After surviving Nova, he’s bringing a kosher Druze restaurant to the heart of Manhattan

Raif

It’s on one of the busiest streets in Manhattan’s Garment District that Raif Rashed, a survivor of the October 7 massacres in Israel, opened Taboonia: a kosher Druze restaurant.On the menu: manakish, thin Druze pita, cucumber and tomato salads, and bourekas reimagined with a New York twist. These unique dishes are attracting a clientele eager to move away from typical American junk food in favor of cuisine from elsewhere. But Taboonia is more than just a restaurant—it’s a story of resilience and a culinary crossroads where cultures converge.

Raif is an engineer of 40-year-old, hails from Usfiya, a Druze village nestled on Mount Carmel in northern Israel. In 2019, he moved to Hackensack, New Jersey, to work for an Israeli manufacturing company. But his life changed dramatically in October 2023.

While visiting family in Israel, Raif decided to extend his stay to help his brother Radda manage a food stall, also called Taboonia, at the Nova Festival near the Gaza border. What was meant to be a celebration of music and life turned into the site of one of the deadliest terrorist massacres in Israel’s history.

During the attack, Raif hide behind the car of his friend Erick Peretz, who was there with his 16-year-old daughter Ruth, who had cerebral palsy. He watched as they tried to flee toward an ambulance, only for Hamas terrorists to set it on fire. Erick and Ruth’s charred bodies were found twelve days later. Raif was stranded in Israel for several months without a passport, stolen during the chaos. Traumatized, he eventually returned to the United States profoundly changed. He left his engineering career behind and turned to cooking as a means of healing.

Taboonia

This return to the flavors of his childhood and the deep connection to his roots led Raif to open Taboonia stands at the New Meadowlands Market and the Grand Bazaar NYC. Success came quickly.It was then that he met Ray Radwan, a fellow Druze born in New Jersey to a Lebanese family. An experienced restaurateur, Ray proposed that they join forces to create a full-fledged restaurant.

In November 2024, Ray and Raif began building Taboonia, which quickly became a cozy, welcoming space with a dozen seats where sharing and unity are the golden rules. At Taboonia, customers speak Arabic, Hebrew, and English—and no one is judged. After obtaining the Teouda, the kosher certification, Raif was able to continue serving Jewish clientele while remaining open on Shabbat—a rare occurrence made possible because the establishment is not Jewish-owned.

The city’s only other Druze restaurant, Gazala’s, was vandalized in 2024 but received overwhelming support from the Jewish community.Today, Taboonia follows in the footsteps of this unexpected solidarity. A viral video by actress and pro-Israel activist Noa Tishby highlighting Raif’s journey further boosted the restaurant’s visibility.

Taboonia stands as a place of memory, dialogue, and rebuilding—a space where the wounds of the past give way to the fragile hope of solidarity and coexistence.

Caroline Haïat