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Op-Ed: Beaten and Robbed By My Own People

by Anonymous, for obvious reasons

This past Isru Chag I went to 770 to daven shacharis. Since the shul is full of foreigners for Tishrei I made the obvious decision to daven in the tent, but little did I know this decision would haunt me for months.

My name is Daniel. People know me as multi-talented and skilled. One of my skills is landscape and nature photography, they say I have an eye for images that others do not. 

When I left the tent by 770 after davening, I saw the stunning image of the rebbes succah, 770 behind it, and the beautiful sky, blue with the right amount of clouds. This was also after they recently planted flowers and redid the grass. I took out my phone and snapped a photo knowing I was about to embark on a 3-day trip upstate to admire the vibrant foliage and seasonal changes, and this scene would cease to exist when I returned. So this moment was the only moment to get this shot.

I snapped a photo, and as I lowered my phone, one of the 770 bochurim approached me and aggressively demanded I give him my phone. I obviously didn’t hand it to him. He reached over to grab it, his hand grasped it as I pulled it back. When he failed to get my phone, he aggressively punched me in the upper chest, as I attempted to push him back away from me.

At that moment, the bochur orchestrated an attack on me, with a group of 60+ people who threw me to the ground and started beating me relentlessly. One grabbed my glasses off my face and snapped them in half before my very blurred eyes. By the looks of it, it didn’t seem like it was his first time doing this.

These were not some simple pair of glasses. They were prescription, expensive, and had many additives such as lens corrections, blue light filters, and more. More than a pair of glasses was stolen from me, my dignity was stolen, as well as my hat following the removal of my yarmulka.

How low of a person can you be to remove the yarmulka off the head of a Jew in the same spot the rebbe walked thousands of times? The exact spot that lines went for blocks and blocks to receive dollars, where the rebbe would carry letters filled with joy and sadness as he entered his car to read them at the ohel? Where lines formed to shake the rebbes lulav and thousands made a bracha?

The group continued kicking me, beating me, as I finally managed to get up and pull out my pepper spray. While trying to leave, they yet again all pounced onto me, grabbing the pepper spray from my hand, continuing to beat me, this time stomping on my tefillin as well. One kid jumped on it with both feet.

My mistake was giving them a chance to back up and stop the fight, as I didn’t want to spray a group of Jews with a chemical weapon, but believe me, next time I won’t be so stupid.

Once I finally got up, I shouted “Who stole my phone” as I hid it under my shirt, in a last-ditch effort to escape with my phone, almost brand new at the time, with an excellent new camera.

It worked, and I was able to walk around, half blind without my glasses and without a yarmulka. Instead of offering a yarmulka to me, they all instead mocked me, called me a goy, and took photos and videos of me to post on their WhatsApp chats. One man did offer me a yarmulka, and unsurprisingly he wasn’t a 770 student.

Walking away with bloody hands, my back throbbing with pain, I walked to the police car in front of 770 and explained the situation to them, and showed them my hands. They essentially told me to get lost.

The officers Condemned my attempted use of pepper spray, ignoring the fact a 15-year-old teen was now carrying it around with ill intentions, claiming I had it unlawfully.

What I still can’t understand is why the person who did this to me is still in America, let alone still a student in yeshiva. When I approached the Crown Heights Beis Din about the incident, they urged me not to give up on finding justice.

We called Rabbi Gluckowsky and nothing has been done. One person informed me that the last time he revoked a student’s visa, the students wreaked havoc on his life, vandalizing his home and terrorizing him for months.

It’s hard to understand how a group of bochurim can beat and rob another Jew, stealing his yarmulka – as others did to my relatives in Iran before stabbing them to death during pogroms – and still think they’re bringing Moshiach. How can you sit in and daven in 770 knowing you have blood on your hands?

I myself don’t want to go to 770 anymore. I do not want to daven there ever again. Not when it’s full of animals who claim to be bringing Moshiach closer. This all has done nothing but push it further away.

In NYC first-degree assault and second-degree robbery may not be taken seriously by the district attorneys, but had this happened in other states as I’ve seen from similar cases, the defendant faced a minimum of close to 10 years behind metal bars.

I found out after the incident that the bochurim at the time were illegally destroying a lock on a barricade put there by 770 to prevent them from giving out dollars on the steps. One bochur said “We thought you were taking videos for the WhatsApp group called 770 bochurim are terrorists”, but did not even apologize for making me blind for the next two weeks, embarrassing me in front of everyone there, and causing even more pain.

I still see this bochur every day, and it seems like nobody cares about this situation. Not the people in charge of the yeshiva, and not the NYPD. I know I’m not the first one to be viciously attacked by these bochurim. My friend was once told “I will kill you if you take a picture” while at a 770 Farbrengen. Action by the community needs to ultimately be taken, and I hope I am the last one who needs to suffer from this physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

If these bochurim came to America to learn Torah, I’m sure they should know who is liable to pay for the נזק, צער, ריפוי, שבת, בושת.

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31 Comments

  • Anonymous

    There have been far too many incidents with the overseas bachurim who come into crown heights and make a mockery of themselves by behaving disgustingly and committing crimes that they are never prosecuted for. As the article states, something needs to be done about this. And those police officers who did nothing should be investigated and have their shifts replaced by officers with more competence

    • Levi

      I went with him to the station. The police kept mocking him saying “how did you get robbed with police sitting in their car right there” and kept asking him a million random questions looking for one little slip up or lie in the situation. They knew they were dirty.. they never even turned on their body cameras. And haven’t given bodycamera footage when requested.

    • Josh

      What smells are the supposed “Bochurim” who did this.
      Nothing will change until we give them a taste of their own medicine and have them removed from the country since most of them are not here legally.

  • Anti

    All tzafatim need to banned to visit USA, they and all their supporters causing problems to normal people

  • NYC.

    It’s a huge huge problem in New York City.
    As the police did not get involved, there’s something fishy behind this, and yet the Hanhalas can’t do nothing?

    WOW.
    OMG.

    You’re only choice is to get an attorney even if it costs $$$$.

    The fact that you see the student every day?
    To me that’s mind bugging.

  • Chabad

    Is extremely disfunctional. 770 needs to get security guards that stand inside and kick out all of the mishachistim who cause problems

  • And

    There are tons of incidents like this that happen every day and are not caught on camera and no op ed is written about it

  • Another huge problem

    Is that there are tons of drug addicts in 770 and people smoke cigarettes inside or right next to the door. Why would anyone want to go somewhere where they are forced to breathe in second hand cigarette smoke die to selfish retards who lack common sense

  • What is wrong??

    WHERE IN THE WORLD ANYWHERE ELSE WOULD THIS HAPPEN??? I FEEL ASHAMED AND ANGRY READING THIS. WHERE HAVE WE GOTTEN???????????? If it were me, they wouldn’t see day ever again…. and I’m not kidding.

    • Everywhere

      In fact it happens more places in the world.

      It happens everywhere.

      770 is the safest

  • Something doesn't add up

    I find it hard to believe that the police refused to do anything, or that there weren’t any sane people around to get help.

    You claim this was outdoors in front of 770. The story just doesn’t sound credible. People around 770 don’t just ignore acts of violence.

    • Daniel

      They absolutely do when they’re 99% tzfatim… The tent was blocking most of the area. And there are videos circulating you can see the situation on there.

  • M

    Not sure how this go into my FB feed – I don’t follow local news. But since I read it, my 2 cents are that this their is something very wrong with a lot more then the thugs in question. I don’t believe the elders in this town can say “our hands didn’t…and our eyes didn’t see”. They didn’t have the moral clarity to stop it a decade + ago. For me, it is easier to disassociates from it all.

  • Also concerned

    Please let us know who Broke the glasses, the department of ICE should be informed and he should be deported

  • menanchem mendel cohen

    why not go and daven in a normal litvishe shul
    they might not learn chitas – but this doesnt happen
    also these boys only get up at 10.30 after sof zeman teffiloh – so if you daven kehalocho nothing would have hapen

    • mendel

      Oh ure. You sound Naiive. By the Litvishe they may not be called ‘Tzfatim’ but the gangs there are called “Mechablim” and ‘Soniim” a lot more violent than what you described here. Google “Ponovizh’ with the above mentioned 2 gang names.

    • Unbelievable

      How about to go and tell that to Our Rebbe. If this was before gimmel tammuz of course you wouldn’t have a problem to tell that to our Rebbe, IN HIS FACE, would you?! A comment like yours can only be said by a non jew – no jew who has ahavas yisrael would say such a comment.

  • allan weiss

    these boys where not giving out dollars
    the rebbe gives them out they where just preparing the area
    imagint if 30 years ago someone had tried to lock 770 so the rebbi could not give out dollars chas veshollom – what would have happened to him

    • Daniel

      The rebbe would smile and tell the secretaries to move the line downstairs.

      The rebbe would not go outside with a saw. And tare apart a lock. And then mob a kid who happened to be there

  • Anonymous

    It’s not hard for me to love the Jews in Wyoming I never met, it’s hard for me to love these Jews.

  • Levy

    Why are you posting this garbage probably made up bogas story ,it sounds very fishy that such a story would be coming out now!what’s for sure is that there missing details to this story,what is isn’t the author telling us? We all know that there 2 sides to every story

    • Daniel

      That’s so disgusting of you to say. Anyone else who’s been attacked by them knows exactly how it went. And if you’d like I can send you a 5 page article explaining the entire situation with every detail… You shouldn’t be so quick to judge or you’ll end up in the wrong place.

  • with the old breed

    SAD….open your hearts and get it in the gut…….well how about getting a Rov for CH? Oh you can not agree…do you think we would still be working in Egypt with a mind set like this….

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