A proud Crown Heights resident
You want to know what it means that lives matter? Let me explain to you what that looked like in our community for the past few months.
As soon as people started showing strong symptoms of the virus and ended up in the hospitals, our schools shut down in one day. The synagogues closed shortly after. Our community doctors and leaders paired up together, despite their differences, and joined forces to provide us with information and guidance.
Why? Because every single life mattered!
Any person in our community that needed medical assistance was able to call the local “hatzalah” ambulance service at any time of day or night, and literally within a few minutes they’d have special, dedicated volunteers at their door, ready to assist them in whatever they needed.
They’d be there to stabilize the patient, sometimes provide them with things like oxygen, check their vitals, provide the patient with whatever other relief methods they could etc to help them stay home. In more severe cases, they would transport them to the hospital in a quick manner.
Dedicated members, old and young, who were running on calls every 20 minutes, day and night for a few weeks straight!
Not for pay. Not for fame. But because every life matters!
Elderly, vulnerable or sick people that needed essentials but weren’t able to leave their homes, were able to call a hotline that would contact volunteers from the community who would go do the shopping needed and deliver it to their homes.
Charity organizations were providing free food in tremendous amounts for anyone who was struggling financially. No questions asked. Anyone who wanted, was able to pick up food packages every week and especially before the Jewish holidays that were celebrated.
When our rabbis told everyone to stay home, everyone stayed home. Everyone was social distancing.
We accepted their verdict. Because every single life mattered.
With G-d’s help, we were able to flatten the curve in our community, much earlier than the rest of the city. Flatten as in not one new case in over a month! And now while in the recovery stage, many have been donating blood and plasma to help others who need it, regardless of who they might be and what color their skin is since we all bleed the same color red.
So if you want to know what it means that lives matter? This is what it looks like!
When we look out for one another, when we help one another, when we’re considerate of one another. When we provide for each other, stay put when necessary, no matter how difficult. When we stop our busy lives and have to cut down on family and community celebrations and get-togethers and, unfortunately, funerals.
When not one store is looted. Not one violent act is committed despite many frustrations. When our children continue learning ethics, life lessons, morals and skills over the computer, cooped up in their tiny homes. And everyone looks out for each other even from afar.
So if you say lives matter, maybe come learn from us what that actually means…
A gevaldike chides
Condescending, and you missed the point of the BLM conversation taking place. Of course there is much to be learned from our community, but the BLM plea is simply that their lives should be valued in the eyes of the police, and other parties of our society. Some (too many) rotten apples in the police force, or American society at large, don’t feel like black lives matter equally, and are therefore quicker to “throw one away”. That’s all they’re saying. Noone is denying that the black communities have shortcomings, or issues within themselves, but that isn’t our concern. Let’s not… Read more »
ALL lives matter and Jews shouldn’t be scared to walk down the street even more so in the hood! My son was almost attacked today by an angry black man so scary
No Jews shouldn’t have to be scared.
But we can point out the merits of the lubavitch community, without implying that it is the way the blacks treat themselves, that is responsible for their lives “mattering less” in the eyes of some racist Americans.
How ridiculous “yes all lives matter”. You obviously missed his point. Ethics guides a community, steadies a community, uplifts a community. Not race baiting, grandstanding or violence on those who had NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS. Stop defending horrible behavior.
By ‘BLM conversation’ do you mean the rioting, looting and nightly fireworks that disregard everyone else’s safety and security? Or do you mean the ‘conversation’ taking place between those that illegally and forcefully occupied a public area and are negotiating to only give it back if their demands are met? The original op-ed writer was not pointing out shortcomings in the black community nor denying that there could be bad apples who treat others unfairly. The writer was pointing out which actions demonstrate that other’s lives matter and that many in the CH community have been doing so, naturally and… Read more »
Of those who aren’t ‘your’ community!
Yes, our community showed that every single life matters. But that should mean we are all the more sensitive to everybody’s life! OUr stores weren’t looted, and that’s your ‘moral equivalence’??? The message of the nationwide protests is t hat some people are treated worse than others ONLY because of their skin color. This is true of black lubavitchers also! So if you care about every life, even if you care about only Lubavitcher lives, then you should care that skin color NEVER s hould matter!!
For starters, BLM officially endorses BDS. That means they would like to see Eretz Yisrael brought down economically. That alone is a deal-breaker for me: Why should anyone who loves Israel then respect the organization called BLM, regardless of whatever else they may espouse? (But of course all lives DO matter, organization or not!) Second: Nearly every penny given to BLM goes directly to candidates from the Democrat party running for office. I, for one, prefer to judge candidates by the content of their platform and character, not by whether there is a “D” next to their name. And we… Read more »
As you so well said, you should “cut your own nails” before your tell others to cut them, and get a real-actual-what-is really-going-on reality check.
BLM conversation has absolutely nothing to do with protecting and supporting black lives. If it did, it would concern itself with the many mamy good black people that are unprotected and hurting from the looting, defund the police movement, and inner city problems…BLM does absolutely zero to help them. If it was about the black people they would be doing things such as those described in this article.Please call a spade, a spade.
In your comment you make a case for the BLM movement by stating that certain members of the police and society do not value black lives. What you do not include is the staggering amount of black lives who are lost to inter-gang black on black violence. Just this past weekend over 130 people were shot in Chicago, NY, and MN INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN and not a peep from the BLM movement or allies such as yourself. Your hypocrisy is astounding as you have clearly demonstrated that you only care about blacks loosing their life when it makes you look… Read more »
Eloquently explained
You will have naysayers like post above
Please ignore
But not sure why it has to be put in context of “lives mattering” when it’s a sensitive topic right now. Seems to be passively belittling the movement about lives mattering…
We’ll said
A shining example – for those that care to take note and follow.
Right after the Tree of Life shooting took place in Pittsburgh, there was an immediate action to pass a resolution in the senate condemning antisemitism. The resolution addressed antisemitism initially, but then, other groups, including one led by the disgusting Ilhan Omar screamed “what about us? Don’t we matter too?!” and the language of the resolution was ultimately watered down to include anti-muslim sentiment and condemned overall hate and bigotry – ultimately a waste against antisemitism being particularly recognized even though it clearly should be. This isn’t our fight, folks. Crying out “all lives matter” is watering down the cries… Read more »
Well said
Ashreinu. Good on you for having pride in our blessed community. We have much to teach the world about how to take care of each other and there’s no time like the present to start. The issues being battled out in the streets would be practically irrelevant if people invested more in their communities and less on government programs that have all but decimated the inner city communities. BLM cares as much about black lives as frum Jews care about how many shrimp there are in the sea. Read more, dear people of the Book. There are plenty of black… Read more »
They don’t care about black lives.
Antifa is behind the BLM.
Educate yourself ppl!
They don’t protest when any black man is killed. Only if done by a white cop. There’s an agenda here.
The message is 100% true and put beautifully. Ashreinu!