanization.

“I never dreamed I’d be in this situation in a safe NJ town in the USA,” she wrote. “FOR GOD’S SAKE, MY SON IS 11 YEARS OLD, A CHILD!”

The emotional toll on her son has been profound. He was too embarrassed to attend school the next day, grappling with the shame of having his peyos shaved off for the first time in his life.

“This is antisemitism,” the mother wrote. “Antisemitism is still happening. It cannot be tolerated, not even in the smallest acts of hate.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)