This makes at least three arrests of Chabd yeshiva students in Crown Heights over the past seven days for alcohol-related crimes.
Two Chabad Yeshiva Students Arrested For Alleged Alcohol-Fueled Hate Crime Assault
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
At about 7:00 pm Saturday, two “heavily intoxicated” loud and disruptive 20-year-old Chabad yeshiva students, both Israelis, were walking in Crown Heights, Brooklyn not far from Chabad headquarters when an off-duty African-American auxiliary police officer asked them to quiet down, Crown Heights dot info reported.
What happened next is still supposedly unclear, but the confrontation turned physical and a brawl ensued.
A “large number” of police responded, and the two drunk Chabad yeshiva students were reportedly arrested and charged with assault.
The alleged victim reportedly claims the two drunk Chabad yeshiva students used racial slurs as they attacked him, and the case has been taken over by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit – even though Crown Heights dot info claims that “several witnesses at the scene – both Jewish and African-American – say they didn’t hear any such slur.”
Because of the severity of the crime, Chabad fixers were unable to spring the two yeshiva students from custody, and the pair will reportedly be held in a cell in the NYPD’s central booking until they appear before a judge – which might not happen until after Labor Day on Tuesday.
In a similar incident the week before, a Chabad yeshiva student was reportedly arrested on Shabbat for public intoxication after he had what Crown Heights dot info called “a heated exchange between him and two police officers on patrol.”
Chabad has a widespread problem with alcohol abuse, and it is not unusual to find 14- and 15-year-old Chabad yeshiva students who are already heavy drinkers.
Chabad uses vodka – called “mashka” in Chabad parlance – to induce openness to religious teachings and to foster bonding to the organization. It is given a special place in Chabad’s religious doctrine, and is used extensively during formal and informal Chabad hasidic religious gatherings called farbrengens, although during farbrengens that are advertised and to which the general public is invited to attend, alcohol use is generally limited.
But during the frequent, mostly closed farbrengens inside Chabad yeshivas, and during the informal farbrengens individual Chabad followers host, alcohol use and abuse is widespread.