Dec 12, 2010
"Hate Blogs Are Killing Us"
The Rabbonim's letter was not about bochurim getting summons, rather about "hate blogs" spreading lies about a constant rift between the community and the police, Zaki Tamir tells COLlive.
"The hatred is getting out of hand," Zaki Tamir, Chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, said Sunday in a candid and frank conversation with COLlive.com.
He said a "tremendous amount of hatred and animosity" is being caused by a few renegade "hate blogs which are destroying the people. It's killing us."
Voted in by a vast majority last year, Tamir said his administration is "unable to do our jobs as a community and representing a community" due to agenda-driven attacks.
His statements were given in response to misinformation surrounding a letter by Crown Heights Badatz members Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba and Rabbi Yaacov Schwei concerning community affairs.
COLlive.com was told that the letter was in the works for the past 3 weeks after one of the "hate blogs," as Tamir calls them, claimed there was a rift between the Crown Heights Hatzalah and the NYPD 71st Precinct.
Tamir and Eli Cohen, Executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, both noted that in the case of 3 bochurim getting summons for 'blocking pedestrian traffic', they actually helped them out with finding an attorney and pursuing justice.
They said the issue here was an ongoing beef between rival civilian patrol groups in the neighborhood - Shmira and Shomrim - that spilled into the public arena.
(Shmira works with the 71st Commanding Officer Peter Simonetti, while the Shomrim only enjoyed the same status under the former Commanding Officer Frank Vega.)
Tamir speculated why the Shomrim group, led by Aron Hershkop and his brothers, did not receive the community's support when they were prosecuted a year and a half ago.
But, he pointed out, the group is today using the same tactics that they denounced and suffered from in the past.
He said the police are feeling antagonized and intimidated from doing their jobs, also as a result of the lies and false articles written about them "for not following an agenda."
"It's an abuse for people to take private fights that can otherwise be resolved and turning them into a criminal or civil matter when the basis is hatred and disagreement," Tamir, a criminal defense lawyer, said.
He rhetorically asked why crime was up in the neighborhood when there are four organizations claiming to fight it: the NYPD, the C.O.P. - Civilian Observation Patrol, Shmira and Shomrim.
"If we're not able to see eye to eye, we will never find a resolution (to the crime)," Tamir said, pointing out that he created a security committee to deal with such matters, but the patrols have not joined.
There have been growing talks against the existence of two patrols, both privately created and run, members of which are speaking on behalf of the community while not being elected or asked to do so by the people.
Talks of uniting the groups have failed in the past.
VIDEO: Zaki Tamir and Eli Cohen speak
This edict was pointless and just brings the Rabonim bad PR, and that's all they need.
Unfortunately what your saying the letter was meant to address and the wording of the letter only partially overlap. The part that doesn't overlap puts a huge strain on the community and will certainly make people over an issur when there is no reason to do so.
How about working to get Shomrim back on good terms with the police department?
2)You guys have a good points,all the hate will not help us fix any problem. we need unity within our community. However, what do you expect ,when you fail to do your job. Zaki, you where elected to represent us but when we need the most you are help you are no where to be found. i.e. not answering phone calls or text.
3) We all know that we need the police to protect us and how important there job is to the community . After all, They keep us somewhat safe at night. But when they abuse there power we have a problem.
4) To serve and protect dose not mean to give out false tickets which cost us time and money. There job is to keep streets safe not push crime reports under the rug when they happen.
P.S.I was not elected by anyone and don's speak for anyone but myself. Think about it, How many people in crown heights do you know that where given BS traffic summons in the past five years.
I see the both of you as sincere individuals dedicated to bettering the lives of people in our community.
I hope that others recognize your good intentions and trust your position as community leaders so that we can move forward toward more peaceful times.
This will in turn bring good in every sense through G-d's blessing onto our community
Are we not entitled to it?
It’s with all that said that I am so saddened to see what is unfolding around us. If there is a PR war being fought here, everyone is losing, and losing badly. No one group will be able to stand up and say “can’t we all get along”, because each group is seen to have its ties to rival groups.
The only people that will end this divisiveness will be the people themselves. It’s not this group or that group, it’s not that body or this body. It’s us! It must begin with us. At first I thought it was the websites that were the problem, but I think it’s too easy to place the blame on them. Many of the problems stem from the comment sections.
While we can put pressure on all the websites to better moderate the comment sections, wouldn’t it be better if we moderated ourselves? After all, the articles may be written by the websites, but the comment sections are ours alone.
As for the issue at hand, people on the street will only continue to talk and get agitated unless they hear from the police and are assured that they are safe. The recent murders and the discovery of a dead body near the Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street only serve to scare regular people. When people are scared it’s easy for them to believe the police are the bad guys.
No one wants the police to be successful more then the residents of the town they are sworn to protect. But the police and the leaders of our community must do a better job in showing that this is serious and that they have a handle on the situation.
If everyone does their part, and we, the people, do our part in moderating our own speech. This will go a long way in repairing the current situation.
As someone who wishes to continue to raise his family here and spend many more years getting Nachas from my children and this community I really hope we can get passed all of this.
Zaki, keep up the GREAT work!
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like they are telling us what to do, not suggesting for our own good.
Why use this language, you only make yourselves look like control freaks, not like people who want to help the community, you are unpopular enough, why add to it?
I suggest that you stop treating the community as irrelevant subjects and engage them and keep them ALL of us in the know with regards to the community councils activities, plans, accomplishments etc.
And by the way, why isn't the community informed about what is going on in this Zabla, why don't you inform us with the same vigor that you informed us about this decree?
We need a new 3rd way; we need someone like Yisroel Shemtov to form a new/old group like the Maccabies. All members from the other 3 groups should be invited to join, except for the Hershkops, Pragers and the leaders of the old groups. Let’s thank them for their service and make them retire, gracefully!
Seeing that things are happening will also help restore peoples trust in the Vaak Hakahol and the CHJCC.
let us know your dealing with it and we'll be a little happier
Gd forbid
wont have to think far to understand why
we the jewish ppl are supposed to be spreading light
we have a spiritual purpose in the world
what does it take to wake everyone up
i am shaking
Still, assuming that this is your message, don't you think the community members are able to decide for themselves what they need to do when they are victims? This is America, and the police are here to protect us, we don't need to manage our residents from protecting themselves when they need to.
This is the first time I have heard the issue addressed forcefully. Keep it up. We need to hold down the arms and bring in the achdus.
BUT: Let's not give the PD awards and gratitude, without clearly expressing to them the overwhelmingly felt mutual opinion of majority of the community that, we feel that the police are somehow much faster to give out parking tickets etc. to fill their quota, they are always in the right place in the right time when it comes to catching a ticket victim,
AND MUCH SLOWER to be in the right place at the right time when unfortunately the victim is one of violence and crime. Let's not fool ourselves.
BOTTOM LINE, when you see a cop, one SHOULD feel safe and secure to be around them. Somehow for all to many in this community, when they see a cop, they feel unsafe and very insecure, thinking "let me get away before he pulls me over".
THIS IS NOT HOW WE SHOULD FEEL IN THEIR MIDST.
Well said. The more I hear of him the more I am confident that BE"H Zaki Tamir is sincere. Let's all work together.
But Eli Cohen seems to be saying that anything negative that you say about the police can hurt their ability to get favors from the police so don't say anything negative to the media, just like is written in the letter from the Rabbonim.
Whoa!!!! Nice article. We should all support Zaki Tamir. He is a sincere person who actually cares and is doing something about it. At the very least, if you don't actually do something productive to help, don't hurt Zaki's efforts to execute change.
What a breath of fresh air. Someone who is ACTUALLY doing something. WHY? Only because he cares about the Rebbe's Shchuna. No other reason. B"H he has a successful law firm and he is a phenomenal defense attorney who gets results for his clients. Folks, this guy cares for us. He is a keeper. Let's help him help us. Let's not be stupid and bite our nose to spite our face. Peace.
I heard the CHJCC is coming out with a newsletter. Zaki Tamir has his finger on the pulse of this community. We are Lubavitchers. Remember, we love everyone. Let's love our own too. Let's focus on the same interests and compromise for greater good of the community. A new era has begun. Let us bury the hatchet and rebuild and heal.
We are ushering in a new era. Tamir is willing to work hard to again bring transparency, peace and love to the Rebbe's community and children. We need to help...... No hatred, just love. No fighting, just peace. No aggression, just tolerance. We can do it. Let's support this brilliant, well spoken, sincere, peace loving man. For our sake.
they are only working for there own agenda
Thanks anyway, at least you're doing something!
It needs to be eradicated immediatly
I for one am sick of the lies being spread.
Zaki your a good man.
In the meantime needing Rabbonim to write letters in an attempt to stop them is demeaning to the Rabbonim and clearly a futile exercise anyway. You're all fearful sitting ducks and will get what you deserve until you change your own attitude.
In Williamsburg the community police liaison IS the head of shomrim! They work with the police, not against them!
Only in our crazy neighborhood would you find a comm. patrol who proudly says they are fighting the police
its just madness that we put up with it...
WATCH THE WAY U RUN YO MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By definition, if we are afraid of the police then we live in a police state, not a democracy.
And #41 speak to the bocherim themselves and you will find that the first reaction was to brush them off, only when this thing escalated and the TV did a feature about their story did Cohen want to get involved.
Also, nice talk here but again, you probably could have said in five minutes "do not try to represent the community if you are not in charge".
Lastly, this is something that should be directed specifically to the police so they know that the only ones who can speak on behalf of the public are those who were elected by the public.
If the cops worry less about making things up & more about Blacks shooting at Jews we'd all be OK.
Tamir, stop worrying about blogs. Do your job with integrity! It says a lot about this "hate blog" that they manage to get you all fired up. Certainly abuses by the police don't seem to make a dent in your day.
Instead, we get damage control, placating the police, hobnobbing with trouble makers. For shame! You can do better.
there is no use for your protection if crime is anyways up and your time is spent on massering about each other
Zaki is doing his best to get all this conflict resolved. Let's do our job so he can do his.
I am so happy you were voted in. I didn't vote for you and boy do I feel bad. Next election I will be the first one on line with all my friends and colleagues. What a mentsch. You really care wow. You are so well spoken and pleasure to hear. you have our support. Chazak V'ematz.
Certain shluchim in various countries internationally have to deal with violent situations on a daily basis, I hope you are not one of them so that such a tough shliach was not wasted on a relatively calm place; but I digress -
Please let us know who you are, I would like to sponsor a ticket for you so that you can come in and carry these terrible people so far, far away.
(I think I can put together funds for up to ten other shluchim friends as well, but you can probably do it all alone.)
grow up and think of the big picture.. 10 years of fighting is enough..