Justice Still Sought 30 Years After Yankel Rosenbaum’s Murder

By COLlive reporter

A group of Crown Heights residents and some public officials gathered on President Street and Brooklyn Avenue in Crown Heights on Wednesday evening.

It was the exact location where Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Chassidic student from Australia was killed by a group of Black youths during the Crown Heights Riots against Jews in 1991.

30 years have passed since that bloody event occurred. While the neighborhood mostly lives in harmony, some in the Jewish community say that justice still hasn’t fully been served.

During the trial of his stabber, the lawyer of Lemrick Nelson, Jr. argued that the killing had nothing to do with Rosenbaum being Jewish. Nelson has served the full sentence and was released on June 2, 2004.

“Yankel was killed for being a Jew,” stated activist Yaacov Behrman, who organized the memorial on behalf of the Rosenbaum family. “He committed the ‘crime’ of dressing like a Jew, of looking like a Jew,” Behrman said. “We will never forget, we must never forget, why Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered.”

Rabbi Shea Hecht, Chairman of the NCFJE organization, recited Mishnayos and chapters of Tehillim in honor of Rosenbaum. He pointed out that in addition to Nelson, there were 19 other people who were “part of the vicious, bloodthirsty mob, who were never prosecuted for their part in the murder of an innocent man.”

Rabbi Hecht said that it is not too late for justice to be done, and he called on the perpetrators to come forward and acknowledge their crime, even after all these years.

The memorial began with Chazan Shloime Rabin reciting Keil Malei Rachamim, followed by a moment of silence. It was attended by New York City Councilmember Mathieu Eugene, Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City Curtis Sliwa and others.

Representing the victim’s family was Yoni Rosenbaum, a resident of Crown Heights and a nephew of Yankel Rosenbaum. Yoni’s father, the late Norman Rosenbaum, dedicated his life to bring his brother’s killers to justice.

“Our father fought for justice for our uncle and for Jewish rights around the world,” Yoni said. “With our father’s passing last year, it is now incumbent on all of us, to recognize the truth of what happened to our uncle and to make sure it stays at the front of our minds so we can continue to stand up, speak up, and refuse to accept antisemitism in any form.

“As our father declared so many years ago, ‘Jewish blood is not cheap.’ We must never forget, the world must never forget. Only then can we ensure that the Crown Heights riots will never be repeated,” Yoni Rosenbaum said.

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