Crown Heights, NY – IN mid-April, a young black man was struck with a baton and sprayed with Mace by two white men, and ever since, tensions have run high in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Jews and blacks who live there eye one another warily, and police patrols and surveillance have intensified.
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But there is another split on these streets, between Jews and Jews, between neighborhood patrol groups that officially aspire to keep the peace.
Jewish patrols exist in several New York neighborhoods, like Brooklyn’s Borough Park, but Crown Heights is the only area that has two such competing patrols. Their names, Shomrim and Shmira, the two groups fiercely resent each other nonetheless.
“Shmira has a litany of things about Shomrim that they say they did wrong,” said Dov Hikind, an assemblyman who represents several other heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. “As for Shomrim, when I met with them, they said, ‘We have a file about Shmira.’ ”
Aron Hershkop, the coordinator of Shomrim, said that Shmira members had intimidated his volunteers, falsely informed on them to the police, and even jammed their radios with shrieks, beeping sounds and what he described as “Christian music.”
Yossi Stern, the director of Shmira, denied these accusations, saying, in effect, that Mr. Hershkop was a sore loser with a weakening organization.
Mr. Hikind said he had been urging the two groups to reunite. “There is no reason in the world why there should be two groups of people involved in patrols,” he said. But Mr. Hershkop resisted, explaining: “When people come and tell me to make peace with them, I say, ‘To me, they don’t exist anymore.’ ”
The feuding patrol groups have surfaced in the recent tensions in Crown Heights. Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, has mentioned Shmira’s name in connection with his investigation into the assault on April 14. By contrast, Mr. Hynes, who has convened an investigative grand jury to look into the attack, praised Shomrim, calling the group “established” and “respectable.”
Mr. Stern has denied any link between Shmira and the attack.And the feuding continues. “It’s a real shame, an embarrassment for myself and the public,” said Rabbi Israel Shemtov, who is sometimes credited with founding the group that preceded Shomrim and Shmira. “I said to them, ‘I’ll lock both of you in a room, and don’t come out until you work it out.’ “
what do you expect from the the NY times….the sad part is some people believe it.
10:21,
You copied and pasted this crap 15 times before.. your as bad as the rest of em
To add to what Anon 10:21 says, Shomrim has their own biased blog which is read by everyone, including me. HOWEVER, it is so biased in favor of Shomrim & so anti-Shmira & anti everyone who dares disagree with its backers (never publishes alternative views) that it has just succeeded in making things worse. To hear this blog “talk” you’d think they were Tzaddikim & Shmira a gang of thugs. Ha!
The fact is, the two groups could work very successfully together. As recently as 3 months ago, Yossi Stern sat in my office & told me face to face, no media, no Dov Hikinds, that if I could get Shomrim to the table he’d be happy to sit down with them & discuss things with a view to settling all disputes.
You see what happened to that, don’t you? So now who’s wrong? That’s why I have to side with Shmira. They want Sholom, Shomrim obviously doesn’t. Maybe through this blog (not their own!) they’ll agree to “peace talks” for the sake of our community. If not, again, that shows what they think of us poor shlubs.
Hershkops had a fall out with the Rabbonim and decided to open up their own patrol. That is the bottom line
shimra does’nt want shomrim b/c they are for the most part people with mental history’s very not frum etc shomrim does’nt want shmira b/c they actuly care about the mishchestim who happen to be the majority of crown heights i am not talking about tzfatim
Machlokos is the be all and end all. it will do us in if we don’t stop.
ATTN DOV HIKIND: what about “Kings County Safety Patrol” in Williamsburg? Never heard of them? Only Crown Heights has issues?
Kings County Safty Patrol to my understanding are a bunch of low life teenagers that don’t have what to do, so they roam the streets and buff the NYPD, Shomrim, & FDNY.
Just wait till they mess up and all the Shomrim’s in every neighborhood will be blamed.
Close both of them down (Shomrim & Shmira) and open a new one under better leadership with rules like all the other shomrim patrols in other neighborhoods.
Why can’t we just fess up that this MACHLOKOS MUST BE STOPPED!! Why is this always about shifting blame!! ….I DON’T SEE ANYONE WHO WILL ADMIT TO FAULT AND TALK ABOUT CORRECTING OUR PROBLEM. when Jews are fighting this becomes all of OUR OBLIGATION TO TRY TO MAKE SHOLOM!
anpn. 10:42PM …. And you can’t spelll [English]…
we need to have the names hatzoloh and shomrim trademarked. with the latest devolopments in crown heights and passaic, it seems that anyone can start an organization with that name and just bring it into the mud. shame.
once the names are trademarked, it will be possible to create bylaws that will force a higher standard.
The problem in the jewish community is nobody can get along.
Every good organization is destroyed by a few people who have agendas.
To list a few that have major problems:
Shomrim
Bikur Cholim
Shmira
Chaveirim
hatzolah
And the list goes on……..
If anyone wants to join an organization and do chesed, GREAT! We just ask that when you do PLEASE do not go and try changing things around.
There are enough choices of organizations that you can join without adding your persoanl agendas and screwing things up.
More Jewish infighting..Is this Anti – semitism too? You people are nuts and are self destroyers. Of course non – jews hate jews.. You make such spectacles of yourselves!
10:50 most of ch are meshictim? you are nuts. not true at all. Most of CH proper are truly normal chabadniks full of life. Shmira does side with the meshictim and that brings credibilty down. ANyone that sides with meschistim is brought down, looked down, and frowned upon. Either this is done face to face or whatever this is a fact.
Shomrim are really affiliated with area wide shomrim like in BP F & W and are on fine waters with PD and brass. Shemtov feels bad and wants peace – he started shmira but really sides with shomrim now. Of course that said – they both sud get together and air out the shmutz so we can all just get along.
Wishful thinking?
Just so you you are all informed, Shmira is probably the only organization in Crown Heights where it’s well over 100 members (Bussiness men doctors and lawyers) are comprised of every walk of life, including Mashichist and people who are not called Mashichits, Chassidish and non Chassidish, Shmira is so apolitical, it’s only job and goal is Safety and comfort for its community, I spoke with the Shmira Coordinators and even today after all the Messira that has been perpetrated against them by Hershkop and co. and all the filth published on the web, they are still willing to sit with the Herskops/Shomrim and talk peace for the sake of the community…. As you can see they did not lower them selfs and publish a Chillul Hashem site like the other side. It is past due for these people to make teshuva hopfully befor Shavuos!
flatbushdad,
cozying up with the NYPD means gornisht.. they in essence tell the cops “we will catch the criminals for you”
Here is the main reason for the fight. And there will not be peace so fast.
Just read this statement again and see if there’s with whom to make peace.
———
But Mr. Hershkop resisted, explaining: “When people come and tell me to make peace with them, I say, ‘To me, they don’t exist anymore.
———
This is the main shomrim guy saying this to everyone.
That they don’t exist???? So what kind of peace do u expect
100 and more shmira units writing comments, GO DO SOME THING!
There is No limit to doing Chesed, nobody is getting in your way, stop looking for an escape goat.
“This is the main shomrim guy saying this to everyone.
That they don’t exist???? So what kind of peace do u expect”
It’s called “live and let live”
It means; We are not focusing on the negative we are moving forward.
We are not going to let them bring use down with them we will build and get stronger.
Shall I go on to explain?…
i know one thing that the hershkop brother are people that would give up you whole family for a PBA card
It seems that Hirshkop is a moiser. there’s no din of loshon harah on a moiser…