Jewish Code Snarls Probe Into Crown Heights Attack

And what "code" would that be, you ask?

Mesira, the haredi Omerta.

Larry McShane of the NY Daily News reports:

Long before the first rapper stopped snitching or any Mafiosi swore an oath of omertà, there was the Jewish law of mesira.

The tenet that forbids Jews from informing on fellow Jews is one of the hurdles facing Brooklyn prosecutors probing the April 14 attack on a black man by two Jewish men, sources told the Daily News.

Authorities - invoking a complaint long cited in cases involving rappers - said the initial probe was hindered by the local Hasidim's refusal to cooperate.

One source suggested the Orthodox community was taking a page from the rap world's "stop snitching" handbook. But it was actually lifted directly from the Code of Jewish Law.

"The Hebrew word is mesira, which means basically you are not allowed to be an informant," said Rabbi Shea Hecht, a well-known figure in Crown Heights.

"In essence, I am not allowed to snitch, period."

The attack in Crown Heights led Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to empanel an investigative grand jury to try to shake loose reluctant witnesses. It's the same technique prosecutors tried unsuccessfully in the slaying of rapper Busta Rhymes' bodyguard in 2006.

Rhymes and about 50 other witnesses refused to cooperate with cops. Their decision was based on street cred. The slaying remains unsolved.

When college student Andrew Charles was attacked in Crown Heights by two men wearing yarmulkes last month, police quickly identified a suspect - the driver of the getaway SUV.

Menachem Ezagui came to the 71st Precinct stationhouse with a lawyer after the vehicle was discovered. Police sources said he refused to answer any questions.

Charles, 20, the son of a city cop, was walking on Albany Ave. when a bicycle-riding assailant sprayed him with Mace. The SUV then pulled up, with a second man jumping out to smash the college sophomore twice with a nightstick, police said.

Cops have made no arrests. A lawyer sought to broker a deal that would have led two Jewish suspects to surrender on reduced charges. Sources said the district attorney's office rejected the deal, insisting the attack was too severe.

According to Hecht, mesira is not an all-encompassing concept - common sense supersedes the law, as does the responsibility of preventing injury to others. "You're not allowed to stand on the blood of your brother," he said.

That comes with a loophole, too. If Jews are convinced that one of their own will not get a fair shake from authorities, they have no obligation to cooperate.

"There are double standards - sometimes they work to your advantage," Hecht said. "To think there's no political element to justice in America would be foolish."

Of course, this statement, "In essence, I am not allowed to snitch, period," made by my old friend Rabbi Shea Hecht is not exactly true.

Many poskim (rabbis who decide Jewish law) long ago ruled that, in a democracy, one can and should tell police what you know. This is especially true if the criminal is violent.

But Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the leading posek (decisor) in recent American history, ruled strictly – police should never be called absent a threat to life.

Rav Moshe got around his own ruling in the case of child molestation by ruling a child molester is a rodef, a pursuer intent on taking life. A rodef can be informed on. He also extended this to violent criminals.

Chabad used to claim it held by Rabbi Feinstein's rulings. Perhaps the Crown Heights case is different because the life in question – the beaten black student – is not Jewish. Or perhaps the violence involved does not rise to the level necessary to inform.

I would expect the latter reason is in effect here. But who knows – it may just be simply street cred in the guise of Jewish law.

Chabad and haredi street has long held by the strictest version of mesira, the one where police are never called – unless there is immediate threat to life.

Why?

I think because it allows so many otherwise "frum" Jews to steal from non-haredim with relative impunity. School lunch fraud, welfare fraud, housing fraud, investment fraud, etc., ad nauseam.

Shea's uncle, Rabbi Abraham Hecht, is the president of Igud HaRabbonim, the Rabbinical Alliance of America. His "executive vice president," Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, has a 30 year history of fraud, theft and stock swindles. Rabbi Tannenbaum retains his position with the RAA. Rabbi Hecht – never one to be silent – says nothing.

Omerta.

[Hat Tips: Steve and Yisroel.]

Comments

[Lion of Zion]

Charles Hynes is now positioning himself as some type of "Grand Inquisitor" abusing the Grand Jury process when he conducted an utterly sham grand jury process aimed at clearing the eight officers who executed Gideon Busch on the streets of Boro Park in cold blood in 1999. Hynes then capo, Jay Shapiro,(may his name be erased from under the heavens if he did what is alleged by Doris Busch Boskey Gideon's mother)refused to allow evidence in about the fact that the police moved the hammer to make it appear that Gideon was close to them and actually threatening them before he opened fire. other witnesses were not allowed to testify who saw what happened. The female police officer who began firing at the helpless Gideon was reassigned and the whole thing covered up because she allegedly had a husband who had a post somewhere in the Federal Government. Charles Hynes is a fake who came to fame doing Al Sharpton's bidding in the Howard Beach case. He was a drunken bum then and he is a drunken bum now. Only now because the Jews were silent about getting justice for Gideon Busch, that drunken bum Hynes has now become their grand inquisitor. You see, the Jews bring on trouble for themselves by not standing up for their brethren and fighting for justice. "Lo taamod al daam reecha" does not wash well in Boro Park which is filled with Hungarian converts who just want to cozy up to the police so that they can deposit their SUV's anywhere they want without getting ticketed.

Lion of Zion

[Lion of Zion]

Charles Hynes is now positioning himself as some type of "Grand Inquisitor" abusing the Grand Jury process when he conducted an utterly sham grand jury process aimed at clearing the eight officers who executed Gideon Busch on the streets of Boro Park in cold blood in 1999. Hynes then capo, Jay Shapiro,(may his name be erased from under the heavens if he did what is alleged by Doris Busch Boskey Gideon's mother)refused to allow evidence in about the fact that the police moved the hammer to make it appear that Gideon was close to them and actually threatening them before he opened fire. other witnesses were not allowed to testify who saw what happened. The female police officer who began firing at the helpless Gideon was reassigned and the whole thing covered up because she allegedly had a husband who had a post somewhere in the Federal Government. Charles Hynes is a fake who came to fame doing Al Sharpton's bidding in the Howard Beach case. He was a drunken bum then and he is a drunken bum now. Only now because the Jews were silent about getting justice for Gideon Busch, that drunken bum Hynes has now become their grand inquisitor. You see, the Jews bring on trouble for themselves by not standing up for their brethren and fighting for justice. "Lo taamod al daam reecha" does not wash well in Boro Park which is filled with Hungarian converts who just want to cozy up to the police so that they can deposit their SUV's anywhere they want without getting ticketed.

Lion of Zion

[Garnel Ironheart]

The rebuttals to the "no snitch claim" are so easy it's pathetic.

1) Dina d'malchusa dina.
2) Dina d'malchusa is especially dina when the law is applied equally to all citizens, iregardless of race, relgion, etc.
3) It's not mesira if the crime committed was religion-neutral, ie. assault as opposed to a Jewish practice (on the other hand, assault seems to be Jewish practice in some communities so maybe that's their justification)
4) Avoiding Chilul Hashem.

[Ariel Sokolovsky http://www.moshiach.ws]

B"H
It is not so simple as you make it to be Garnel.
See:

Informing on Others for
Violating American Law:
A Jewish Law View
Rabbi Michael J. Broyde
http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/mesiralaw2.html
Michael Broyde is an Associate Professor of Law at Emory Law School and the Academic Director of the Law and Religion Program of Emory University. He is also a member of the Beth Din of America, and Rabbi of the Young Israel in Atlanta.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

there is a big, big difference between Rabbi Michael J. Broyde and the trolls of crown heights.
rabbi broyde is jewish whose soul is from noga, the trolls are minim whose neshamos are derived from klipos und consist of nothing but sitra achora.

[Cee]

Part of this story is just dramatic flare. They make it as if everyone in Crown Heights knows who the guys were and the police knock door to door and we all stand there with our arms crossed and silent. I live in Crown Heights and I have no idea who the attacker was. Its just the Shmira guys who know probably. The other thing is that even though I am not excusing what they did, I still don't think it was 1)as clear cut a random beating as the press and politicians made it sound and 2) a huge double standard that they go to these lengths to get this guy when there are dozens and dozens of attacks on Jews where nothing happens.

[jewishwhistleblower]

It appears sexual abuser Rabbi Mordecai (Marc) Gafni (Winiarz) is in the lie low, let things quiet down and cover-up phase. That has been his MO for decades. What will be his next name?

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mordechai_Gafni
"The subject of this article has requested that they not be included in Wikipedia."

[Fleishike Kishke]

The police (like everyone else) will reap what they sew. If over the years, and especially the last few years, the Crown Heights Jewish community felt the Police were doing their jobs, to protect and to serve, and were working in partnership with the residents to prevent street crime, they would have cooperation from the Jewish community. But when a situation develops that the Jews of Crown Heights must take physical protection into their own hands — and then something tragically, unfortunately, goes wrong — to expect this community that lives by the security of their Shomrim to rat them out is ... well it’s just not going to happen. They have a right to self-preservation. “Law enforcement” protect their own, even when COPS do bad things, especially if it was unintentional, as in mistaken identity, or when they get carried away and beat innocent people like at a riot. Perhaps the Shmira have to evolve to where they have their own internal affairs department.
That being said, if this college kid was innocent he must compensated. If these particular Shomrim are loose canons their services cannot be used. They will do more harm than good.
And the Jewish residents of Crown Heights must never forget that MANY more black members of the community are robbed and killed by blacks than Jews are. The black residents of Crown Heights suffer much more from black criminals than Jews do. Therefore (pardon while I climb atop my soap box) you must learn to differentiate in action, speech, and thought, between criminals and your dark-skinned neighbors. Pollard was a spy, not “The Jews.” Rabbi X was an embezzler, not “The Jews.” Mr. Y was a slum lord, not “the Jews.”

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"The Hebrew word is mesira, which means basically you are not allowed to be an informant," said Rabbi the Don, Shea "Hot Cholent" Hecht, a well-known figure in Crown Heights.

[Anonymous]

It appears sexual abuser Rabbi Mordecai (Marc) Gafni (Winiarz) is in the lie low, let things quiet down and cover-up phase. That has been his MO for decades. What will be his next name?

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mordechai_Gafni
"The subject of this article has requested that they not be included in Wikipedia."

OK big shot. So how come you aren't posting reviews of his books and CDs on amazon?

http://tinyurl.com/3feosk

or

http://tinyurl.com/4dy4g2

Big shot.

[steve]

According to Hecht, mesira is not an all-encompassing concept - common sense supersedes the law, as does the responsibility of preventing injury to others. "You're not allowed to stand on the blood of your brother," he said.

If it's "common sense" and you're not allowed to stand on the blood of your brother, when can we expect to see mandatory reporting in the yeshivos? If it's "common sense", then why was Yudi Kolko protected for forty years and Avrohom Mondrowitz for twenty three years? If it's "common sense", why were the victims of Stefan Colmer told not to go to the police? Is it because as Hecht puts it, "Jews are convinced that one of their own will not get a fair shake from authorities", and therefore it is okay to let the predators continue molesting children? All to protect "one of their own" (read someone who wears a beard and black hat)from going to prison. Totally sickening. He is more concerned with protecting the criminals than protecting innocent Jewish children. Talk about "common sense"? There is none from this Hecht fellow.

[ben chosen/g-dfather]

The question is not if the boys deserve punished for beating a black kid. we are all American and respect the legal system.

But rather, why is there a double standard?? how come the DA was so lenient and understanding the other way around. take into account that the last ten incidents, when blacks beat Jews, nobody was punished.

You have Jewish community leaders complaining for months about African American youth beating Jews, the DA brushing them off, making empty promises but doing nothing about it. And all of a sudden, when a Jew beats a black kid he is screaming bloody murder, calling for a grand Jury.

If the DA was a fair man and punished everyone, then I would be the first to give the names in to the police.

but we all know who the DA is. the bastard that who cut a deal with Kolko. a Guy who would do anything for his political career.

[Shmarya]

Exactly how many arrests were police able to make in this recent spate of Black-on-Jewish violence?

If police can't find the suspects, you can't blame Hynes.

Why didn't they press obstruction charges against the blacks who played dumb and did not cooperate with cops and testify about what they saw with regard to the murde rof Ephraim Klein???

[ben chosen/g-dfather]

•The bad history between the DA and crown heights goes back to the early 90s. After Yankel rosenboum was brutally murdered by a mob of angry African Americans, the DA pressed charges against Nelson only, and refused to go after the rest of the mob.
And even Nelson (besides the fact that he screwed up the case); the DA only prosecuted because of major pressure from Norman, Yankels brother.

•A year later, when Ralph Nimmons was caught red handed claiming out of the KOLOLS window, carrying Tzedakah Puskahs and was beaten up, over twenty lubavitch yugerlight were arrested. thank g-d, the charges never stuck.

OK, all that was long ago. so here is some recent history.

•recently when Ephraim Klein was murdered, the DA did not even visit crown heights over the incident. (the murder is still unsolved)

•Two years ago, a Bochur was beaten into a coma and there was no visit from the DA nor did the DA call for a grand jury.

•Last year, a newly married guy had five teeth knocked out and there were no visits by the DA nor were there calls for the grand Jury.

And a dozen other stories……..

Let’s get back now to this particular incidents

As of now, the police have no idea who did it and the DA is calling for a grand Jury. The DA has been to crown heights a number of times since the alleged incident and has even threatened to arrest witness.

How many assaults happen a day in NY? And how many of them end up in front of a grand Jury? This assault was not racially motivated! The assaulter claims that the boy he attacked was throwing rocks at little kids. Is it true? I have no idea, but worse case, he hit wrong guy. of course, he should be punished but don't treat him like some gang banger.

The assaulter sent lawyers to discuss options but the DA Won't negotiate.

So there is two points here 1) the DA has been a bastard the other way 2) this boy is not getting a fair deal

I just want to reiterate that if there was no history, I would be the first to give the boy's name over. But I and many others in this community, feel that the DA is using this story to further his political agenda and attract support from the African American community.

[Shmarya]

What right do you have to beat up someone who is not in the act of committing a violent crime?

None.

And there are plenty of incidents involving various CH shmira patrols going back dozens of years where the shmira boys beat up a purse snatcher or a petty thief. Did the DA prosecute those?

No.

Your side has skated many times. But you are so blinded by living in your self-imposed ghetto that you forget that.

[ben chosen/g-dfather]

Thank you.

[Fleishike Kishke]

BCGF doesn't seem to be arguing that it was correct to beat up this alleged cop's son. He is talking about why those who may know the ID of the Shmira guys won't come forward. And with all due respect, this is not at all like Kolko et al. If the Shmira guys had beat up Lubavitchers I would see the comparison. To inform against their last line of defense is not at all similar. When that Russian-born cop was killed last summer it was Lubavitchers who solved the crime for NYPD. The rank and file should “pray” for precincts full of only Jews and Lubavitchers, maybe then they’d be more certain about coming home every night. I've been watching the crime stories in Crown Heights. From what I’ve observed the Lubavitchers at town hall meetings have been begging for more police cooperation and for increased patrols. After Giuliani left office seems like the old patterns reemerged. It also seems that when NYPD arrests Lubavitchers they are incapable of not violating their civil and human rights. The cops working Brooklyn often do come off looking base, ignorant, and uneducated.

[Shmarya]

I tell you what. The shmira patrols stop beating up nonviolent criminals and start playing by the rules. Then we see what happens.

[ben chosen/g-dfather]

kishke: thank you.

Shmarya, for the third time, nobody is saying that the beating was just, even if the kid did throw the rocks. all I'm saying is that the DA really messed up and we feel that he is being unfair and the boy won't get a fair deal.

and for the record, its really hard to argue with you when you don't have the facts. I live in crown heights, you don't!!!!I see whats going on, you read it in the post.

[Shmarya]

The point is, you see bias everywhere – but you don't see the shmira attacks on nonviolent criminals and other shmira crimes.

I don't mean to defend Hynes. I think he's a piece of shit.

But beating an unarmed, nonviolent kid and then refusing to talk to police because of "mesira" is a recipe for pissing off cops and the DA, especially when the kid beaten is the son of a cop.

[ben chosen/g-dfather]

No, I don’t. I think Shmira should be closed; they are more trouble than good. But that still does not make the DA right.