Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Iraq Vet Saves Rabbi’s Wife From Choking at Yankee Stadium

This will show you never to eat stadium food.

At Yankee Stadium yesterday, the wife of a prominent New York rabbi was saved from choking to death by an Army medic who had served in Iraq.

It all started when Toby Weiss, wife of Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, began choking on a piece of kosher London broil. (Hey, at least it was kosher.)

Several people tried to assist her, to no avail, and Toby began turning blue when a savior in a Don Mattingly jersey appeared. John Stone, 38, a staff sergeant with the Connecticut National Guard was sitting about 15 rows behind Toby. He sprang into action and performed the Heimlich maneuver right there behind home plate, ridding Toby of the half-masticated chunk of beef.

“Suddenly this kind of Elijah figure appeared from nowhere. He knew exactly what to do.” Rabbi Avi Weiss told the Daily News, adding that Stone is “a great hero,” Following the incident Toby was checked out at the stadium infirmary, and, after being given a clean bill of health, returned to her seat to thank Stone. “I said to him, ‘I’m a big Yankee fan, but I really didn’t want to die in Yankee Stadium,’” she told the Daily News.

For Stone, who was there with his brother Jamie, an Army infantry soldier on leave from Afghanistan, the day was filled with firsts. It was his first visit to Yankee stadium, and his first time performing the Heimlich.

“I treated soldiers a lot worse than her, but this is the first time I’ve ever done [the Heimlich],” Stone told the paper.

Unfortunately, the Yankees lost 3-5 to the Los Angeles Angels. Better luck next time.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version