NEW YORK - When about half a dozen police cruisers blocked the corner of Kingston Avenue and Lefferts Street in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the street was already flooded with people. Gadi Hershkop, broad-shouldered, bearded and short-tempered, stood under a traffic light and took care of business. He placed several bearded young men in dark pants and blue T-shirts around two men, who looked a bit dazed. He barked orders and updates into a walkie-talkie and two cellular phones. When he was satisfied, he conversed with Shlomi Klein, a bearded red-head who stood beside him.
Twenty minutes earlier, the two men who were surrounded by the tough guys - Nossi Slater and his father - had returned from Saturday night services at the main synagogue of the Chabad movement. When the two Hasidim dressed in black suits, skullcaps and ritual fringes walked past the corner, a black youth called the elder Slater a “stinking Jew” and pushed him. When Nossi, 25, tried to intervene, the youngster punched him hard in the face.
Up on Crime Heights
Crime is on the increase in Crown Heights, a neighborhood of Hasidim and blacks in Brooklyn. Rather than relying on the police to protect them, Jews are turning to their own tough volunteer unit ? the Shomrim
NEW YORK – When about half a dozen police cruisers blocked the corner of Kingston Avenue and Lefferts Street in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the street was already flooded with people. Gadi Hershkop, broad-shouldered, bearded and short-tempered, stood under a traffic light and took care of business. He placed several bearded young men in dark pants and blue T-shirts around two men, who looked a bit dazed. He barked orders and updates into a walkie-talkie and two cellular phones. When he was satisfied, he conversed with Shlomi Klein, a bearded red-head who stood beside him.
Twenty minutes earlier, the two men who were surrounded by the tough guys – Nossi Slater and his father – had returned from Saturday night services at the main synagogue of the Chabad movement. When the two Hasidim dressed in black suits, skullcaps and ritual fringes walked past the corner, a black youth called the elder Slater a “stinking Jew” and pushed him. When Nossi, 25, tried to intervene, the youngster punched him hard in the face.
The assailant vanished into the darkness but despite the proximity to their home and the knowledge that most of the buildings in the area are inhabited by Chabad Hasidim, the two men were alone. The Slaters were in need of help, but the thought of calling 911 – the police – did not even occur to them. Instead, they dialed a seven-digit number that the Lubavitcher Hasidim in Crown Heights know by heart or keep in the memories of their telephones. Within a few minutes three civilian cars arrived at the intersection. They were driven by Shomrim – an unarmed Jewish self-defense organization, which operates in the neighborhood where the heart of Lubavitcher Hasidism beats and where Jews live alongside blacks.
The Shomrim secured the dark corner, treated Nossi Slater’s slight injuries and took statements from him and his father. Only then did they call the police. While the police were dealing with the incident, the Hasidim observed the men in blue, smoked cigarettes and kvetched about the recent rise in the crime rate in the neighborhood. According to police figures, in 2005, 18 people were murdered in Crown Heights, a significant increase over 2004. Earlier this year Chabad Hasid Ephraim (Fredrick) Klein was murdered. Despite a large monetary reward offered to anyone who comes forward with information that will lead to the murderer, no one has been arrested.
No wonder some people call the neighborhood Crime Heights.
Last line of defense
There are no figures that show that the approximately 15,000 Chabad Hasidim who live in the neighborhood are suffering more than their neighbors from the increasing crime, but the Jews don’t need numbers. They feel threatened in an environment they describe as “anti-Semitic” and are convinced that they need the tough volunteer unit. Besides, they say the members of the community feel more comfortable calling the Shomrim than the police. As a unit that is based on volunteers, the Shomrim see themselves as the last line of defense for the Chabadniks in the neighborhood – against the outside world in general and against the blacks in particular.
“People [from the community] call us because they are more familiar with us. They know our faces. When we come to a scene we understand the people and the culture,” says Isaac Zellermaier, the unofficial leader of the Shomrim and the organization’s liaison with the New York Police Department. Baruch Spielman, formerly head of the Jewish community council of the neighborhood who is also a member of the organization, agrees. “For a fire you’d call 911, but for the police you first call the guards and then 911,” he says. “First of all the police are goyim [gentiles]. Many times they tell the shvartze [black], who is the perpetrator, what to say so they shouldn’t get arrested and then they tell him to press charges against the Jew.”
Prof. Samuel Heilman, a sociologist from Queens College in New York who specializes in Hasidic communities, says it is possible to understand why the Hasidim perceive themselves as being under constant threat. According to him, “The Jewish community in Crown Heights is tiny. Even in some of the streets where they live they are a minority, and that’s why they feel unprotected when they compare themselves to other Hasidic communities in Williamsburg or Flatbush or Boro Park.”
The Jewish community’s need for the Shomrim is clear to the leaders of the Lubavitcher community. They remember painfully the “pogrom” they experienced during four long days of the summer of 1991. According to them, in the events that eventually became known as “the Crown Heights riots” the police abandoned the Jewish community to the mercies of the black rioters who rampaged in the neighborhood, looting, beating and murdering.
NYPD ambivalence
However, not everyone views the existence of the Jewish civil guard with enthusiasm. The NYPD relates to the Shomrim with ambivalence. On the one hand, this is not the only civil organization in New York that acts to reduce crime and deter criminals. On the other hand, the police do not like it when other bodies gnaw at its status as the holder of the monopoly on the use of force in society. According to neighborhood police officer Vincent Martinoz, who is responsible for liaison with the organization, “They are not allowed by law or not even sanctioned by us to stop anybody on the street. They can only be observers, to watch what’s going on and not to put their hand on anybody.”
The non-Jewish residents of Crown Heights also have reservations about the organization’s activity. It is not hard to understand them. When a group of tough guys relates to the neighborhood like sheriffs relate to their county and when these tough guys allow themselves to capture, detain and sometimes beat suspects, nearly all of whom are black, from time to time voices are heard accusing the Shomrim of racism. A number of violent incidents in recent years have only reinforced this impression among black residents and leaders in New York.
At the corner of Kingston and Lefferts, Gadi Hershkop, the 31-year-old driver of a girls’ school bus and the coordinator of the Shomrim, forecasts a hot summer. “When the weather gets warm, the problems begin. It’s like that every year but now it’s worse. Crime is on the rise and it’s getting tense here with these shvartze animals. It’s like a war zone out here.”
Before he finished enumerating his complaints, another call came in from Shomrim headquarters. A group of men was sent to the corner of Empire Street and Brooklyn Avenue to help a Jewish couple in a car. The couple said black youths had thrown a large stone at the windshield of their car and fled. Thank God the glass did not break, they added, pointing to the scratch caused by the rock. Hershkop and Klein said the two incidents reinforce the impression the neighborhood has been making on them for many years now. Each intersection they passed stirred up memories. “Right over there, on the corner of Schenectady and Carroll, a young Jewish boy was recently mugged of his cell phone and beaten up by a shvartze so badly he had to be hospitalized,” says Hershkop. “On East New York, between Kingston and Brooklyn, a woman had her wallet snatched; at Union and Brooklyn, shvartze girls assaulted a young Jewish girl, stole her cellphone and had her earring removed out of her ear.”
Be a mensch
Pensive and nostalgic, Hershkop and Klein, a fruit merchant of 28, continued to pursue suspicious activity. Both of them joined the Shomrim when they were teenagers. Hershkop did so during the 1991 riots. “I remember the shvartzes were coming from all directions. They burned a van right outside of the synagogue. They overturned cars. They chased and beat Jews. The mayor didn’t care and the police couldn’t do anything. It was important that we would be out on the street, showing people that there’s somebody they can count on.”
According to Hershkop, a person who wants to join the Shomrim must live in the neighborhood, have a job and not have a criminal record. The members of the organization refuse to say how many people belong, but at least two teams of them patrol the Jewish part of the neighborhood every night. They look for burglars, perverts and anyone who could harm a Jew from the community. “You don’t have to be a big tough guy to join us,” the big man laughed. “Above all you have to be a mensch [human being].”
The Jews of Crown Heights felt the need to establish their own defense group in the early 1960s. At that time black immigrants began coming into the neighborhood from the West Indies, and racial tensions were rising. Following the rape and murder of a Jewish girl by a black man in 1961, Rabbi Samuel Schrage decided to establish the Maccabees – the first Jewish patrol group in the neighborhood. Since then, Jews have been controlling the Jewish section of Crown Heights.
In 1973 the Maccabees joined the Va’ad Hakahal (Jewish Community Committee) as its operative branch and changed their name to Shmira. The organization grew up alongside the community and adapted itself to the community’s needs. Its people were called in to deal with cases of domestic violence and quarrels between neighbors and to look for children and old people who were lost. In the 1970s other Hasidic communities in New York in neighborhoods like Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush, did the same.
The organization increased its influence in the community but in 1996 a chain of events began that led to a split and a huge dispute. In that year two members of the organization chased a black boy whom they suspected of having stolen a bicycle. They grappled with his uncle, Kenneth Hartley, who tried to defend him. When the police were called in to stop the fight among the three, they found Hartley with his head bleeding. The two Hasids were arrested and charged with beating Hartley. The incident became a racial and political issue. The mayor at the time, Rudolph Giuliani, declared that the police would henceforth “closely” supervise Shmira activity. The provocative black reverend Al Sharpton questioned the Hasids’ quick release from custody, saying it had raised questions of preferential treatment.
Open hostility
The media blitz affected relations within the community. Shmira accused the Jewish Community Committee of not backing up the group, and broke away. The group changed its name to Shomrim, to be affiliated with the similar Hasidic patrol groups operating in New York. A year later, following an internal dispute, some of the members of the Shomrim resigned, joined up with the Jewish community council and re-established Shmira. Today, both organizations are operating in the neighborhood and there is open hostility between them.
According to Spielman, who headed the Jewish community council during the period of the double split, “These people [Shomrim] have been the source of heartache ever since. As recently as two months ago they saw a member of Shmira being beaten up by shvartzes and watched and didn’t even come to help him.” Hershkop of Shomrim immediately gets mad when the rival group is mentioned. “When I see them in the street I don’t say hello. They teach people how to hate. We are not that kind of people. I don’t even want to talk about them. You know what? Screw them!” In the meantime, the quarrel is delaying an initiative by black leaders to break up the Jewish organizations and establish a mixed black and Jewish community patrol that could moderate the interracial tensions.
Both the Shomrim and the Shmira have histories of applying excessive force to suspects. In August 2005, after members of Shmira beat up a burglar, a rumor spread in Crown Heights that Jews had killed a black man and the neighborhood was on the verge of explosion. But the police recognized the violent potential in the situation and called in black activist Richard Green, who calmed things down.
Green, who runs a black youth center in the neighborhood, has said the Jewish organizations should be more “mature.” He mentioned his initiative to allow anyone in the neighborhood who so desires to join the Jewish organizations. According to him, “If you had a strong civilian watch, I’m quite sure you would find members of the black community that would be interested to be a part of it.”
The Jews are not enthusiastic about the idea. Isaac Zellermaier thinks the initiative does not even merit consideration. “This is a Jewish organization,” he said. According to Spielman, the initiative to establish a joint patrol is an absurd idea: “Can Golani [an elite Israeli army infantry division] and Fatah [a branch of the PLO] patrol together?” For Shlomi Klein, the red-headed member of Shomrim, who kept an ever watchful eye on his community’s territory, the question isn’t if Jews and blacks can get along. For him, being part of a powerful group which consists of Jews – and Jews alone – is part of a larger issue. “I originally joined Shomrim because I felt people need to take a stance,” he says. “My grandfather was a [Holocaust] survivor, and I feel that in our little world every man’s action makes a difference. I’m here because I just don’t want the Holocaust to ever happen again.”
mikeee
shlomie gut gezogt, well said
Morrie
There are several Lubavitchers serving in the NYPD’s auxiliary program. The APOs (Auxiliary Police Officers) patrol Crown Heights in police uniforms (they are not armed with guns). While APOs do not respond to crimes (they observe street conditions and call regular police when there are incidents, but they are armed with nightclubs).
The remarkable things about the NYPD APOs is that the Lubavitchers patrol with African American and Carribbean American officers. That sends a terrific positive message to residents of all races. That’s how Shmira and Shomrin should operate, too.
dreading summer
Shomrim, Shmira…you guys are great! at least YOU respond, not likr NYPD. If Williamsberg can throw the lowlifes off the roofs & establish control (their women & kids are out on the streets late @ night, totally safe!) why can’t we??
no, I am not saying we kill the shvartes but we should be more forceful. Our safety should come first, not being Bloomberg"s best friend. But if you don’t get backing fom our "leaders", what chance do any of us have?
Crime Heights…hmmmmm.
a resident
i agree with reverened green…sorry to say it. they sound like a bunch of babies… "the shvartzes" and "screw them" and "shvartze animals".
dont you ppl know that when something is being published, its forever and you should just watch the way you speak…my g-d! and talk about hanging out your dirty washing…we gotta tell the world about our politics andlack of ahavas yisrael?!
but, i do commend the efforts put in to help keep us safe..but perhaps if both teams united forces…we would be even better off!
Israel
We appreciate what the Shomrim are doing for our neighborhood, keep up the good work. As for Shmirah it would be best if the two organizations would make peace and fight the real enemy.
vote unity
wow, darn good article, very informative! if only shomrim and shmira can once again unite and double the power, maybe our community would start to see some changes. how can we get along with other people if we cant even get along with ourselves?! SHMIRA+SHOMRIM=PEACE!
Upset Resident
This is disgusting, putting all our dirty laundry out for the world to see.. And the racist, stupid statements given out by the ‘heads’ are just terrible. Its one thing to talk like that to unzere, but when your talking to the media, dont u have half a brain!??? How can this article help race-relations, and increase our safety??
This mentality just goes to show that these organizations are just a bunch of kids who havent grown up, playing tough and having fun. Yes they help, but with a little more thought planning and work they could actually make an impact too.
Another CE
MORRIE: I couldn’t agree with you more. We need more straight thinkers like that in Crown Heights. I know plenty of blacks in our community that express the same hatred for crime in Crown Heights as we do. I think if we did work together it would make us so much stronger and more legitimate.
And to spielman I think you sound worse than Hershkop you are supposed to be a politician but you sound more like a hate monger comparing blacks (that would want to help put a stop to crime) to terrorists.
Mottl
The media must stop going to people like Spielman who cannot send a rational message. Spielman- get on message or stay quiet! You do more with your use of stupid words like "schvartze" than any perp does with sticks and stones! Please!
If you want to use a Yiddish word out of context as a perjorative, than use ALL Yiddish words an stop speaking english. The worst thing in Crown Heights is the use of "black? in the mameh loshen. And our children pick it up. My parents used it AND I DON’T! But it’s tough to break a habit. LEARN TODAY!
Think b4 you speak
I am mad at the crime…. but to use words like "shvartzes " and animals… will gain you no sympathy out of CH at all. In fact, people will be more disgusted with you than with the criminals
AYTZO TOYVO KO MASHMA LON
combine SHMIRA, SHOMRIM, and TZFATIM, and this will be the safest neighborhood in the world. As for PEOPLE OF COLOR the could easily be payed off as MASHTAFIM (Tzahal roshei teivos for MESHATFEI PEULAH). For a couple of Shkalim , Arabs would give away their mom… B4 she blows herself up on an Eged bus HOYO LOY SIHIYE!
Hallo
Wow, Till this very day I had no klu there was a diff btwn the two.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
EVERYONE, PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE:
(i like the title of the article "crime heights", it sends a powerful message to everyone.)
WHAT WILL IT TAKE for shmira and shomrim to get back together and join forces? do all the volunteering members of BOTH groups hate eachother, or is it just a mere few on each side? maybe all the "neutral" members should leave and hand in thier radios from both organizations untill the "leaders" or "heads" of shomrim AND shmira make peace between eachother.
WE CANNOT continue this way, it is a complete shame. it also is extremely contradicting because here we are trying to show everyone that we wont tolerate crime and we want to live in peace, but we cannot even manage to live in peace among ourselves with eachother!!!
THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS, both shomrim and shmira MUST join and unite if they want to make a difference here. otherwise it’s useless, nothing good can and will come of the two fighting with eachother, im sorry but its the sad truth.
NO WONDER THE POLICE, specifically and especially in the 71st PCT. laugh at us…. they are not stupid, they know exactly what goes on here. they know who is who and what is what. (ok ok im sure not EVERY single cop knows, but most of them really do know!)
IT’S NO SURPRISE that they have no respect for us, why should they? we show them that we have no respect for ourselves! they know whats going on with the two groups and they know who is who and what is what.
WE MUST show them that we are strong and can live up to our potential as yidden, as a community, as brothers, and most important as MENTCHEN!
LETS START the ball rolling people! speak to those you know, encourage the two groups to get together, lets show them that we want it and we need it!
IF ANYONE would like to speak to me direct, my email address is "showthe71wecandobetter@yahoo.com"
Duby
Beautiful article about the Shomrim!!! yay! Finally they get publicity… maybe now, we can make some fundrasisers for them, recruit more volunteers and ontinuing its success……
keep up the great work….
good job to Yossi Frankel on the Bike / Stroller registration…..
Kol Hakavod Lachem….
Mendy
Once again, "The Dirt" has done it again, bending over backwards to show its love for those who hate those darn Hasidim who deserve to die anyways because they’re not cool like us modern, worldly Israelis. This piece wasn’t as bad as most of Haaretz’s typically one-sided writing, though. But the author–who, curiously, remains anonymous–did find it prudent to omit any hateful quotes from blacks re Jews, but sure included our friend Gadi’s less-than-responsible comments, which the author probably gleefully provoked too, mind you.
It’s such a sad shame when the most Jew-hating writing around today comes from an official Jewish newspaper.
Resuse your family
Take care of your fam,ily and don’t let them stay in the city during the summer.It seems that tempers are flaring and things could get out of hand.
Send your family upstate to a Bungalow colony and keep them safe BeGashmius and at the same time keep them safe BeRuchnius, especially now, with all the machlokes surrounding the Vaad HaKahol and Badatz of Crown Heights.
Have A Happy and Healthy Summer.
We Want… We NEED Moshiach Now!!
in distress
i know me neither, and i think its just terrible that they are fighting with each other to see who has more power over crown heights’ safety. i think that since they have the same goal in mind- to keep corwn heights safe, then how different could their perspectives be? and they should unite- i dont think the members of shmira mean to be overly violent and dont "teach how to hate"
there is not a single lubavitcher who wants to hate or who wants others to hate.
we are way above sinas chinam
some imfo
a lot of the imformation in this story is not true and made up by the writer u can ask the victoms or their familys and this writer (whom i met) is out to make religios people look bad
to Morrie
i hate to break this to you but most (if not all) of those jewish auxilleries are shomrim and shmira members.
in a way rev green is right! if we worked together with the blacks i think we could accomplish much more. maybe we can open one new organisation with 3 units shmira, shomrim & jewish\black? this way nobody needs to compromise on thier side of the fight?
give in your ideas about this maybe we can start a new anititive…
BOY
what is ambivalence
ld
why cant shomrim & shmira be together
Yossel
B"H
DEAR RABBONIM: YOUR MACHLOKES MAY BE AT LEAST PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TZURIS OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Don’t you care?
Hashem hates machlokes more than anything else in the world…perhaps we have angered Him, CH"V…why oh why can’t you decide that you will work for peace in the community over your own opinions? With all due respect. Otherwise CH is finished, G-d forbid.
Sick of this
THis community is inundated with hate and intolerance. What makes a frum Jew who calls himself a lubavitcher and acts like a racist, better than a fascits, communist, nazi, etc.
Ask yourself this, would the Rebbe encourage you to hate "the shvartzes"? or would the Rebbe tell you they are human beings who need to be treated with respect. And that would help for more tolerance which is desperately needed.
Morrie
There are no Shmira members in the NYPD Auxiliary. There are several Shomrin. The majority of NYPD APOs are NOT in Shromrim. I can say this with some authority as I am an auxiliary and not in either volunteer group.
me
thats why you stay away from reporters in situations like these. reporters write the story the way they want it to sound, to suit their needs.
Itzik_s
Haaretz is not known for unbiased reporting, but those who spoke with them should not have given them ammunition by speaking to reporters the way we (rightfully) speak among ourselves about the criminal population in CH. Of course they are chayos, but when hard core left wing Haaretz readers, many of whom equate Yehuda veShomron settlers with, and I kid you not, Nzis ymach shmom, see that kind of language, it looks awful.
concerned!
The NYPD has no time for patrolling and fighting crime. The commissioner and the mayor put the priority on the emergency cops. They want them to do the same thing that our FDNY does. They sould stick to fighting crime which is how police in other big cities do it…
Itzik_s
this writer (whom i met) is out to make religios people look bad
_______________________________________
Yes, he is. It is probably best that we not speak to any reporters from the Israeli press other than Arutz 7 or Bakehilla. Haaretz is Der Shtuermer (even Yated isn’t THAT bad!), and the Jerusalem Post is moving leftward as are Yediot and Maariv. Mishpacha conveniently forgets Chabad whenever possible; I cannot quite figure out Hamodia.
chabadnik
so if we have two defense groups, why are there still any muggings going on? exactly what do they do in ch to make it any safer?
to boy, ambivalence has two meanings.
1. the coexistence of opposing feelings toward an object
2. uncertainty.
if u dont know what a word means, u can always go to dictionary.com. it’s very helpful
Itzik_s
this writer (whom i met) is out to make religios people look bad
_______________________________________
Yes, he is. It is probably best that we not speak to any reporters from the Israeli press other than Arutz 7 or Bakehilla. Haaretz is Der Shtuermer (even Yated isn’t THAT bad!), and the Jerusalem Post is moving leftward as are Yediot and Maariv. Mishpacha conveniently forgets Chabad whenever possible; I cannot quite figure out Hamodia.
As for the writer himself, this is Shahar Smooha (I would pronounce that Schmuck-a even though I know better). His father Samy, a casualty of the forced aliyah from Iraq and subsequent brainwashing by Mapai, is a well known leftist professor at the University of Haifa. He is a "post-Zionist" and is very active in extreme left wing activities. Smooha junior has written articles against Chabad in the past; he shares his father’s extreme views.
Sad, but the best thing to do with such journalists is to avoid speaking to them at all costs (and to do all we can to bring Moshiach so that these unfortunate Jewish victims of the plague of secular Zionism will do tshuva too.)
very scary article
this is a great article and correct but i dont think it was well said
what i mean is that if a black guy will see this he will be really pissed the way it was written
when you talk to the media you have to know how to say things in a way to be clear but at the same time to use the right words
trouble
gevalt
SHOMRIM BUFF
Yes, theoretically it might sound like a good idea, that SHOMRIM and shmira join together. But since SHOMRIM has a very strict policy to never accept persons with criminal records and 99.9% of all shmira member are convicted criminals it is therefore obvious they could not join SHOMRIM.
Anti....
"I am mad at the crime…. but to use words like "shvartzes " and animals… will gain you no sympathy out of CH at all. In fact, people will be more disgusted with you than with the criminals".
Wow, are we calling black people black (or "Shvartzes") now?
What next, are they going to call use Jews?
The next thing you know is that well be calling the people from the East "Arab".
Anybody who does any crime (or anything to hurt another person) is an animal, so if it’s a Jew that does it, then we would say he’s acting like a "Bihama" (nefesh Habameis).
If it’s a "Black" person Then that person is a Animal.
It so happens that he’s black so I’ll Say he’s blach animal.
It does not mean I hate all blacks, it does not mean that all black are criminals.
When I’m called a "Jew-boy", I say hell’s yes, thats what I am.
Let’s not lose our selfs here.
why,why,why???
"why cant shomrim & shmira be together?"
WHY CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG?
Jews for a strong crown heights
Shomrim and Shmira are in a fight due to some personal issues between some of the members, this fight is six years old. It must stop NOW, we can’t let some personal fights destroy our community’s security, if they feel that the community demands that they make peace it might help.
We need the community (Everyone of us) to push to make peace between them,
What can I do, you may ask?
It’s simple if you see a member of either organization encourage them to make peace, call them, demand that they make up, get involved, if you know any members speak to them, crown heights security is up to each and every one of us.
We can’t afford to fight, we need to unite our manpower.
When the NYPD sees that we can’t get along, they take advantage of us.
Jews united will never be defeated.
who is black?
Who is black?
Because it is a social classification label with enormous cultural significance there is no universal consensus definition. Nevertheless, according to their explanations, those who use the label tend to employ three criteria: ancestry, self-identity, and appearance; usually very dark people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…(people)
MoshiachNow!!
all i can say is that im speechless…
Yanky
SHOMRIM BUFF wrote: “99.9% of all shmira member are convicted criminals”
Sorry “SHOMRIM BUFF”
But members of both organizations have been arrested while serving our community,
This is the exactly the attitude that will keep us split, and our community at risk.
Get out of your shell think of the big picture.
What will it take for us to wake up !!!!!!!!!!!!
**
Hashem Yerachem!
Ohav Shalom Verodef Shalom!
shmira convicted criminals
Yanky wrote:
"Sorry “SHOMRIM BUFF”
But members of both organizations have been arrested while serving our community, "
The diffrents are that
1. shmira member got convicted of crimes and they have a record. (getting arrested does not mean you will be convicted, I can call the police and have you arrested for a made up reason*, if I can proff you did something then they will convict you, if I can’t they will let you go and I can get in trobble.)
2. Most of the convictions that Shmira members have, have nothing to do with protecting the community.
They are convicted criminals for other reasons.
* let’s not forget how this splite started "Yanky".
Dave
BH
The way our "spokesmen" conveyed their message, was very unimpressive. The message as clear and important as it is, was just not the way you speak. yes, they are shvartze chayes. But you don’t have to say that for published material.
thinking
this article is well said… i agree no matter how much patrol you have it will never work you need to show them that you are wanting to live peacefully with them maybe joining forces with them would make crown heights a safer place to live they aren’t going to listen and be willing to change when they look up and only see lubavitchers they need to see some of their own…but it is a very scary reality
Chona Nosson
I feel very safe in the Rebbes’ Crown Heights Community. Crime is an aberation in Crown Heights – not a way of life.
CHAIRM STERN
STEELING A SAFE FROM CANADA WITH A HALF MILLION DOLLARS DOES NOT FALL UNDER COMMUNITY SERVICE.
ARI BERG
FORGING TITLES AND CREDIT CARDS DON’T FALL UNDER THE "COMMUNITY RULE"
lubavitch
what is lubavitch all about anyways? is this really a city of love?
The Toungue
Why are you publicly (even not publicly) using certain words? If the shomrim and shmira are out for peace – Why do you use such terms? Please be more careful of your words in the future (look where your words brought you). It says (somwhere) – "The toungue is the source of life and death." Do you know what a chillul hashem and lubavitch was caused?
Talk sense
Somehow – there needs to be a stronger and more attentive NYPD. There also needs to be a group of Jews operating to bring peace – not to make trouble. Rev Green is somewhat right, but these "blacks" (not used racially) can join the NYPD and there can be a seperate Jewish group.
were-s the brothers
Dear thinking
If only it was like that,
They are only brothers (that have each others back) when it’s agants the Jew, but between each other they don’t give a dawm.
[notice by a car accedent between A Jew and a black, how many brothers the black man will all of a sudden have.]
Those with eyes on there head understand…
Itzik_s
Can the people who spoke to Smooha confirm that what they said is what he printed? Ha’aretz – Der Shtuermer could possibly change things to make us look as bad as possible.
to sick of this
i agree that they shoudnt be calling african americans shvartze animals, but to call the shomrim no better than the nazis and communists???
MS
It is our duty (for those that can be responsible enough and go through training) to buy guns…
If the shvartze’s would have started bursting into homes during the Crown Heights riots.. what were we to do.. cops weren’t doing anything.. it’s easy for that to happen again.. we must be realists and armed…
and on the street.. pepper spray is a cheap insurance policy.. get one for $10 at sunshine!
moshe
What started the split is some personal fight about $.$$
Get over it its 6 years.
Why must we all suffer.
Swallow your pride
Will you still fight like kids when you will be 90 ? When will it end?
Berke
the shvartzes are not worthy of our sympathy. they kill, rape, mug, beat, scare, steal from and disgust us. calling them "shvartze" can be no more offensive then calling a white guy a "vaise". hate should be directed toward people who treat us like this.
Michael
"Crime is on the rise and it’s getting tense here with these shvartze animals."
Lovely stuff. Why/how could anyone take the speaker of those words seriously?
Itzik_s
the shvartzes are not worthy of our sympathy. they kill, rape, mug, beat, scare, steal from and disgust us. calling them "shvartze" can be no more offensive then calling a white guy a "vaise". hate should be directed toward people who treat us like this.
____________________________________________
I agree and have no problem with the N word either, but that is not proper for a paper that is read by sonei Yisroel who will jump at any excuse to say that we are on the same level as criminals and even terrorists.
I’d still like to know if Smooha, may Hashem send a refuah shelema to his hate filled neshoma, actually quoted the people interviewed correctly, and whether he offered them a chance to read the article first.
look in your own plate...
moshe wrote:
"What started the split is some personal fight about $.$$
Get over it its 6 years.
Why must we all suffer.
Swallow your pride"
Let’s say that was the case (I don’t know).
Would you be mochol, would you let go.
It’s very easy to tell someone else to do the right thing, what about you?
[I’m sure it has much more to do with just a few dollers.]
sick of this
The Nazis and communists were known for their racial and religious intolerance, which by calling them shvartze animals and automatically assuming the blacks are criminals, etc., makes someone like them in that regard. obviously as, you would hope, frum yidden who daven three times a day and believe in hashem, etc., they are not even comparable ,lehavdil, to nazis and communists, YEMACH SHEMAM,
CH resident
WHao to the Shmira and shomrim theyshould unite and become one. they do a very good job.
To Berke and Itzik_s
Perhaps this question will sound a bit naive, but why don’t you respect black people?
While I have huge problems with names such as "shvartze" and "n*gger," I understand why you might feel this way about some black individuals. Just look at what’s happening in our community these days and it’s sadly true that most of the criminals who attack us do have black skin.
But I honestly don’t understand how and why you take this anger and hate for the black CRIMINALS and extend it to the entire black community.
Please, please explain.
These are many good and decent black individuals. There are many hard-working men and women, caring parents and spouses, devoted teachers…
Why don’t you see them? Because they’re not out on the streets at night causing problems. They are at home, like you or me, helping their children with their homework.
These good people are not a threat to your Yiddishkeit any more than the nice, goyish postman.
Why don’t you give the black community at large your respect and save your anger and hatred (and even your hurtful racial slurs if you must) for the criminals.
I pashut don’t understand.
We feel so angry when others assume terrible things about us Yidden, and even more specifically frum Yidden, when they base these assumptions and stereotypes on isolated incidences or a sub-section of our community. (Ex. There is a disturbing presense of frum, chassidish married men in terribly inappropriate places.)
I’ll say it again: I pashut don’t understand why we don’t give the black community-at-large dan l’kaf zchus and treat them with the same respect we would give any other goy. (And I beleive we generally treat other [white] goyim with a fair amount of respect.) Just because someone has black skin doesn NOT mean he is a lyer, cheater, murderer, rapist, theif, etc.
Eli
For those who like to get to the button line:
Every problem has its root and the root of the crime in this neighborhood is US.
We are not respecting each other because we are taught hatred in the Yeshiva and home. If we hate people because they are different then we can not expect people to treat us in any respectful way. When I say people I mean ALL: Blacks and Jews.
P.S. Of course, I am not talking about criminals here, but most of the people are not criminals, right?
So, we need to change the Yeshiva and home attitude towards people who differ or …. you will never change this situation.
Eli
Interesting Point To Remember
One point to ponder: When a black person walks the street at 11:00 pm and encounters a large group of Lubavitchers, is he afraid of being mugged/beaten/verbally abused? Are black women afraid that a group of Jews will rape her? NO WAY!!!
why is it that only Jews are afraid of this??? Obviously because black people in our neighborhood have a long history of crime and viloenec
Berke
Shvartzes that do not cause us problems are invisible we don’t interact with them (and we shoulden’t interact socialy with goyim "mishum kirva") and any hate we have towards shvartzes is no directed to them because we don’t (or we shouldn’t) even know them. Most people when they deal with shvartzes they treat them respectfuly. so you see that all the hate is towards the shvartzes we are forced to deal with when you walk down the street.
This is besides the point that shvartzes have a very big precentage population in the penal system, which shows on their natural inclination towards crime. statisticly speaking.
still thinking....
it seems as though everyone is making a very large mistake… most of you that are saying disrepectful derogatory slurs are putting a large stereotype on people that have one apperant difference… the color of the skin. this is immature because have you ever once talked to one of them walking down the street and seen that some of them are really nice people. They are people and some are different than others. this whole battle is childish on both parts the yidden need to stop living with the stereotype that all blacks are bad and the blacks need to understand and put an end to the fighting in crown heights. Both parties have a lot of growing up to do before anyone can get anything accomplished. I know most of what i am saying is definately not going to happen because that is asking way to much of both groups but one word to the wise is look past the stereotypes that you live with everyday of your life and if nothing else show them you are the bigger ones and instead of making a chillul haShem and chillul Lubavitch like you’re all doing make HaSHem and the Rebbe proud of the way His yidden are represnting Him and yiddishkeit
crownorion
what a touching and exciting story
get a life!!
Itzik_s
The sad fact is that blacks are downwardly mobile. Many of the young toughs out there are the sons of the working class blacks and even the homeowners here in CH. It is better than it used to be in that you actually see fathers with children from time to time but still they have a long way to go before they become civilized, and we do not have to put up with their crime. Sorry to say, but there is a genetic component to their behavior, and it is fueled by drugs, alcohol and their leaders like Sharpton.
Statistics back up our perception of schvartzers. Penal system, drug arrests, teenage pregnancies etc. Apologizing for them and talking about respect is pie in the sky nonsense.
Hate? They just do not belong here among a family oriented Jewish community like CH, that is all. I don’t hate bears – in fact I love seeing them – but not in my neighborhood and not unless I am in the zoo or in a car in Yellowstone or wherever. Animals belong in cages.
We need to unite to get rid of the menace, whether with better patrols or by using pressure, Williamsburgh style, to get some of them out of our neighborhood and therefore alleviating the housing crisis. That will never happen for many reasons, and one of them is that there is a small but vocal "love your enemy" crowd here who may be chassidish in appearance, but their values are pure 60’s hippy.
sad
This whole thing is extremely sad what started all this trouble? Nothing like this happend 5 years ago!! I always thought ch was so safe I hope we find a solution for all this crime
yes
i agree with still thinking
LACKING BIG TIME
IS THERE ANY ONE OUT THERE THAT WOULD PAY A PRICE FOR PEACE IN THIS COMMUNITY?PLEASE CALL IT IN BECAUSE WE ARE IN SUCH NEED FOR PEACE AND REDEMPTION AND UNFORTIONATELY ONLY MONEY IS WORSHIPED HERE.
Chabad.org
There’s No Such Thing as an Anti-Semite
By Elisha Greenbaum
The Torah relates how when the Children of Israel would break camp to embark on their travels through the desert, Moses would proclaim: "Arise, O G-d, scatter Your opponents, and make Your enemies flee from before You…"1
The Roman emperor Hadrian was an incurable Jew-hater. Once, while walking in state, visiting his subjects, he observed a Jewish man among the crowd of well-wishers; "What, an accursed Jew insults my Majesty by greeting me in public? Take him away and crucify him!"
Word of Hadrian’s despotic action quickly got around, and the next time Hadrian went touring, a Jew who was unlucky enough to be in the vicinity made sure to keep away from the crowd, utter no words of greeting, and remain crouched by the wayside in an attitude of total submission.
"What, an accursed Jew insults my Majesty by ignoring me in public? Crucify him!" cried the emperor.
When the emperor’s counselors wondered about the blatant inconsistency of his actions, Hadrian replied, "Don’t teach me how to deal with my enemies."
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But were the Jews really his enemy? Could a mere people have elicited such bottomless hatred? It is significant that, in the above-cited verse, Moses does not call upon G-d to defend us against those who are hostile to us, but to "scatter Your opponents… Your enemies."
The age-old struggle between Jew and Jew-hater is a misnomer. I remember, visiting the Nazi death-camp Dachau, how infuriating it was to see at the crematoria the large placard dedicating the site "to those who died in the fight against Nazism." The memorial might be somewhat appropriate for the political opponents of the regime who suffered and died there, but my grandfather’s uncle, cousins and thousands of other martyrs didn’t die fighting anything. Far as they were concerned, they were happy to lead private lives before Hitler and his henchmen came looking for them. To term it a "struggle" between innocent victim and executioner is as inappropriate as describing modern-day society’s effort to protect themselves from suicide bombers a "cycle of violence."
The struggle is not between our enemies and ourselves. Rather G-d’s antagonists attack us as the pawns in their battle against righteousness and G-dliness. Jew-hatred is so engrained and pervasive that no logical or rational explanation for the phenomenon can possibly be attached, other than to define it as the wicked man’s eternal struggle against Divinity.
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If they’re not fighting us but fighting G-d, our only viable response is to live and act like Jews no matter the provocation. When it becomes apparent that their hatred towards us is predicated on our special relationship with G-d, then it becomes G-d’s responsibility to defend Himself from His opponents and enemies and come to our rescue, freeing us to resume our historic mission of representing G-dliness to the world.
trublujew
There are many Jews in the world who are Black. This article has caused pain to at least one of them.
OcifferE
Reading all the comments – What is this world coming to? I understand that the Jewish communities are sick of the BS but seeking revenge is not the answer to your problems. Yes civilian patrols help but acting like cops and taking the law into your own hands is wrong.