New York City Mayor John Lindsay meets with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1968.
Video: The Rebbe on Inner City Unrest
In the winter of 1968, New York City was being swept up by riots, looting, and racial tensions. Mayor John Lindsay came to discuss the situation with the Rebbe. The Rebbe provided insight on how to help the city, the country, and even the looters themselves.
As the Rebbe says
Nip it early on.
Elisha
What does specific course of action is the rebbe advocating
Jim M.
Who are the two men behind the Rebbe and Mayor Lindsay? Does anyone know?
Mekusher
Not that we didn’t know this till now,
It is amazing to see the Rebbe’s incredible ability to connect to every person to every situation and find something relevant from Torah!
Nosi Hador
to Jim M.
Rabbis yossel Weinberg and Hadokov, of blessed memory.
Aliza
In 1968 it was unheard of to consider the robber as well as the robbed.
In today’s Chumash and Rashi it says to respect the culprit. Not in those words. Its says to rebuke but not to embarrass. But it is similar to what the Rebbe is saying – that the solution has to do with respecting the potential robber.
The Rebbe is saying to make it more beneficial to the potential robber to be an upright citizen than being a robber.
Shliach
I believe that the issues being discussed during that period were simply issues of crime — not “racial tensions” as the video suggests.