The heart of the heartland is showing their love for Hany Baransi by telling the world that at his restaurant – and in this town – the terror and horror only made us stronger.

Two weeks after I graduated high school in Smithtown, Long Island, my family moved to Columbus, Ohio. To say that this was traumatic was a vast understatement. I was a 17-year-old kid, a new driver, and to me, I was moving to a desert. To New Yorkers, Ohio was known for cows and football.

There were many things that I missed – the ocean, the Knicks, but there was a sweetness, a feeling of safety, cleanliness and family that grew on me.

Weekends in the summer were filled with the sounds of Wolfman Jack and people “cruising.” It was almost like you were in a time warp. I had a thick New York accent, and the attention that I received as an “exotic” person wasn’t too shabby for a 17-year-old.

One thing that I couldn’t get used to was Jews with accents. That was a hard one for me, but the longer I stayed here, I became one of them – well, sort of.

Columbus was always a friendly, racially diverse town to me. There were none of the tensions that I had read about in other cities. There are always problems anywhere you go, but in Columbus, not so much.

You would watch the local news and they would say, another murder on Parsons Avenue that would make 16 for the year. In New York that was a good weekend…

Forty years have passed. I have a family with five kids, a successful business, and I have watched Columbus grow up to be a thriving, growing city, still diverse and friendly.

Twenty-five years ago Hany Baransi moved from Israel to the United States to live the American dream. I don’t know how he felt about the move, but since we are close in age, I would think that he had many of the same feelings that I had times 10. A new country, language, customs, certainly was a change that I cannot fathom.

Hany opened up a small restaurant in a strip center with a bowling alley in it. At the time, the center had already been in its prime. As the neighborhood changed, Hany took a chance and moved farther out to the suburbs.

If Columbus was the all-American city, Gahanna was certainly at the heart of it. Voted the best place to live in America a few years back, Gahanna is a lovely, small, friendly community that is diverse and clean. Hany’s new location was thriving. In fact, he had just contracted to double the space to accommodate his growing business.

(AP/Kantele Franko)

Hany is a real character. He walks around his restaurant holding a baseball bat while asking you if you liked the food. When you speak to him, he is fiercely patriotic to his former country, Israel, and his adopted country, the United States.

When you enter his restaurant you see an American flag and an Israeli flag. Behind the cash register on his wall is a large tapestry of a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian sitting together in peace.

Hany is a very hard-working guy. Anyone who works in the restaurant biz knows the hours are terrible. For Hany, his restaurant is only second to his family for his attention.

Last week Hany decided that he needed to rest. He took a rare evening off and stayed home.

It was a typical evening at Nazareth Mediterranean Cuisine, the restaurant that is Hany’s home. On Thursdays, Bill Foley plays cover for the appreciative customers who come to eat the wonderful, fresh Middle Eastern food that Nazareth restaurant serves. At 5:30 in the evening a man came in and started asking questions about the owner, such as his name where was he was from. The answer given was that he was Israeli.

The man left only to return half an hour later with a knife and a machete.

I eat at this restaurant all the time. My kids love the food, and since they are allergic to many things, they find Nazareth to be extremely accommodating.

I can only imagine how the couple in the first booth must have felt, since I sat in the same place many times. While they were dipping into the fresh hummus with hot pita bread, the terrorist came back into the restaurant and starting hacking and slashing them with a machete. He hit the man on the head. The only thing that saved his life was the fact that he was not hit by the blade directly. By some miracle, the flat side of the machete hit his head. He was hit so hard that his head was deeply bruised. While he and his wife tried to protect themselves, they each received severe cuts to their arms and hands, almost completely severing their fingers.

As the attacker moved to the next booth, patrons, including the musician, bravely confronted him. Musician Bill Foley was attacked as he attempted to help. He is still in the hospital with severe wounds.

Chairs were thrown, and the bat – the famous bat that Hany is known for – was taken from behind the counter by a brave soul who chased the attacker out of the restaurant. After hacking four people – there was blood everywhere – the would-be killer slowly and methodically got into his car and drove away.

The police were alerted and cornered him five miles away. He jumped out of his car yelling Allahu Akbar, while menacing the police with his machete. He was quickly gunned down.

This is Not Supposed to Happen Here

You see, this is not supposed to happen here. Gahanna’s weekly crime blotter consists of petty thefts, the occasional assault, but mostly kids with pranks and suspicious activities, not terror attacks.

One can point to events in America’s history such as when Lincoln was shot, Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, and 911 – events that change the psyche and soul of our country. This attack in the heart of the heartland will forever change us. We cannot imagine what it is like in Israel, where they have to face this almost daily.

The outpouring of love for Hany, who re-opened the restaurant a few days later, is life-affirming. He had obviously been crying for days with the trauma that he and his employees went through. He was completely overwhelmed by the community who has gathered around him.

The heart of the heartland is showing their love for this transplant, this immigrant, with a big heart, by saying to the world that at this particular restaurant, and in this town, the terror and horror inflicted on us only made us stronger.

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