More car Break-ins

I have received quite a few more reports from people about their cars getting broken into, one on Kingston & President, another on Eastern Parkway & New York Ave. and one more on Eastern Parkway & Brooklyn Ave.

If you are a victim of a break-in you MUST report it to the police and file a police report, this falls under the category of Auto Larceny which the mayors office claims has only been falling for the past years, which we all know is not true. So if you had a window broken file that police report, and also call it in to the Shomrim Hotline so the patrolling units will know where to focus.

You can call the Shomrim Hotline at (718) 774-3333 24/7

Late Night Patrols

Motzoai Shabbos there were a number of patrols out, keeping an eye on our communities streets. At around 3:00am the Shomrim Hotline received a call of a robbery at the Machon Chana building (on the corner of Crown and Albany). The caller who was awoken by the noise was watching trough a window as the perpetrator was rummaging through an office apparently looking for something of value. Within a minute there were a number of Shomrim units on the scene who quickly went through the Shul and rooms, noticing that one of the office doors had been forced open. Although it didn’t seem like anything was taken, the administration had been notified. The perpetrator was not apprehended.

In another incident at 5:00am at the corner of Kingston and Montgomery someone noticed a black man under a minivan when the van’s alarm went off, the perpetrator in shock started to run, with our witness on his tail calling Shomrim, who once more had units patrolling and responded in under a minute and chased the perp who then got into a minivan of his own and began to flee, the Shomrim members got his license plate number but could not stop him. They then returned to the original scene of the crime where they notice parts of the van were dismantled but left on the street. The police arrived shortly after and filed a police report along with the information of the guy’s car from the Shomrim members.

Shomrim has units patrolling at nights but can only be in one place at a time, therefore it is critical that if anyone sees something they should call it into the Shomrim Hotline so the members can be dispatched to the right places. So if you see something don’t hesitate to call at any time of day and on any day of the week (718) 774-3333.

Sharon Recovering From Brain Surgery

With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recovering from emergency brain surgery Saturday, his doctors said it was still too early to assess how much damage the Israeli leader has suffered from a massive stroke. Independent experts said the prognosis remained grim.

An official determination on Sharon’s condition will likely take place Sunday, when doctors plan to wean him off the drugs that are keeping him in a state they described as a medically induced coma.

Chabad takeover

Few people would deny the amazing work that Chabad has done in Jewish outreach and the success of this global hassidic movement founded by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady in bring previously unaffiliated Jews into the fold and giving them a sense of community, belonging and heritage.

While Kfar Chabad, with its replica of 770 Eastern Parkway, is the focal point of Chabad activity in Israel, and contains the largest concentration of Chabad families, educational institutions and printing works for Chabad publications, Chabad is extremely visible in Jerusalem and has become even more so in recent years as its down-town facilities have multiplied.

The situation has intensified since the death of the Rebbe eleven years ago. Even in his lifetime, Chabadniks used to go around singing “We want Meshiach now.” Since his passing, the messianic arm of Chabad has become much more forceful.

College Students Devote Winter Break to New Orleans Clean-Up

Most college students are forgiven if they sleep in on January 1, nursing a headache from the past night’s excesses, but Erik Steel awoke early to catch a flight to New Orleans. Steel, a student at the State University of New York in New Paltz, buckled himself into his seat, quieted jitters about his first time ever on a plane, and headed off to join 49 other college students massing at Chabad of New Orleans.

They were the second of two groups who spent winter break at Chabad Lubavitch of Louisiana scooping muck, carting out moldy furniture, gutting waterlogged homes as part of Chabad on Campus’s ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief effort. One hundred students from Columbia, USC, University of Washington-Seattle, University of California-Santa Cruz, Harvard, Hofstra, SUNY Binghamton, Queens College, Brown University and 25 other schools participated in the two trips over winter break from December 18-24 and January 1-7.

Stemming crime spike

A Brooklyn neighborhood that saw murders double last year amid a citywide drop in homicides has added a dozen new cops to battle the rise in violence, police sources said.

The rookie cops assigned to the 71st Precinct will focus on trouble spots in southern Crown Heights, particularly on the weekends, to stave off shootings, serious assaults and murders. They’ll also concentrate on areas around schools where teen-on-teen crime fueled a 12% spike in robberies last year.

“I come home on the subway from a hard day’s work and there’s gunplay on the step,” said Cyril Miller, 57, a security guard standing on Nostrand Ave. near Sterling St. “It scares the living daylights out of me.”

New Chabad center coming to Mansfield

Mansfield’s growing Jewish population has not gone unnoticed. While everyone of the faith must now leave town to go to services, activities or Hebrew school in Easton, Attleboro, Brockton or Sharon, that may not always be the case, because a local Chabad House community center in Milford thinks Mansfield needs a center of its own.

Rabbi Yossi Kivman of New York is hoping to make Mansfield his new home.

Kivman’s brother, Mendy, said this week that Yossi intends to move to Mansfield with his family within the next six months and is now deciding what kind of services Mansfield will need.

Stolen menorah returned anonymously, damaged

The theft of the inflatable 9-foot novelty from the Chabad of Pinellas County is still under investigation.

A mammoth menorah stolen from a local synagogue has been anonymously returned.

But the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will continue to investigate the incident as a theft, authorities said Wednesday.

Members of the Chabad of Pinellas County saw the 9-foot-tall inflatable statue lying near the driveway of their center just after Wednesday morning prayer service.

The novelty went missing Monday, the last day of Hanukkah.

Update on the mugging at gunpoint

The victim of the attack in which 2 black men grabbed a Bochur while walking on Montgomery St. between the blocks of Kingston Ave. & Albany Ave. and pulled a gun on him, had been taken to the Police Precinct where he scanned through files with pictures of criminals with previous records.

What came out of this was the identification of one of the perps involved, a 17 year old boy with an extensive criminal record. With this information on had the police will continue to pursue this case with more hope of catching those involved.

To read our report of the mugging CLICK HERE

The Mayor on the Topic of Crime in Crown Heights

AUDIO: The Mayor on the topic of crime in Crown Heights. CLICK HERE
The Mayor on the topic of illegal guns on the streets on NYC. CLICK HERE

In his Weekly Friday radio show with John Gambling, the Mayor Promised improvement for Crown Heights.

John Gambling brought up the topic of crime on the rise at the 71st PCT. in Crown Heights. To which the Mayor responded that he has seen the reports and has seen many complaints from residents in Crown Heights.

He continued saying that he has authorized for specialty officers from other precincts to be moved to the 71st for extra protection. He also said that a large number of officers have just recently graduated from the Police Academy, of which a nice percentage of them will be going to the Crown Heights area.

Chabad Rabbi Awarded by the Jewish Community Professional Association

When Chabad representative Shiffy Landa brought multiple intelligences to her classroom in St. Louis’s Epstein Hebrew Academy, her husband Rabbi Yosef Landa took note.

For those not up on education trends, multiple intelligences proposes that there are all kinds of minds. Some learn visually. Others learn by doing. Rabbi Landa received an Adult Educator award from the St. Louis Jewish Federation for bringing multiple intelligences to his teachings of Chasidic philosophy.