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Crown Heights, NY - Black Jewish Teen Wants to Help His Divided Neighborhood |
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Yosef Abrahamson, a Yeshiva student, got a chance — at least symbolically — when he was made commanding officer of a Crown Heights police precinct on Tuesday. He joined 120 other city teens for the one-day-only recognition. Abrahamson, who wears the distinctive black suit and fedora of the Chabad Lubavitch Orthodox Jews, says he is willing to do anything to help the two communities.
Relations between blacks and Jews in the neighborhood have long been tense. Recent violence between the groups has led to increased policing.
Yosef arrived last year from Nebraska, where he was home-schooled by his mother, Dinah Abrahamson - the daughter of a Jewish woman who fled Nazi Germany and an African-American father.
When he landed in Brooklyn, Yosef was the subject of innocent curiosity from both the Hasidic and black residents of Crown Heights.
Yosef was subjected to sharp comments about his mixed heritage. Some Jews have told him he doesn't fit in and some African-Americans have warned him that his Yeshiva schooling is turning "him into a Jew."
But for the most part, "People have been very welcoming of us," said the boy's mother. "I hope I can make some difference," he said. "Things have to change."
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Read Comments (15) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:24 AM The Lewises Says:
The Abrahamsons are, I'm delighted to say, personal friends of ours. Yosef is an exceptional young man, smart, sensitive, & unusually refined & polite. And his sister Sarah, an incredibly accomplished young woman, is a teacher in a Chabad pre-school in Manhattan.
The old saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" is very true. Dinah, their mother, is a highly successful woman whose examples & careful nurturing have shaped her kids to be the people they are. You have no idea of the extent of this family's accomplishments, but above all, they are Frum Jews!
Your report didn't mention that Yosef was given this opportunity after winning a city-wide essay competition. Always encouraged by Darchei Menachem, his Yeshiva, Yosef deserved this day of recognition, & he is no doubt destined for great things.
2
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:30 AM lavdafka Says:
Why is he wearing a fedora . Is this dude married?
3
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:36 AM murray Says:
If his mother is Jewish-he is Jewish. He is Not some kind of "go-between" between the 2 communities, he is doing himself a dis-service, as if saying to everyone that he is half Jew, half black. He doesnt need to please or proove himself to his ?black brothers"
4
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:41 AM Anonymous Says:
Chabad Bochurim over Bar Mitzvah wear these hats. Look at all Chassidishe Bochurim, they all wear hats of different styles depending on their branch of Chassidism.
Why am I answering you, Lavdafka? I think you are being ingenuous. However, I'll click on submit in case someone else genuinely doesn't know the answer.
5
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:43 AM Anonymous Says:
Lavdafka, why do you call him dude? Does he make you feel uncomfortable. A little small maybe.
6
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:43 AM Anonymus Says:
The following is the essay he wrote:
If I Were Police Commissioner For A Day
By Yosef Abrahamson age 16
To reduce crime and protect all New Yorkers if I were Police Commissioner for one day, I would take the approach of the Big Picture scheme, what policy I institute today will in the long run consistently applied is going to create a society free of crime.
Effective immediately I would put forth a statewide order to begin a policy of Pro-Active Policing, rather than Community Policing, Pro-Active Policing pays attention to the lesser crimes and makes them just as important as the more violent crimes, treating them as though they were the larger more serious, visible crimes, so that those who commit petty crime don't get away with the small stuff - breaking and entering, car theft, petty robbery, loud car radios, rowdy disorderly teenagers, panhandling, loud mufflers, running yellow lights, etc. Ticket them, tow them, arrest them - - because if you ignore them in the name of spending all the resources fighting crime like murder, etc, the group of criminals gets bigger and better and moves from small, ignored crime to all the bigger and more serious crime. It is not mean spirited or harsh - - we need to pay more attention to the people who are law abiding and want to be safe and respectful, instead of coddling the law breakers, being community policers, saying to these petty law breakers that we want them to listen to us, behave and be nice and don't do that again, and now run along, - - - and they keep breaking the law, because they feel that they can get away with it. Community Policing is the reason we have such an increase in violent crime, because we let the base of the number of petty criminals grow unchecked. Jail works. Law and Order must be firm, clear and the penalty for doing crime, swift and certain. Most crime is thought crime - - it is planned, so society must assert a planned penalty.
I would hold meetings with my Deputy Commissioners, Bureau Chiefs, Patrol Borough Commanders, and Precinct Commanders reviewing our selection, training and supervision of our officers, discussing ways of making sure they have a clear sense of their authority and that along with questioning, apprehending and arresting perpetrators it includes regulating behavior, protecting communities and individuals, pointing out a few bad incidents have happened , however reassuring them they ultimately are the keys to law and order, and in most cases their presence really gives a feeling of safety. On the agenda would be a review of the placements of high tech surveillance equipment in areas, making sure we have no gaps.
I would round up the day with a meeting with the press to release the events of the day, and to send a strong message assuring the citizens and visitors of New York we will live in a just, safe, and civilized community and to send an even stronger message to inform all those that break laws we will immediately began a motivated agenda and unless they correct their behavior they will definitely be going to jail.
7
Jun 04, 2008 at 09:54 AM Anonymous Says:
His message will never be accepted in the black community, nor will it be accepted by the rest of liberal New York! Stand up to the criminals- revoke all the liberal laws!
8
Jun 04, 2008 at 10:19 AM Anonymous Says:
Murray, You are correct. He isn't half jewish and half black. He is 100% jewish and 100% black. Can still be a "go between".
9
Jun 04, 2008 at 11:26 AM reader Says:
Sounds like a tzadik to me. grandchild of Ausswitz refugee - even though is mother inter-married - this black yid could have yichus to knock your socks off.
10
Jun 04, 2008 at 12:38 PM Anonymous Says:
if this kid beats himself up would it be a hate crime?
11
Jun 04, 2008 at 01:35 PM Anonymous Says:
how do you know his mother intermarried? Maybe she married a convert. Either way he is a JEW! Deal with it.
As for murray, must you make a newspiece so negative. you know very well if you saw him you would say oh he is a black convert blah blah blah without knowing his situation.
As for the Lewises I would love to spend shabbes with the Abrahamsons! Anyway I could?
12
Jun 04, 2008 at 05:24 PM reader Says:
I dont knw for a fact that the mother inter married but the newspaper specifically mentioned the religon of the mother and not the father - there is really only one presumption. Of course I could be wrong - but why tel me to deal with it- I didnt say anything negative about him - take a chill pill
13
Jun 04, 2008 at 06:31 PM Sleeping Says:
Er chulemt git!
Sounds like Osama "Let's talk" Obama.
14
Jun 04, 2008 at 08:36 PM btw Says:
dina and her daughter sara, are dugma chayas in tznius and middos tovos.
15
Jun 05, 2008 at 08:49 AM boker tov Says:
What an intelligent bochur!!