Posted to Accidents, Communal Matters, Crown Heights News on

Tragic Accident Costs 25-Year-Old Bochur’s Life

A tragic accident claimed the life of 25-year-old Gedalia Greenzayd in Crown Heights this morning. Originally from Ukraine, Gedalia was studying Smicha in Morristown, NJ. He was in Crown Heights to celebrate the wedding of a close friend.

The incident occurred at 9:08am. Gedalia was standing at the intersection of Carroll Street and Kingston Avenue with two friends as they waited for the traffic signal to change. As the light turned green, Gedalia began to cross, not realizing that a NYC Dept. of Sanitation garbage truck was simultaneously making a right turn from Kingston Ave. onto Carroll St.

Gedalia was run over by the truck’s massive rear tires and was instantly killed, right before the eyes of his friends and several horrified bystanders.

One of the Bochurim Gedalia was walking with told CrownHeights.info that he was Gedialia’s closest friend, and that Gedalia was in Crown Heights to celebrating his upcoming wedding.

Gedalia was born and raised in Vinnitza, a city in central Ukraine, and was his parents’ only child. He attended the Jewish day school in the city, founded by Skverer Chosid Rabbi Leibel Surkis and later directed by Chabad Shliach to the city Rabbi Shaul Horowitz.

After high school, Gedalia continued his Jewish studies at Chabad Yeshivos in Kiev, Zhitomir and elsewhere, ultimately arriving in the United States to study for Smicha in Morristown.

Collaboration between Hatzalah, Chesed Shel Emes, the NYPD and the Medical Examiner’s office is ensuring that proper Kavod Hames is being given.

The Levaya will take place tomorrow, Monday, in front of 770 – time to be announced – and will continue to Ukraine, his hometown.

Boruch Dayan Hoemes

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54 Comments

  • Sue Bloomberg

    maybe we should push the sidewalks out further so one slip and your under the wheels of a truck

  • !!!!!!???????

    BDE SUCH TRAGIC NEWS !!! If the truck turned right that means it was the bachur ‘s green light to cross. What happened..the truck turmed right and the same time pedestrian wanted to cross and slipped???
    Why the city doesnt clean our streets especially where we have to cross so unsafe to pedestrian!!!
    Take good example from canada where they have truck vacuming ice and releasing afterwards the water?!.
    Such sad day for klal israel!!!!!

    • JACQUELINE

      maybe now the NEW MAYOR WILL HAVE THE STREETS CLEARED IN A TIMELY MANNER , AND GARBAGE PICKUP CORRECTLY , IT SAD A YOUNG MAN HAD TO DIE , MY CONDOLENCES TO THY ENTIRE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF CROWN HEIGHTS ,

  • Why

    Where us the comunity council to make sure streets are clean?

    Eli cohen sai last wek that it is not job of JC to make sure streets are clean

  • sad

    bde – be careful when crossing streets…bochurim don’t always understand the dangers.

    This is a wake up call. nebach – always a tragedy needs to remind us of…

  • Sruly Clapman

    Was there a few seconds after it happened. And I’m still very shook up, all I have to say is life us way to short to ever fight with anyone.

    Make up with all your enemies and you wil be a much happer person. One minute your getting a cofee and a second later I was watching a person go to Olam Haemes.

  • To #4

    It wasn’t his fault. He had a green light and the truck decided to turn as well.
    Baruch Dayan HaEmes.

  • tragedy

    The Rebbe always quoted from the Rambam- hilchos Taaniyos – that when a tragedy stroke, there needs to be soul searching.
    Lets all unite with unconditional Ahavas Yisroel.

  • chaya

    such an accident happened afew years ago with a young cheder boy in williamsburg involving a school bus nebech.why cant they make special sensors just like in cars which beep when something is too close?????

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      It was a tragic accident.

      We don’t have to make any new laws, we don’t need to make imaginary sensors.

      We do need to be more careful (aware of our surroundings) and have faith in g-d almighty that everything will be ok.

      May G-d protect all of Klal Yisroel, wherever they may be!

  • dot

    The city is just thete to cover themselves from a lawsuite hope tge family has a lawyet on the scene to get the true story

  • CHLEAKS.COM

    Now that someone was tragically killed, lets get some politicians to inact some knee-jerk (recaction) laws.

  • Isa

    I studied Zohar with this bochur, he had real ahavas yisroel twards everyone he came into contact with. He was into writing and we are hoping to find some of his material for publishing.

    • yb

      I was also his old chavrusah when he was in ohr somatach monsey. Gedalia is in gan eden now. Bde

  • CHT

    How can this be understood? The only child became baal teshuva … now what to say parents? Is this a nisayon one can bear?

  • Duvid Tabaczynski

    My dear friend who I was learning with in Morristown. I am at a loss for words and I am deeply saddened to hear this shocking news. BD”H.

  • Eliyahu

    I was a close friend of Gedaliah and I only have good memories we shared together. He was the type of individual that only saw the good in every single person. He always had a huge positive impact on any Jew that was around his presence. He had unconditional ahava for Klal Yisroel and put his beliefs and magnificent knowledge into action. Everyone that knew him personally will truthfully miss him,
    deeply.
    Baruch Dayen Emet

  • Ronen

    Gedalia was a friend of mine. I studied with him at Ohr Somayach in Monsey and can’t believe he’s gone.

    He brought a lot of light to the world. Why he had to be taken only Hashem knows.

  • Moshiach now!

    He must have had a special neshama. The Tanya for today was about Ahavas Yisroel and it is Ari Halberstam’s yahrzeit,.. Moshiach now!

  • CHR

    Yesterday (shabbos) saw a bunch of 7-10 yr old boys running across EPkwy (@kingston) to make the
    light. Not wise! Need to enforce safety!

  • THE ONE AT FAULT....

    STOP BLAMING EVERYONE EXCEPT FOR THE ONE WHO ORCHESTRATED THE ENTIRE TRAGEDY; H A S H E M!!!!! ANY ARGUMENTS SHOULD GO DIRECTLY TO HIM, NOT THE CITY, NOR THE MAYOR NOR ANYONE ELSE. IF HASHEM WOULD NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN IT JUST WOULDN’T!!!!

  • That's horrible!

    That is such a horrific accident! He never knew when he woke up this morning that he would die only 2 hours later or so. OMG! May his neshama have an aliya

  • Boy. From the hood

    Ad Mossi How long do we have wait ?

    For The time That we should see only good

  • Aaron

    As one who knew Gedalia personally, and once benefitted from his counsel, I want to second the kind thoughts that have been posted here.
    I also find it unreasonable to “blame” or find “fault” with anyone. Accidents happen, even in the absence of any ill-will or gross negligence. The Aibishter knows what He is doing.
    And I will go a step further. The driver of the garbage truck was not looking to kill a bachur that day. He made a mistake, and is also suffering, I am sure. There are no enemies in this one, and we would do well to pray for Gedalia’s family (who lost their only child), as well as the truck driver who just stumbled into a nightmare. God should have mercy on us all, and Gedalia’s neshama should have an Aaliyah.

  • Why no "Ticket" when the city violates it's own Laws?

    Sanitation Trucks cause many fatalities every year. Just last week or so, a sanitation truck killed someone in Queens. Many City Buses Kill Pedestrians, even drive the wrong way, too.

    The reason:

    Our Mayor gives tickets for homeowners who don’t shovel the snow but his own city workers don’t get any ticket for not removing the ice, in the streets where it is the city’s obligation

    Similarly, any ordinary driver who speeds or speaks on a cell phone gets a ticket, but not if he is a cop, a city bus and not if it’s a sanitation truck doing the same

    Sanitation Trucks and City buses NEVER EVER display any common courtesy to other drivers and routinely “push” pedestrians and other drivers “off the road”, as though only THEY, have the right of way and only they “own the road”

    City buses can be observed doing this 24/7 and they never get ticketed for it.

    Similarly Cops run red light and park illegally, just to get a sandwich for lunch or a coffee break, with no emergency, then if they cause an accident they falsify the records that they had an emergency.

    Who is going to give a cop a ticket for reckless driving or speeding to get his sandwich or a cop on a cell?

  • DRIVER REVERSED INTO BUSY INTERSECTION

    Reckless negligence is what caused this accident. Pedestrians have right of way and especially in such a busy area and particularly when reversing- the driver of a huge truck needs to make sure that he is not compromising a human being’s life.

  • HOPE THE DRIVER IS HAPPY

    The way things go in this neighborhood and the types of characters who ‘uphold’ the law here, he’ll probably be right back on the saddle by tomorrow.

    • DayDee

      Exactly right. Unionized city employees look after their own at the expense of everyone else. It’s about time we smashed these scumbag fraternity arrangements.

  • David Cohen

    i weep for his family, an only child too. His life ahead of him through semicha, now not to be, who knows what good he could have done in his life. May his neshomah know only peace.

  • Sarah

    Barouch Dayan HaEmet
    No words, It is so painful to hear about this tragedy! Please H… take us out of this galus Now! Have rachmanus on your children !

  • DayDee

    The Sanitation Dept driver is a cold blooded KILLER. These idiots scream around the city in their garbage trucks every day and show ZERO respect for the lives of pedestrians and other road users – and they do it because they know that as unionized city workers they basically have a black check from the NYPD to drive as they please. You will NEVER see the NYPD give them so much as a ticket for driving like this, even when they kill an innocent pedestrian as in this case. I cannot even comprehend what goes through the minds of the scum NYPD when they KNOW that he took a corner recklessly and without yielding and killed someone, but they decide nope, nobody is going to get so much as a slap on the wrist for this. They see a fellow city employee and instantly excuse him. What this driver did was an act of manslaughter and he should be JAILED for at least 10 years. Enough of this “it was only an accident, he is suffering too”, people are being killed daily because of this complacent attitude to road crimes. It’s time we fought back…and it’s way past time that full independent investigations were carried out not only on the Dept of Sanitation and the driving of their employees, but also on the NYPD’s institutional policy of never giving them so much as a ticket.

  • Hashem how many karbonos.... Just bring Moshiach now!

    It’s shocking
    Especially what happened outside 770 on rosh hashana…
    But I still have clear the sicha I learnt about yossef & his brothers… (When they said we are getting punished because we had no mercy on our brother…) We’re the Rebbe says there that when some thing “bad” happens we got to look in our self, what thing we done wrong that should be fixed, for nothing physical happens without a spiritual reason.

    Hashem how many karbonos…. Just bring Moshiach now!

  • Alexander Averbukh

    How can I financially support his parents in Vinnitsa? Who will fly to Vinnitsa? I can transfer you money to you account.

  • Better nameless

    Someone tell the family to immediately file a notice of claim against the city, within 90-days, otherwise they fortify their right to sue for damages.

  • המקום המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים n'eNow!

    Here is where to donate…
    Ahavas Chesed
    http://www.chesedcenter.org

    IN SUBJECT LINE WRITE FOR FUNERAL COST, ECT FOR GEDALYA GREENZAYD OBM
    Continue reading One of the flagship Ahavas Chesed?s programs is our medical referral line that is manned 24-hours by professional staff answering requests for referrals, guidance, or support.