Chabad's Drinking Problem: Drunk Rabbinical Student Moons Crowd, Steals Car, Assaults Man – Is A Direct Descendant Of Alter Rebbe

The Daily Record reports:

A student of the Rabbinical College of America* was arrested for punching a man, trying to steal his car and then "mooning" onlookers.

Police were called at 10:27 p.m. Saturday after a resident of Tikvah Way, a residential condominium area for the Rabbinical College community, approached Yaakov Lipskier, 19, of Crown Heights, N.Y., a student, who appeared to be intoxicated and walking on the street.

The resident asked Lipskier if he needed help and even offered him a ride home. Police said Lipskier responded by grabbing the man's car keys and then got into the man's car and tried to put the car into reverse.

When the man tried to stop Lipskier, the rabbinical student punched the man in the face, according to police accounts. Lipskier then got out of the car, threw the car keys to the ground and exposed his buttocks to the crowd that was attracted by the commotion.

Police soon found Lipskier farther up the road. He was charged with robbery, aggravated assault, theft and lewdness and released on $5,000 bail.

I guess that farbrengen got a little out of hand.

*[Not the ba'al teshuva section. This guy is a lifer Chabadnik directly descended from the Alter Rebbe.]

[Hat tip: Sheina Mechaberet.]

Comments

Those Lubavitcher drunkards are a blot on Judaism. They should sign over 770 to AA and MADD and go into treatment.

[jbinnz]

don't you have anything better to do than get into Lashon Hara?, Chabad are no different to any other strand of Judaism there are good and bad in all, I suspose you have never been drunk? you just perpetuate the problem by gossip mongering.
btw I don't be long to Chabad, Get a life!

[hashfanatic]

Yep, it's nothing new...and don't think think it's just the manfolk either.

I used to be friendly with Chabadniks and was in and out of that community constantly, but I saw what went on, I saw how they behaved, and I heard what they have planned for the future...America's future....the world's future.

I was slick about it, and I got outta Dodge.

I was born and raised in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and would like to move back there, but I do NOT intend to do so until I can be relatively sure that garbage does NOT infest the community.

It is so bad that they pay the media off not to report on Purim goings-on. It is absolutely contributing to the breakdown of families there-I've never seen so many of them, desperately trying to figure out a way to get away from the deterioriation, the escalating crime and the pervasive corruption that hinders any young family from any growth, personal or spiritual.

To be honest, when I see someone I know from there, I'm embarrassed to be seen with them, even if it is just in the subway or the store.

And the drunkenness is not just among Chabadniks, either. They've served as a bellwether for other communities, and the bar has been lowered. So much for "community standards".

[Chaim]

It seems this bochur is NOT a student at Rabbinical College of America, and indeed the college was actually on vacation at that time. Certainly the kid needs help, but it's always a good idea to check the facts first.

[Shmarya]

Summer capm counsellor, perhaps?

Or did he walk over from Crown Heights to score some mashke?

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

In vino veritas -- I mean if it can be applied to Mel Gibson.... why not here?

[rebeljew]

While drunkenness is a problem in Chabad, even more than other sects, the official Cabad gentry and the (late? ;)) Rebbe never supported it. The Rebbe even officially capped the amount of mashke one should drink at a farbrengen.

There is an air at farbrengens and Purim / ST, especially with underage teenagers and adults that supervise them, that it is OK for them to flout the "goyishe" laws and let them go wild. As everywhere, some people are responsible, some are not, but there is sort of a juvenile playfulness, an official rebellion, that surrounds alcohol consumption in Chabad.

In my years in the movement, I have seen alcohol induced:
1) Fist fights and wrestling with intent to injure galore
2) Tremendous cavalier attitude around driving while intoxicated
3) Teenagers who were mortally endangered by overconsumption (with few willing to say that they needed to go the hospital, though a quite a few ended up there anyway)
4) Adults advocating teenagers to drink far more than even the 4 ounce limit imposed by the Rebbe. (Generally, in Chabad, they drink 80 proof Vodka straight, blech!)
5) People passed out and left to sleep it off wherever they fell.
6) empty glass bottles thrown wildly by a grown man at a crowd at a farbrengen (on many occasions (though I will not confirm nor deny Shmarya's suspicions ;))

The bottom line is that there is a very lax attitude around alcohol consumption, and in Chabad, it is an accepted norm for teenagers to drink heavily. While I do not advocate that they start carding, nor even that they stop drinking altogether, I would like to see more adults in Chabad acknowledge that teenagers drinking and those who are irresponsible require more supervision than they are getting. And I would like to see more responsible attitudes toward DWI.

(Then again, I would like to see the Jewish community abandon magic and superstition, so I am dreaming, no doubt.)

[Paul Freedman]

This is a crisis--first there's alcohol, then a spirit of hubris and licentiousness, and one day there are charges of sexual hooliganism and even rape ... oh, that's "President" Katsav. Never mind.

[Paul Freedman]

rebeljew--but yes, binge drinking is a "tell" for alcoholism--I miss your blog.

Shmarya, did you used to Farbreng when you were a Lubavitcher?

[Franji]

"This is a crisis--first there's alcohol, then a spirit of hubris and licentiousness, and one day there are charges of sexual hooliganism and even rape ... oh, that's "President" Katsav. Never mind."

that's another topic governed by the rabbinic dictum:
ein neemonim baaroyos!
for this we have rules prohibiting yichud even when fully lucid.
by the way, the "first israeli" has been all along buddy buddy with the subjects of this posting during his travels.
:)

[hashfanatic]

If it weren't for the fact that Hatzoloh isn't totally into it, there'd be more dead kids than you could shake a stick at.

Of course, that would make them enablers, but, hey? Why would they take responsibility for the situation any more than anyone else in the community would?

[פרנג'י]

no wonder mashiah doesnt come "now", as it was said in BT Sanhedrin:
אין בן דוד בא עד שיכלו גסי הרוח מישראל

[Nachum]

Didn't happen under the Rebbe?You should read Mintz account of the celebration after the famous decision against Gurary.

[someone]

Hashfanatic's comments are not to be taken seriously. His life revolves around the internet and he doesn't know any Charedim IRL, let alone Chabadniks. He has also admitted to mental illness, and never leaves the house.
-someone in the know, from the net-