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Photographer Captures Brief Gesture of Kindness

Samantha Katz, a blogger who used to live in Crown Heights, writes about a fleeting moment of kindness she witnessed between a Hasidc Jewish beggar and an African-American man while visiting her old neighborhood late last Friday afternoon. The moment was so subtle you could have missed it, but the blogger captured a photo of the kind gesture – and tells the story that goes along with it.

From Home is Where Your Suitcase Is:

You haven’t been to NYC unless you’ve been to Crown Heights. Yes. I am Serious.

Coming from a straight up Manhattan elitist, I believe Crown Heights has to be one of my most favorite places in the city. The fact that I have a few friends that live in that ‘hood, helped me discover this little melting pot of cultures.

Would you believe me if I told you I lived in Crown Heights for two months without realizing it was the Hasidic-Jewish neighborhood? And would you then believe me that a few months later I fell in love with this “little Jerusalem” that happens only a couple of blocks from the Caribbean side of this strange neighborhood?

Let me paint this picture for you (see photo below):

I was standing on the street waiting for my friend who run into some friends of his.

The man on the right was asking for tzedakah (literally Hebrew for justice, but it’s used mostly as a word for charity). Given that it was Friday afternoon and Shabbat was approaching, this was a fairly common sight in Crown Heights. The man didn’t speak much English (if any), I know this because a few moments earlier I asked to take his photo, and my friend helped me do so in Hebrew.

The man on the left was just walking down the block, when in front of my and this man’s eyes, he kneeled down and grabbed a cigarette that wasn’t completely done from the floor. As he kept walking by, with the left over smoke in his hand, the other man stopped him, and with an exaggerated motion (as if he was speaking with his actions, which he was) he knocked the cigarette to the floor. For that one second I was shocked. He then reached in his pocket and gave the other man a fresh cigarette. They didn’t exchange one single word. somehow I managed to capture the moment, and their expressions.

Remember “The Decisive Moment“? kinda the same deal, but a little better and a little worse. A little better because there is an actual moment happening right in this one single frame, a whole story culminating in this shot. But a little worse because I think the photo doesn’t stand on its own, without the story it could be anything. I guess it’s an interesting moment, and it probably grabbed your attention and made you want to know what happened and keep reading, but if I wouldn’t have told you the story, what would you have thought?

It might fascinating to find out what people see in this photo without knowing what actually happened….Judgement, education, information, cultural background and ideals, all put to a test…. but I guess it’s too late to play that game now, isn’t it? Crown Heights, always gets me thinking….

moment of kindness

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11 Comments

  • its the small things in life

    This made me smile. And I hope there is no negative comments.
    Its the small fleeting moments in life that make a great impact.
    In this world of darkness and little light shines alot.

  • Bloomberg

    I doubt this is the type of story the anti-smoking mayor would want to use to advertise the kindness of New York City residents.

  • disgusting

    Quite frankly, I think it is disgusting that someone picks up a cigarette from the floor.

    • Anonymous

      idiot! He’s got nothing. This guy gave him something so he wouldn’t have to smoke it, what have you done. When someone gets used to picking up cigs from the street, it means he’s really suffering and has probably had to compromise what he once believed in to survive. If you want to be so self-righteous condem the person who threw the butt on the street.

    • Are you serious????

      Do you know that there are people – yidden included – who pick scraps of food from restaurant dumpsters?!?!
      May sound disgusting, but if you were starving, you would do it too.
      Have rachmonus. And be grateful that someone took away that “disgusting” cigarette butt and gave him something better (No, I don’t endorse smoking at all, but obviously both these men do).
      See the kindness and be happy.
      Better yet, go out there and do something kind.

  • A TRUE CHOSID

    This is obviously a chosid who adheres to the Rebbe’s teachings. The Rebbe’s attitude is to treat all human beings equally.
    a kiddush Hashem and kiddush Lubavitch.

    • To DUH

      I did. What did you understand? The man on the left; the African American picked up a half used cigarette. The man on the right; the Chossid who had been collecting tzedakah, knocked it out of his hand and gave him a fresh one. It seems to me that “A True Chosid” understood it that way as well.

      Did you understand it differently?

  • ChelmiTe

    The real Chessed would be to NOT give anyone a cigarrrete that causes harm to the smoker and to those who must endure the second hand smoke! And if i were the begger I would not be happy to have my photo shown anywhere especaiily with the title “begger”
    What happened to COMMON sense