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Rehavia

2015-08-16T14:09:08Z

DatabaseSQL: /* History */

[[File:Jerusalem Terra Sancta College and Keren HaYesod street.JPG|thumb|250px|Jerusalem Terra Sancta College on Keren Hayesod Street, Rehavia]]
[[Image:Jason's Tomb2.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Jason (high priest)|Jason's Tomb]] on Alfasi Street]]
'''Rehavia''' (also '''Rechavia''') ({{lang-he|רחביה}}) is an upscale [[Jerusalem]] neighborhood located between the city center and [[Talbiya]].

==History==
[[Image:Hamosadot Haleumiyim Rehavia.JPG|250px|thumb|[[Jewish Agency]] building, Rehavia]]
Rehavia was established on a large plot of land purchased in 1921 from the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] by the Palestine Land Development Company (PLDC) and the first house was completed in 1924.<ref>http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-rambans-desolate-jerusalem-area-transformed-into-yekkes-rehavia/</ref> It was named after Moses’ grandson, “Rehavia”.<ref>http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-rambans-desolate-jerusalem-area-transformed-into-yekkes-rehavia/</ref> The area was known at the time as Ginzaria, a native Jerusalem plant. The [[Jewish National Fund]] (JNF) bought the land and commissioned the German-Jewish architect [[Richard Kaufmann]] to design a garden neighborhood. The land was transferred back to the PLDC in exchange for lands in the [[Jezreel Valley]], but the JNF retained some real-estate in the neighborhood. The [[Gymnasia Rehavia]] high school, Yeshurun Synagogue, and the [[Jewish Agency]] building were built on this land, overlooking the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Rehavia.html |title=Rehavia & Makor Haim |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |year=2011 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> Rehavia was modeled after the [[Garden city movement|garden cities]] of Europe, with an emphasis on the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] popular at the time.<ref name="mfa.gov.il">{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/7/Focus+on+Israel-+Jerusalem+-+Architecture+in+the+B.htm?DisplayMode=print |title=Focus on Israel: Jerusalem – Architecture in the British Mandate Period |date=1 July 1999 |accessdate=26 February 2011 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref>

The first phase, called Rehavia Aleph, was bordered by King George Street to the east, [[Nahmanides|Ramban]] Street to the south, [[Ussishkin]] Street to the west, and [[Keren Kayemet]] Street to the north. To preserve the quiet character, the neighborhood association allowed [[Commerce|commercial]] businesses only on the two main roads at the neighborhood's edges. The roads open to traffic were deliberately built narrow, to keep them less busy and thus quieter. The main, tree-lined boulevard which bisected the neighborhood was open to pedestrian traffic only. Later expansion was primarily to the south, in the direction of Gaza Street.

The [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]]'s Official Residence is the "[[Beit Aghion|Aghion House]]", at the corner of [[Arthur Balfour|Balfour]] and [[Peretz Smolenskin|Smolenskin]] streets.

==Demographics==
[[Image:Beit Usishkin P8020025.JPG|thumb|200px|Home of Menachem Ussishkin, Ramban Street]]
When the Ethiopian emperor [[Haile Selassie]] was exiled from [[Ethiopia]] in 1936, he lived on [[Alharizi]] Street. Rehavia became known as a neighborhood of upper-class [[Ashkenazi Jews]], home to professors and intellectuals, particularly émigrés from Germany. Many of the country's early leaders lived in Rehavia: [[David Ben-Gurion]], Israel's first prime minister, who lived on [[Maimonides|Ben Maimon]] street;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968877.html |title=Bible club founded by Ben-Gurion gets revived with a Peres twist |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=27 March 2008 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> Zionist leader [[Arthur Ruppin]]; Menachem Ussishkin, head of the [[Jewish National Fund]]; [[Golda Meir]], Israel's fourth prime minister; [[Daniel Auster]], the first Jewish mayor of Jerusalem, and philosophers [[Hugo Bergmann]] and [[Gershon Scholem]].<ref name="mfa.gov.il"/> Among the government ministers who made their home in Rehavia were [[Dov Yosef]] and [[Yosef Burg]].

==Landmarks==
[[Image:Rehavia's Mill.JPG|250px|thumb|Windmill on Ramban Street]]
Landmark buildings in Rehavia include the headquarters of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the windmill on [[Nahmanides|Ramban]] Street, and the [[Ratisbonne]] Monastery.
[[File:Gymnasia Rehavia.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Gymnasia Rehavia High School]]
Gymnasia Rehavia, the country's second modern high school (after [[Gymnasia Herzliya]] in [[Tel Aviv]]) was built on Keren Kayemet Street in 1928. [[Yitzhak Ben Zvi]], who was to become the second president of Israel, and his future wife, [[Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi|Rachel Yanait]], were teachers there.<ref name="mfa.gov.il"/>

In the center of historic Rehavia is Yad Ben-Zvi, a research institute established by Ben-Zvi. [[Jason's Tomb]] was discovered during construction work on Alfasi Street.

==Street names==
Most of Rehavia's streets are named after Jewish scholars and poets from the [[Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain]]. Among them are [[Isaac Abravanel|Abravanel]], [[Maimonides|Ben Maimon]], [[Ibn Ezra (disambiguation)|Ibn Ezra]], [[Nahmanides|Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban)]], and [[David Kimhi|Radak]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/792509.html |title=A walk across Jerusalem history|last=Rubinstein |first=Danny |work=Haaretz |date=26 November 2006 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref><ref name=kurtz/> A glaring omission is the name of [[Judah Halevi|Yehuda Halevy]], celebrated physician, poet, and philosopher. Zionist leader [[Menachem Ussishkin]], who lived on Rechov Yehuda Halevy, changed the name of the street to Rechov Ussishkin in honor of his 70th birthday in 1933, and installed new ceramic signs crafted by local Armenian craftspeople.<ref name=kurtz>Kurtz, Chani. "Road of Remembrance: Street names and their stories". ''[[Binah (magazine)|Binah]]'' Pesach supplement, 2015, p. 54.</ref> A garden in the neighborhood is named for Yehuda HaLevi's work of philosophy, the Kuzari, and a staircase in Jerusalem's Old City where he was said to have been killed is named for him as well. There are occasional efforts to restore Ussishkin Street to its original name.

==Notable residents==
*[[Avraham Burg]]
*[[Eliezer Igra]]
*[[Emanuel Feldman]]
*[[David Flusser]]
*[[Moshe Goshen-Gottstein]]
*[[Moshe Greenberg]]
*[[Danny Neuman]]
*[[Benjamin Netanyahu]] (born 1949), Prime Minister
*[[Menachem Ussishkin]] (1863-1941), Zionist leader and head of the [[Jewish National Fund]]
*[[Berel Wein]], rabbi
*[[Daphni Leef]], activist
*[[Reuven Rivlin]], President of Israel <ref>http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4528829,00.html</ref>
*[[Robert Aumann]], Nobel prize winner <ref>http://www.jpost.com/Features/Hes-got-game</ref>
*[[Miriam Naor]], President of the Supreme Court of Israel <ref>http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.637316</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/rehavia-residents-in-j-lem-take-on-developers-changing-character-of-neighborhood-1.4472 Rehavia residents in J'lem take on developers changing character of neighborhood]

{{commons cat|Rehavia}}

{{Neighborhoods of Jerusalem}}

{{coord|31|46|28.11|N|35|12|43.19|E|region:IL_scale:20000|display=title}}

[[Category:Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem]]

Rehavia

2015-08-16T13:58:33Z

DatabaseSQL: /* Notable residents */

[[File:Jerusalem Terra Sancta College and Keren HaYesod street.JPG|thumb|250px|Jerusalem Terra Sancta College on Keren Hayesod Street, Rehavia]]
[[Image:Jason's Tomb2.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Jason (high priest)|Jason's Tomb]] on Alfasi Street]]
'''Rehavia''' (also '''Rechavia''') ({{lang-he|רחביה}}) is an upscale [[Jerusalem]] neighborhood located between the city center and [[Talbiya]].

==History==
[[Image:Hamosadot Haleumiyim Rehavia.JPG|250px|thumb|[[Jewish Agency]] building, Rehavia]]
Rehavia was established on a large plot of land purchased in 1921 from the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] by the Palestine Land Development Company (PLDC). The area was known at the time as Ginzaria, a native Jerusalem plant. The [[Jewish National Fund]] (JNF) bought the land and commissioned the German-Jewish architect [[Richard Kaufmann]] to design a garden neighborhood. The land was transferred back to the PLDC in exchange for lands in the [[Jezreel Valley]], but the JNF retained some real-estate in the neighborhood. The [[Gymnasia Rehavia]] high school, Yeshurun Synagogue, and the [[Jewish Agency]] building were built on this land, overlooking the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Rehavia.html |title=Rehavia & Makor Haim |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |year=2011 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> Rehavia was modeled after the [[Garden city movement|garden cities]] of Europe, with an emphasis on the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] popular at the time.<ref name="mfa.gov.il">{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/7/Focus+on+Israel-+Jerusalem+-+Architecture+in+the+B.htm?DisplayMode=print |title=Focus on Israel: Jerusalem – Architecture in the British Mandate Period |date=1 July 1999 |accessdate=26 February 2011 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref>

The first phase, called Rehavia Aleph, was bordered by King George Street to the east, [[Nahmanides|Ramban]] Street to the south, [[Ussishkin]] Street to the west, and [[Keren Kayemet]] Street to the north. To preserve the quiet character, the neighborhood association allowed [[Commerce|commercial]] businesses only on the two main roads at the neighborhood's edges. The roads open to traffic were deliberately built narrow, to keep them less busy and thus quieter. The main, tree-lined boulevard which bisected the neighborhood was open to pedestrian traffic only. Later expansion was primarily to the south, in the direction of Gaza Street.

The [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]]'s Official Residence is the "[[Beit Aghion|Aghion House]]", at the corner of [[Arthur Balfour|Balfour]] and [[Peretz Smolenskin|Smolenskin]] streets.

==Demographics==
[[Image:Beit Usishkin P8020025.JPG|thumb|200px|Home of Menachem Ussishkin, Ramban Street]]
When the Ethiopian emperor [[Haile Selassie]] was exiled from [[Ethiopia]] in 1936, he lived on [[Alharizi]] Street. Rehavia became known as a neighborhood of upper-class [[Ashkenazi Jews]], home to professors and intellectuals, particularly émigrés from Germany. Many of the country's early leaders lived in Rehavia: [[David Ben-Gurion]], Israel's first prime minister, who lived on [[Maimonides|Ben Maimon]] street;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968877.html |title=Bible club founded by Ben-Gurion gets revived with a Peres twist |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=27 March 2008 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref> Zionist leader [[Arthur Ruppin]]; Menachem Ussishkin, head of the [[Jewish National Fund]]; [[Golda Meir]], Israel's fourth prime minister; [[Daniel Auster]], the first Jewish mayor of Jerusalem, and philosophers [[Hugo Bergmann]] and [[Gershon Scholem]].<ref name="mfa.gov.il"/> Among the government ministers who made their home in Rehavia were [[Dov Yosef]] and [[Yosef Burg]].

==Landmarks==
[[Image:Rehavia's Mill.JPG|250px|thumb|Windmill on Ramban Street]]
Landmark buildings in Rehavia include the headquarters of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the windmill on [[Nahmanides|Ramban]] Street, and the [[Ratisbonne]] Monastery.
[[File:Gymnasia Rehavia.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Gymnasia Rehavia High School]]
Gymnasia Rehavia, the country's second modern high school (after [[Gymnasia Herzliya]] in [[Tel Aviv]]) was built on Keren Kayemet Street in 1928. [[Yitzhak Ben Zvi]], who was to become the second president of Israel, and his future wife, [[Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi|Rachel Yanait]], were teachers there.<ref name="mfa.gov.il"/>

In the center of historic Rehavia is Yad Ben-Zvi, a research institute established by Ben-Zvi. [[Jason's Tomb]] was discovered during construction work on Alfasi Street.

==Street names==
Most of Rehavia's streets are named after Jewish scholars and poets from the [[Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain]]. Among them are [[Isaac Abravanel|Abravanel]], [[Maimonides|Ben Maimon]], [[Ibn Ezra (disambiguation)|Ibn Ezra]], [[Nahmanides|Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban)]], and [[David Kimhi|Radak]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/792509.html |title=A walk across Jerusalem history|last=Rubinstein |first=Danny |work=Haaretz |date=26 November 2006 |accessdate=26 February 2011}}</ref><ref name=kurtz/> A glaring omission is the name of [[Judah Halevi|Yehuda Halevy]], celebrated physician, poet, and philosopher. Zionist leader [[Menachem Ussishkin]], who lived on Rechov Yehuda Halevy, changed the name of the street to Rechov Ussishkin in honor of his 70th birthday in 1933, and installed new ceramic signs crafted by local Armenian craftspeople.<ref name=kurtz>Kurtz, Chani. "Road of Remembrance: Street names and their stories". ''[[Binah (magazine)|Binah]]'' Pesach supplement, 2015, p. 54.</ref> A garden in the neighborhood is named for Yehuda HaLevi's work of philosophy, the Kuzari, and a staircase in Jerusalem's Old City where he was said to have been killed is named for him as well. There are occasional efforts to restore Ussishkin Street to its original name.

==Notable residents==
*[[Avraham Burg]]
*[[Eliezer Igra]]
*[[Emanuel Feldman]]
*[[David Flusser]]
*[[Moshe Goshen-Gottstein]]
*[[Moshe Greenberg]]
*[[Danny Neuman]]
*[[Benjamin Netanyahu]] (born 1949), Prime Minister
*[[Menachem Ussishkin]] (1863-1941), Zionist leader and head of the [[Jewish National Fund]]
*[[Berel Wein]], rabbi
*[[Daphni Leef]], activist
*[[Reuven Rivlin]], President of Israel <ref>http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4528829,00.html</ref>
*[[Robert Aumann]], Nobel prize winner <ref>http://www.jpost.com/Features/Hes-got-game</ref>
*[[Miriam Naor]], President of the Supreme Court of Israel <ref>http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.637316</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/rehavia-residents-in-j-lem-take-on-developers-changing-character-of-neighborhood-1.4472 Rehavia residents in J'lem take on developers changing character of neighborhood]

{{commons cat|Rehavia}}

{{Neighborhoods of Jerusalem}}

{{coord|31|46|28.11|N|35|12|43.19|E|region:IL_scale:20000|display=title}}

[[Category:Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem]]

Crown Heights riot

2015-08-12T12:07:27Z

DatabaseSQL:

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2011}}
The '''Crown Heights riot''' was a three-day race riot that occurred from August 19 to August 21, 1991 in the [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]] section of [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]]. It turned black residents [[Orthodox Jewish]] against Jewish residents, causing deteriorated racial relations. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of [[Guyana|Guyanese]] immigrants were unintentionally struck by an automobile in the motorcade of [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], the [[Rebbe|leader of a Jewish religious sect]]. One child died and the second was severely injured. This event was said to cause black residents to attack Jewish residents.

In its wake, several Jews were seriously injured; one Orthodox Jewish man was killed; and a non-Jewish man, apparently mistaken by rioters for a Jew, was killed by a group of black men. Two black men were convicted in federal court but were later found innocent. <ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-01-15/news/the-crown-heights-quiets/</ref> The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor [[David Dinkins]], an African American, who was blamed for an ineffective police response. Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.<ref name=Beep>[http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2001/08/23/2001-08-23_beep_honor_peace_coalition_c.html "Beep Honor Peace Coalition: Crown Heights leaders reflect on 10-year milestone"], ''New York Daily News'', August 23, 2001.</ref>

==Causes==

===Car crash===
At approximately 8:20 pm on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a [[station wagon]] with three passengers west on President Street, part of the three-car motorcade of [[Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], leader of the [[Chabad Lubavitch]] Hasidic sect.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFDF1E3AF930A25755C0A962958260&scp=4&sq=schneerson&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|title=Rabbi Schneerson Led A Small Hasidic Sect To World Prominence|first=Ari L.|last=Goldman|date=June 13, 1994|accessdate=April 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Wilson"/> The procession was led by an unmarked [[police car]] with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.<ref name=Shapiro/>

The police car and Schneerson's automobile crossed [[Utica Avenue]] on a green light and proceeded along President Street at a normal speed. But Lifsh's vehicle had fallen behind. Not wishing to lose sight of Schneerson's car, Lifsh's vehicle either crossed Utica Avenue on a yellow light or ran a red light. There was no indication of the exact speed of Lifsh's vehicle.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite web|url=http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/060806/ltCrownHeightsRiot.html|title=Crown Heights riot – fact, fiction, and plenty of blame|accessdate=October 20, 2007|last=Wilson|first=Judy|year=2006|publisher=New Jersey Jewish News}}</ref><ref name="Kifner">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D61E3DF935A3575AC0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3|title=Grand Jury Doesn't Indict Driver In Death of Boy in Crown Heights|accessdate=October 20, 2007|last=Kifner|first=John|date=September 6, 1991 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Lifsh's vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down and pinned two children against an iron grate covering the window of a first-floor apartment in a four-story brick building. Seven-year-old Gavin Cato, the son of Guyanese immigrants, who was on the sidewalk near his apartment on President Street, repairing his bicycle chain, died instantly. His seven-year-old cousin Angela Cato who was playing nearby, survived the hit but was severely injured.<ref name=McGowan/><ref name="Kamber">{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0203,kamber,31532,1.html|title=Faded Rage|first=Michael|last=Kamber|work=[[The Village Voice]]|date=January 16–22, 2002}}</ref>

Lifsh believed he had the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort.<ref name=Shapiro/> Lifsh said he deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about {{convert|25|yd|m}}, in order to stop the car. Lifsh later commented that the car did not come to a full stop upon impact with the building, but rather slid to the left along the wall until it reached the children.

===Death of Gavin Cato===
Accounts differ as to the next sequence of events. After the collision, Lifsh said that the first thing he did was to try to lift the car in order to free the two children beneath it.<ref>{{cite news|title= Judge Won't Open Records Of Crown Heights Inquiry|first=Steven Lee|last=Myers|date=September 7, 1991|work=The New York Times|accessdate=October 20, 2007|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DB163FF934A3575AC0A967958260}}</ref> The EMS unit that arrived on the scene about three minutes after the accident said that Lifsh was being beaten and pulled out of the station wagon by three or four men.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref>Girgenti Report, 1:79–81.</ref> All accounts agree that Lifsh was beaten before ambulances and police arrived. A volunteer ambulance from the [[Hatzolah]] [[emergency medical services|ambulance corps]] arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm, followed shortly by police and a City ambulance, which took Gavin Cato to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 pm; Cato was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.<ref name=Shapiro/> Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela Cato, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.<ref name=Wilson/><ref name=Shapiro/>

Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh from the scene for his safety, while Gavin Cato was being removed from beneath the station wagon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/4295/edition_id/78/format/html/displaystory.html|title=j. – 5 years later, Crown Heights blacks, Jews coexist warily|publisher=Jewishsf.com|accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref> According to the ''New York Times'', more than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers, many of whom were shouting "Jews! Jews! Jews!", jeered the driver of the car and then turned their anger on the police.<ref name="McQuiston">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0D7103FF933A1575BC0A967958260|title=Fatal Crash Starts Melee With Police In Brooklyn|first=John T.|last=McQuiston|date=August 20, 1991|accessdate=October 20, 2007|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. There was a rumor at the time that Lifsh was intoxicated. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated this was not the case. Other rumors circulating shortly after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref>{{cite news|title=Racial Unrest: An Eye for an Eye|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973786-1,00.html|accessdate=October 20, 2007|first=Sam|last=Allis|work=Time|date=September 9, 1991}}</ref><ref name="Mintz">{{cite book|title=Hasidic People: A Place in the New World|first=Jerome R.|last=Mintz|year=1992|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0-674-38115-7|url=http://books.google.com/?id=uEP5KNUAFh0C|accessdate=October 20, 2007|pages=334–335}}</ref>

Later that evening, as the crowds and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks. At about 11:00 pm, someone reportedly shouted, “Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!" A number of black youths then set off westward toward Kingston Avenue ({{convert|0.7|mi|km}} away from Utica Avenue), a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.jrank.org|title=Law Library – American Law and Legal Information|publisher=Law.jrank.org|accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref>

==Conflicting community viewpoints==
After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.<ref name=Kamber/> The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and allocations of government resources amongst others. Furthermore, many members of the black community were concerned about the expansion of Jews moving into the neighborhood, believing the latter were buying all of the property.<ref>{{cite web|author=Comments (0) By Dasun Allah Tuesday, Jan 15, 2002 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0203,allah,31533,1.html |title=> news > Dasun Allah dissects the Crown Heights silence. by Dasun Allah |publisher=village voice |date=January 15, 2002 |accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref>

Members of the Jewish community did not share this view. Many believed that allegations of favoritism made by black people were not supported by facts; a number of studies disproved the allegations, including one study conducted specifically in response to this allegation.<ref name="McGowan">{{cite web |url=http://www.city-journal.org/article01.php?aid=1473 |title=Race and Reporting |first=William |last=McGowan |publisher=The Manhattan Institute |date=Summer 1993 |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref> It was widely believed in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed against Jews during the riot. As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters throughout the rioting, and comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the [[Al Sharpton|Rev. Al Sharpton]] made comments about "diamond dealers" and commented "It's an accident to allow an [[apartheid]] ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights."<ref name="slate">{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2089153/ |title=The Gaffes of Al Sharpton |publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |author=William Saletan and Avi Zenilman |date=October 7, 2003}}</ref> In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler did not do the job".<ref name=McGowan/>

Edward Shapiro, a historian at [[Brandeis University]], later called the riot "the most serious [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] incident in [[History of the United States|American history]]".<ref name=Shapiro>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=StQXz-ClGuUC |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |last=Shapiro |first=Edward S. |year=2006 |title=Crown heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn riot |location=[[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]], Massachusetts |publisher=[[Brandeis University]] Press, [[University Press of New England]]|isbn=1-58465-561-5 }}</ref> He points out that there are many interpretations of what happened:

{{quote|Differing interpretations emerged regarding its nature and origins ... reflected the diverse political, religious, and social circumstances, the differing ideological assumptions, and the divergent understandings of the past by the journalists, sociologists, political activists, and historians who wrote about the riot.|Edward S. Shapiro|American Jewish History, 2002<ref>{{cite journal |first=Edward S. |last=Shapiro |title=Interpretations of the Crown Heights riot |journal=American Jewish History |year=2002 |volume=90 |number=2 |pages=97}}</ref>}}

==Riots and murders==

===Yankel Rosenbaum killing===
About three hours after the riots began, early on the morning of August 20, a group of approximately 20 young black men surrounded 29-year-old [[History of the Jews in Australia|Australian Jew]], Yankel Rosenbaum, a [[University of Melbourne]] student in the United States conducting research for his doctorate. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him severely, fracturing his skull. Before being taken to the hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old [[Lemrick Nelson|Lemrick Nelson, Jr.]] as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.<ref name=Wilson/> Rosenbaum died later that night. Nelson was charged as an adult<ref>Under New York State law, 16-year-olds can be charged as adults for homicide.</ref> with murder and acquitted. Later he was convicted in federal court of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights; Nelson eventually admitted that he had stabbed Rosenbaum.<ref name="Gourevitch">{{cite journal |first=Philip |last=Gourevitch |journal=The Jewish Forward |date=January 1993 |url=http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1993/Crown+Heights+Riot+Aftermath.htm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040220111847/http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1993/Crown+Heights+Riot+Aftermath.htm |archivedate=February 20, 2004 |title=The Crown Heights Riot & Its Aftermath}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805EFDB1F30F932A1575BC0A9659C8B63|title=Penalty in Crown Hts. Case Means a Little More Jail Time|last=Newman|first=Andy|work=The New York Times|date=August 21, 2003|accessdate=March 3, 2009}}</ref>

===Rioting===
For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. In the rioting of the ensuing three days, according to Edward Shapiro, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights."<ref name=Shapiro/>

During the riots, Jews were injured, stores were [[looted]], and cars and homes were damaged. The rioters identified Jewish homes by the [[mezuzot]] affixed to the front doors.<ref name=Mintz/>

An additional 350 police officers were added to the regular duty roster on August 20 and were assigned to Crown Heights in an attempt to quell the rioting. After episodes of rock- and bottle-throwing involving hundreds of blacks and Jews, and after groups of blacks marched through Crown Heights chanting "No Justice, No Peace!", "Death to the Jews!", and "Whose streets? Our streets!", an additional 1,200 police officers were sent to confront rioters in Crown Heights.<ref name=Shapiro/>

On the third day of the disturbances, [[Al Sharpton]] and [[Sonny Carson]] led a march.<ref name="Forward 08-19-11">[http://forward.com/articles/141562/in-crown-heights-residents-still-cling-to-their-gr/ Berger, Paul. "In Crown Heights, Residents Still Cling to Their Grievances". ''The Jewish Daily Forward''. forward.com. August 19, 2011.]</ref> The marchers proceeded through Crown Heights, carrying antisemitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned.<ref name="Forward 08-19-11"/><ref name="Shapiro06">Shapiro, Edward S. Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot. UPNE, 2006): 38-40.</ref> Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police; shots were fired at police and police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref name=Mintz/>

Riots escalated to the extent that a detachment of 200 police officers was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On August 22, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had been dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property.<ref name=Shapiro/>

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,<ref name="Shapiro_AJH">{{cite journal |last=Shapiro |title=Interpretations of the Crown Heights Riot |journal=American Jewish History |volume=90 |issue=2 |date=June 2002 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/american_jewish_history/v090/90.2shapiro.html |subscription=yes |pages=97–122 |doi=10.1353/ajh.2003.0035 |first1=Edward S.}}</ref> and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.<ref name=Shapiro/> At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,<ref name=Shapiro_AJH/> including 122 blacks and seven whites.<ref name="PBFPIB">{{cite news |title=Police Brace For Protest In Brooklyn |first=John |last=Kifner |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 1991 |page=27 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4D7163DF937A1575BC0A967958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FM%2FMaddox%2C%20Alton%20H.%20Jr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D71F3FF936A1575BC0A967958260 |title= TENSION IN BROOKLYN; Official Tallies of Arrests Differ |work=The New York Times |date=August 25, 1991 |page=36}}</ref> Property damage was estimated at one million dollars.<ref name=Shapiro/>

===Related shooting murder===
On September 5, two weeks after the riot had been controlled, Anthony Graziosi, an Italian sales representative with a white beard dressed in dark business attire, was driving in the neighborhood. As he stopped at a traffic light at 11 pm, six blocks away from where Yankel Rosenbaum had been murdered, a group of four black men surrounded his car and one of them shot and killed him. It was alleged by Graziosi's family and their attorney, as well as Senator [[Al D'Amato]], Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], State Attorney General [[Robert Abrams]], former Mayor [[Ed Koch]], and a number of advocacy organizations, that Graziosi's resemblance to a Hasidic Jew precipitated his murder. The New York Police Department, [[David Dinkins|Mayor Dinkins]], newspaper columnist [[Mike McAlary]], and the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Justice Department]] did not agree. The murder was not treated as a [[bias crime]].<ref name="Crown Heights 2006, p. 57">''Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn riot'', Edward S. Shapiro, [[University Press of New England]], 2006, p. 57.</ref>

==Court case==
A [[grand jury]] composed of 10 black, 8 white, and 5 Hispanic jurors found no cause to indict Lifsh. Brooklyn District Attorney [[Charles J. Hynes]] explained that under New York law, the single act of "losing control of a car" is not criminal negligence, even if death or injury resulted. Lifsh waived immunity and testified before the Grand Jury.<ref name=Kifner/> About an hour after hearing Lifsh’s testimony, the Grand Jury voted not to indict him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1083487.html |title=N.Y. Jury Doesn't Indict Hasidic Driver: Boy's Death in Auto Wreck Set Off 4-Day Race Riot in Brooklyn |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |format=fee required |work=The Washington Post |date=September 6, 1991 |first=Michael |last=Specter}}</ref> Subsequently, Lifsh moved to [[Israel]], where his family lives, because his life was threatened. In Israel, Lifsh settled in the Lubavitch village of [[Kfar Chabad]].<ref name="Haberman-1991-09-18">{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDF173EF93BA2575AC0A967958260 |title= Sharpton Tries to Serve Summons In Israel but Doesn't Find His Man |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |date=September 18, 1991 |work=The New York Times |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref>

Afterwards, Hynes fought unsuccessfully for the public release of the testimony that the grand jury had heard. His lawsuit was dismissed, and the judge noted that more than three-quarters of the witnesses who had been contacted refused to waive their right to privacy. The judge also expressed concern for the witnesses' safety.<ref name=Kifner/><ref name="Haberman-1991-09-18" /><ref name="Yarrow">{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DE1631F934A2575AC0A967958260 |title=Bid to Unseal Crown Heights Testimony Founders |first=Andrew L. |last=Yarrow |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 1991 |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
===Impact on the 1993 mayoral race===
The Crown Heights riot contributed to the defeat of [[David Dinkins]] in his second mayoral bid.<ref>Spencer, B. (2000). The Death of American Antisemitism, p. 52 ISBN 0-275-96508-2</ref> He was attacked by many political adversaries in his reelection bid, including vocal proponents of “black nationalism, back-to-Africa, economic radicalism, and racial exclusiveness.”<ref name=Shapiro/>

====Girgenti Report====
On November 17, 1992, New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave the Director of Criminal Justice Services, Richard H.Girgenti, the authority to investigate the rioting and the Nelson trial. The Girgenti Report was compiled by over 40 lawyers and investigators, and consisted of a two-volume, 600-page document of its findings on July 20, 1993. It was extremely critical of Police Commissioner [[Lee P. Brown|Lee Brown]]. The report also embarrassed Dinkins on his handling of the riots. However, the report found no evidence to support the most severe charge against Dinkins and Brown: that they had purposely delayed the police response in order to allow rioters to "vent" their rage.<ref>Martin Gottlieb [http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/21/us/crown-heights-report-overview-crown-heigts-study-finds-dinkins-police-fault.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "The Crown Heights Report: The Overview"], [[The New York Times]], 21 July 1993</ref>

The first night of the riot, Dinkins, along with Police Commissioner Lee Brown, both African Americans, went to Crown Heights to dispel the rumors about the circumstances surrounding the accident, but they had no impact on the rioters, most of whom were young black men.<ref name=Mintz/>

In a 16-minute speech on the Thanksgiving holiday following the riot, Dinkins rebutted allegations that he had prevented police from protecting citizens in Crown Heights.<ref name=Shapiro/> The Jewish community believed Dinkins failed to contain the riot and failed to exercise his responsibility, to the detriment of the Jewish community.<ref>Cohen, D. N. Crown Heights Jews feel vindicated by report. Jewish Tribune (Rockland County, NY), July 23–29, 1993.)</ref>

====Use of the term "pogrom"====
The Crown Heights riot was an important issue raised repeatedly on the campaign trail in the 1993 mayoral election.<ref name=Shapiro2>Interpretations of the Crown Heights Riot, Edward S. Shapiro, ''American Jewish History'', Volume 90, Number 2, June 2002, pp. 97–122</ref> According to Edward S. Shapiro, politicians opposed to Mayor Dinkins used the word pogrom to characterize the riot in order to discredit the mayor's response to the riot, writing "the controversy over how to define the Crown Heights riot was not merely an issue of semantics."<ref name=Shapiro2/>

[[Rudolph Giuliani]], who would become the next mayor of New York, called the Crown Heights riot a "pogrom" on 1 July 1993 in a speech at [[Bay Ridge, Brooklyn]]: "You can use whatever word you want, but in fact for three days people were beaten up, people were sent to the hospital because they were Jewish. There's no question that not enough was done about it by the city of New York. One definition of pogrom is violence where the state doesn't do enough to prevent it."<ref>''Daily News'', July 1, 1993.</ref> Other political opponents to Dinkins used the term, including [[Ed Koch]], who had been defeated by Dinkins in the 1989 Democratic mayoralty primary, and [[Andrew Stein]], a candidate in the 1993 Democratic mayoral primary.<ref name=Shapiro2/> The term had been used previously in 1991 by journalists such as [[A. M. Rosenthal]] in the ''[[New York Times]]'' and [[Eric Breindel]] in the ''[[New York Post]]'', and politicians such as New York City Councilman [[Noach Dear]] and later by Judah Gribetz, president of the [[JCRC]] of New York.<ref name=Shapiro2/> By September 1991 it had become routine within Jewish circles to describe the riot as a pogrom and would remain so for some Jews a decade later,<ref name=Shapiro2/> as shown by articles in publications such as ''[[Jewish Week]]'', ''[[Jerusalem Post]]'', ''[[The Forward]]'' and ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', and others went further calling it "America's Kristallnacht".<ref name=Shapiro2/>

Use of the word was rejected by Dinkins and his supporters, primarily on the basis that a pogrom needs to be state-sponsored.<ref name=Shapiro2/> Dinkins said "To suggest that this is [a pogrom] is not to contribute to the resolution of the problem but to exacerbate tensions and problems that are there." Dinkins was personally offended by the use of "pogrom" since it insinuated that the riot was state-sanctioned and that he personally was an antisemite.<ref name=Shapiro2/> "I am incensed by it... [it is] patently untrue and unfair."

[[Michael Stanislawski]], Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University, wrote in 1992 that it was "historically inaccurate" to couple "pogrom" with Crown Heights, because the word denoted organized violence against Jews "having some sort of governmental involvement."<ref name=Shapiro2/> Journalists also disagreed with the use of the term, including Joyce Purnick in the ''[[New York Times]]'', [[Earl Caldwell (journalist)|Earl Caldwell]] in the ''[[New York Daily News]]'', and an article in ''[[The City Sun]]''. [[Al Sharpton]] said that Giuliani was engaged in "race-baiting" by using the word "pogrom."<ref name=Shapiro2/> [[Henry Siegman]] and Marc D. Stern of the [[American Jewish Congress]] also publicly rejected the term.<ref name=Shapiro2/>

In 2011, shortly before the twentieth anniversary of the riots, an editorial in ''[[The Jewish Week]]'' wrote: "A divisive debate over the meaning of pogrom, lasting for more than two years, could have easily been ended if the mayor simply said to the victims of Crown Heights, yes, I understand why you experienced it as a pogrom."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Jewish Week]]|date=2011-08-09|title=What The ‘Pogrom’ Wrought|first=Jonathan|last=Mark|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/what_pogrom_wrought}}</ref>

===Race relations===
Relations between blacks and Jews in Crown Heights began to improve almost immediately following the rioting. Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden summoned the leaders of each of the ethnic communities to Borough Hall within days after the riots ended, creating what became known as the Crown Heights Coalition. The Coalition, led by [[Edison O. Jackson]], the then President of [[Medgar Evers College]] and Rabbi [[Shea Hecht]], Chairman of the Board of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE), functioned for ten years as an inter-group forum in which to air neighborhood concerns and work out issues. Golden used the Coalition to initiate interracial projects designed to promote dialogue.<ref name=Beep /> One project involved sending a Jewish leader and a Black leader together in a pair to public intermediate and high schools in the area to answer questions from the children about each other's cultures.<ref>{{cite book |title=Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights |last=Goldschmidt |first=Henry |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8135-3883-9 |page=139 }}</ref>

A week after the riots, Hatzolah helped repair an ambulance of a black-owned volunteer service. The following year, the [[Brooklyn Children's Museum]] held an exhibit on the contributions made by blacks and Jews in New York. In 1993, the Rev. [[Jesse Jackson]] was active in promoting improved black-Jewish relations.<ref>[[Jerome Chanes|Jerome A. Chanes]], "Review of the Year: Intergroup Relations", ''[[American Jewish Year Book]]'', ([[American Jewish Committee]], 1994) p. 123.</ref> In 1993, a series of neighborhood basketball games were scheduled between the two groups, including a scrimmage held as part of the halftime entertainment of a [[New York Knicks]] vs. [[Philadelphia 76ers]] professional basketball game. Also that year, [[Rabbi Israel Shemtov]], whose anti-crime patrol had long been perceived by many black residents as biased against them, rushed to the aid of a black woman who had been shot on the street in Crown Heights, putting her in his car and taking her to the hospital.<ref>{{cite news| title=Hasidic Patrol Group Faces Questions After a Crown Heights Clash | url=http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/11/nyregion/hasidic-patrol-group-faces-questions-after-a-crown-heights-clash.html?sec=&spon= | work=The New York Times | first=David | last=Kocieniewski | date=May 11, 1996 | accessdate=May 12, 2010}}</ref> The [[Crown Heights Mediation Center]] was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences, also a direct outcome of the Coalition.<ref>[http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewarticle/c343_a10086/News/New_York/Neighborhoods.html Conflict Control], ''The Jewish Week'', November 13, 1998.</ref> On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

===Demographics===
To this day, the demographics of Crown Heights remains largely the same as it did in 1991; Jews did not flee from Crown Heights, and the [[Lubavitch]] population of Crown Heights increased after the riot, with the area in which they reside having expanded.<ref>Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, And the 1991 Brooklyn Riot, by Edward S. Shapiro, p. xvii</ref> Twenty years after the riots, Sharpton regretted some aspects of his involvement. He insisted that his marches were peaceful, although his language and tone "sometimes exacerbated tensions".<ref name="gothamist08-21-11">[http://gothamist.com/2011/08/21/al_sharpton_regrets_how_he_handled.php Chung, Jen. "Al Sharpton Regrets How He Handled Crown Heights Riot Reaction". ''Gothamist''. gothamist.com. August 21, 2011.]</ref><ref name="JTA08-22-11">[http://www.jta.org/2011/08/22/news-opinion/united-states/al-sharpton-i-made-mistakes-during-crown-heights-riots Klein, Dan. "Al Sharpton: I made ‘mistakes’ during Crown Heights riots". ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''. jta.org. August 22, 2011.]</ref>

==In popular culture==
* On the sketch comedy show ''[[In Living Color]]'', the 1991 season 3 premiere episode did a sketch parodying [[West Side Story]] called Crown Heights Story.
* A 2004 television movie, ''[[Crown Heights (film)|Crown Heights]]'', was made about the aftermath of the riot, starring [[Howie Mandel]].
* Two episodes of ''[[Law & Order]]'', one during season two and another during season four, were based on the riots.
* [[Anna Deavere Smith]] wrote a play called ''[[Fires in the Mirror]]'', depicting 29 real-life interviews with actual people involved in the riots.
* ''[[Brooklyn Babylon]]'', a feature film starring Tariq "[[Black Thought]]" Trotter and [[The Roots]], presents a fictionalized version of Crown Heights neighborhood unrest in the 1990s.
* The 2011 ABC Australian documentary "Death in Brooklyn" by Tracey Spring.
* On the song "How Many Mics?" on the album [[The Score (Fugees album)|The Score]] by [[Fugees|The Fugees]], [[Wyclef Jean]] raps that "I run through Crown Heights, screaming out 'Mazel Tov.'"

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|African American|Judaism|1990s}}
*[[New York City teachers' strike of 1968]] – which took place immediately to the east of Crown Heights in Brownsville and was another chapter in African-Jewish American relationships.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* Conaway, Carol B. "Crown Heights: Politics and Press Coverage of the Race War That Wasn't." ''Polity'' (1999): 93-118. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3235335 in JSTOR]
* Goldschmidt, Henry. ''Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights'' (Rutgers University Press, 2006) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0813538971/ excerpt]
*Shapiro, Edward S. "Interpretations of the Crown Heights riot." ''American Jewish History'' (2002) 90#2 pp: 97-122. [http://mtw160-198.ippl.jhu.edu/journals/american_jewish_history/v090/90.2shapiro.pdf online]
*Shapiro, Edward S. ''Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot'' (U. Press of New England, 2006) [http://www.upne.com/1584655615.html link]

{{Ethnicity in New York City |state=collapsed}}

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[[Category:1991 in New York]]
[[Category:1991 crimes in the United States]]
[[Category:1991 riots]]
[[Category:African American–Jewish relations]]
[[Category:Anti-Jewish pogroms]]
[[Category:Antisemitic attacks and incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Chabad history]]
[[Category:Ethnic riots]]
[[Category:Jewish-American history]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in New York City]]
[[Category:Menachem Mendel Schneerson]]
[[Category:African-American riots in the United States]]
[[Category:Religiously motivated violence in the United States]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in New York City]]
[[Category:Crown Heights, Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:20th century in New York City]]
[[Category:History of Brooklyn]]

Crown Heights riot

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The '''Crown Heights riot''' was a three-day race riot that occurred from August 19 to August 21, 1991 in the [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]] section of [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]]. It turned black residents and [[Orthodox Jewish]] residents against each other, causing deteriorated racial relations. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of [[Guyana|Guyanese]] immigrants were unintentionally struck by an automobile in the motorcade of [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], the [[Rebbe|leader of a Jewish religious sect]]. One child died and the second was severely injured. This event was said to cause black residents to attack Jewish residents.

In its wake, several Jews were seriously injured; one Orthodox Jewish man was killed; and a non-Jewish man, apparently mistaken by rioters for a Jew, was killed by a group of black men. Two black men were convicted in federal court but were later found innocent. <ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-01-15/news/the-crown-heights-quiets/</ref> The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor [[David Dinkins]], an African American, who was blamed for an ineffective police response. Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.<ref name=Beep>[http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2001/08/23/2001-08-23_beep_honor_peace_coalition_c.html "Beep Honor Peace Coalition: Crown Heights leaders reflect on 10-year milestone"], ''New York Daily News'', August 23, 2001.</ref>

==Causes==

===Car crash===
At approximately 8:20 pm on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a [[station wagon]] with three passengers west on President Street, part of the three-car motorcade of [[Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], leader of the [[Chabad Lubavitch]] Hasidic sect.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFDF1E3AF930A25755C0A962958260&scp=4&sq=schneerson&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|title=Rabbi Schneerson Led A Small Hasidic Sect To World Prominence|first=Ari L.|last=Goldman|date=June 13, 1994|accessdate=April 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Wilson"/> The procession was led by an unmarked [[police car]] with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.<ref name=Shapiro/>

The police car and Schneerson's automobile crossed [[Utica Avenue]] on a green light and proceeded along President Street at a normal speed. But Lifsh's vehicle had fallen behind. Not wishing to lose sight of Schneerson's car, Lifsh's vehicle either crossed Utica Avenue on a yellow light or ran a red light. There was no indication of the exact speed of Lifsh's vehicle.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite web|url=http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/060806/ltCrownHeightsRiot.html|title=Crown Heights riot – fact, fiction, and plenty of blame|accessdate=October 20, 2007|last=Wilson|first=Judy|year=2006|publisher=New Jersey Jewish News}}</ref><ref name="Kifner">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D61E3DF935A3575AC0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3|title=Grand Jury Doesn't Indict Driver In Death of Boy in Crown Heights|accessdate=October 20, 2007|last=Kifner|first=John|date=September 6, 1991 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Lifsh's vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down and pinned two children against an iron grate covering the window of a first-floor apartment in a four-story brick building. Seven-year-old Gavin Cato, the son of Guyanese immigrants, who was on the sidewalk near his apartment on President Street, repairing his bicycle chain, died instantly. His seven-year-old cousin Angela Cato who was playing nearby, survived the hit but was severely injured.<ref name=McGowan/><ref name="Kamber">{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0203,kamber,31532,1.html|title=Faded Rage|first=Michael|last=Kamber|work=[[The Village Voice]]|date=January 16–22, 2002}}</ref>

Lifsh believed he had the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort.<ref name=Shapiro/> Lifsh said he deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about {{convert|25|yd|m}}, in order to stop the car. Lifsh later commented that the car did not come to a full stop upon impact with the building, but rather slid to the left along the wall until it reached the children.

===Death of Gavin Cato===
Accounts differ as to the next sequence of events. After the collision, Lifsh said that the first thing he did was to try to lift the car in order to free the two children beneath it.<ref>{{cite news|title= Judge Won't Open Records Of Crown Heights Inquiry|first=Steven Lee|last=Myers|date=September 7, 1991|work=The New York Times|accessdate=October 20, 2007|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DB163FF934A3575AC0A967958260}}</ref> The EMS unit that arrived on the scene about three minutes after the accident said that Lifsh was being beaten and pulled out of the station wagon by three or four men.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref>Girgenti Report, 1:79–81.</ref> All accounts agree that Lifsh was beaten before ambulances and police arrived. A volunteer ambulance from the [[Hatzolah]] [[emergency medical services|ambulance corps]] arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm, followed shortly by police and a City ambulance, which took Gavin Cato to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 pm; Cato was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.<ref name=Shapiro/> Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela Cato, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.<ref name=Wilson/><ref name=Shapiro/>

Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh from the scene for his safety, while Gavin Cato was being removed from beneath the station wagon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/4295/edition_id/78/format/html/displaystory.html|title=j. – 5 years later, Crown Heights blacks, Jews coexist warily|publisher=Jewishsf.com|accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref> According to the ''New York Times'', more than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers, many of whom were shouting "Jews! Jews! Jews!", jeered the driver of the car and then turned their anger on the police.<ref name="McQuiston">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0D7103FF933A1575BC0A967958260|title=Fatal Crash Starts Melee With Police In Brooklyn|first=John T.|last=McQuiston|date=August 20, 1991|accessdate=October 20, 2007|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. There was a rumor at the time that Lifsh was intoxicated. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated this was not the case. Other rumors circulating shortly after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref>{{cite news|title=Racial Unrest: An Eye for an Eye|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973786-1,00.html|accessdate=October 20, 2007|first=Sam|last=Allis|work=Time|date=September 9, 1991}}</ref><ref name="Mintz">{{cite book|title=Hasidic People: A Place in the New World|first=Jerome R.|last=Mintz|year=1992|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0-674-38115-7|url=http://books.google.com/?id=uEP5KNUAFh0C|accessdate=October 20, 2007|pages=334–335}}</ref>

Later that evening, as the crowds and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks. At about 11:00 pm, someone reportedly shouted, “Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!" A number of black youths then set off westward toward Kingston Avenue ({{convert|0.7|mi|km}} away from Utica Avenue), a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law.jrank.org|title=Law Library – American Law and Legal Information|publisher=Law.jrank.org|accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref>

==Conflicting community viewpoints==
After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.<ref name=Kamber/> The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and allocations of government resources amongst others. Furthermore, many members of the black community were concerned about the expansion of Jews moving into the neighborhood, believing the latter were buying all of the property.<ref>{{cite web|author=Comments (0) By Dasun Allah Tuesday, Jan 15, 2002 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0203,allah,31533,1.html |title=> news > Dasun Allah dissects the Crown Heights silence. by Dasun Allah |publisher=village voice |date=January 15, 2002 |accessdate=May 13, 2010}}</ref>

Members of the Jewish community did not share this view. Many believed that allegations of favoritism made by black people were not supported by facts; a number of studies disproved the allegations, including one study conducted specifically in response to this allegation.<ref name="McGowan">{{cite web |url=http://www.city-journal.org/article01.php?aid=1473 |title=Race and Reporting |first=William |last=McGowan |publisher=The Manhattan Institute |date=Summer 1993 |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref> It was widely believed in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed against Jews during the riot. As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters throughout the rioting, and comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the [[Al Sharpton|Rev. Al Sharpton]] made comments about "diamond dealers" and commented "It's an accident to allow an [[apartheid]] ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights."<ref name="slate">{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2089153/ |title=The Gaffes of Al Sharpton |publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |author=William Saletan and Avi Zenilman |date=October 7, 2003}}</ref> In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler did not do the job".<ref name=McGowan/>

Edward Shapiro, a historian at [[Brandeis University]], later called the riot "the most serious [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] incident in [[History of the United States|American history]]".<ref name=Shapiro>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=StQXz-ClGuUC |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |last=Shapiro |first=Edward S. |year=2006 |title=Crown heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn riot |location=[[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]], Massachusetts |publisher=[[Brandeis University]] Press, [[University Press of New England]]|isbn=1-58465-561-5 }}</ref> He points out that there are many interpretations of what happened:

{{quote|Differing interpretations emerged regarding its nature and origins ... reflected the diverse political, religious, and social circumstances, the differing ideological assumptions, and the divergent understandings of the past by the journalists, sociologists, political activists, and historians who wrote about the riot.|Edward S. Shapiro|American Jewish History, 2002<ref>{{cite journal |first=Edward S. |last=Shapiro |title=Interpretations of the Crown Heights riot |journal=American Jewish History |year=2002 |volume=90 |number=2 |pages=97}}</ref>}}

==Riots and murders==

===Yankel Rosenbaum killing===
About three hours after the riots began, early on the morning of August 20, a group of approximately 20 young black men surrounded 29-year-old [[History of the Jews in Australia|Australian Jew]], Yankel Rosenbaum, a [[University of Melbourne]] student in the United States conducting research for his doctorate. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him severely, fracturing his skull. Before being taken to the hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old [[Lemrick Nelson|Lemrick Nelson, Jr.]] as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police.<ref name=Wilson/> Rosenbaum died later that night. Nelson was charged as an adult<ref>Under New York State law, 16-year-olds can be charged as adults for homicide.</ref> with murder and acquitted. Later he was convicted in federal court of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights; Nelson eventually admitted that he had stabbed Rosenbaum.<ref name="Gourevitch">{{cite journal |first=Philip |last=Gourevitch |journal=The Jewish Forward |date=January 1993 |url=http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1993/Crown+Heights+Riot+Aftermath.htm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040220111847/http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1993/Crown+Heights+Riot+Aftermath.htm |archivedate=February 20, 2004 |title=The Crown Heights Riot & Its Aftermath}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805EFDB1F30F932A1575BC0A9659C8B63|title=Penalty in Crown Hts. Case Means a Little More Jail Time|last=Newman|first=Andy|work=The New York Times|date=August 21, 2003|accessdate=March 3, 2009}}</ref>

===Rioting===
For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. In the rioting of the ensuing three days, according to Edward Shapiro, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights."<ref name=Shapiro/>

During the riots, Jews were injured, stores were [[looted]], and cars and homes were damaged. The rioters identified Jewish homes by the [[mezuzot]] affixed to the front doors.<ref name=Mintz/>

An additional 350 police officers were added to the regular duty roster on August 20 and were assigned to Crown Heights in an attempt to quell the rioting. After episodes of rock- and bottle-throwing involving hundreds of blacks and Jews, and after groups of blacks marched through Crown Heights chanting "No Justice, No Peace!", "Death to the Jews!", and "Whose streets? Our streets!", an additional 1,200 police officers were sent to confront rioters in Crown Heights.<ref name=Shapiro/>

On the third day of the disturbances, [[Al Sharpton]] and [[Sonny Carson]] led a march.<ref name="Forward 08-19-11">[http://forward.com/articles/141562/in-crown-heights-residents-still-cling-to-their-gr/ Berger, Paul. "In Crown Heights, Residents Still Cling to Their Grievances". ''The Jewish Daily Forward''. forward.com. August 19, 2011.]</ref> The marchers proceeded through Crown Heights, carrying antisemitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned.<ref name="Forward 08-19-11"/><ref name="Shapiro06">Shapiro, Edward S. Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot. UPNE, 2006): 38-40.</ref> Rioters threw bricks and bottles at police; shots were fired at police and police cars were pelted and overturned, including the Police Commissioner’s car.<ref name=Shapiro/><ref name=Mintz/>

Riots escalated to the extent that a detachment of 200 police officers was overwhelmed and had to retreat for their safety. On August 22, over 1,800 police officers, including mounted and motorcycle units, had been dispatched to stop the attacks on people and property.<ref name=Shapiro/>

By the time the three days of rioting ended, 152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned,<ref name="Shapiro_AJH">{{cite journal |last=Shapiro |title=Interpretations of the Crown Heights Riot |journal=American Jewish History |volume=90 |issue=2 |date=June 2002 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/american_jewish_history/v090/90.2shapiro.html |subscription=yes |pages=97–122 |doi=10.1353/ajh.2003.0035 |first1=Edward S.}}</ref> and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed.<ref name=Shapiro/> At least 129 arrests were made during the riots,<ref name=Shapiro_AJH/> including 122 blacks and seven whites.<ref name="PBFPIB">{{cite news |title=Police Brace For Protest In Brooklyn |first=John |last=Kifner |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 1991 |page=27 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4D7163DF937A1575BC0A967958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FM%2FMaddox%2C%20Alton%20H.%20Jr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6D71F3FF936A1575BC0A967958260 |title= TENSION IN BROOKLYN; Official Tallies of Arrests Differ |work=The New York Times |date=August 25, 1991 |page=36}}</ref> Property damage was estimated at one million dollars.<ref name=Shapiro/>

===Related shooting murder===
On September 5, two weeks after the riot had been controlled, Anthony Graziosi, an Italian sales representative with a white beard dressed in dark business attire, was driving in the neighborhood. As he stopped at a traffic light at 11 pm, six blocks away from where Yankel Rosenbaum had been murdered, a group of four black men surrounded his car and one of them shot and killed him. It was alleged by Graziosi's family and their attorney, as well as Senator [[Al D'Amato]], Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], State Attorney General [[Robert Abrams]], former Mayor [[Ed Koch]], and a number of advocacy organizations, that Graziosi's resemblance to a Hasidic Jew precipitated his murder. The New York Police Department, [[David Dinkins|Mayor Dinkins]], newspaper columnist [[Mike McAlary]], and the [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Justice Department]] did not agree. The murder was not treated as a [[bias crime]].<ref name="Crown Heights 2006, p. 57">''Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn riot'', Edward S. Shapiro, [[University Press of New England]], 2006, p. 57.</ref>

==Court case==
A [[grand jury]] composed of 10 black, 8 white, and 5 Hispanic jurors found no cause to indict Lifsh. Brooklyn District Attorney [[Charles J. Hynes]] explained that under New York law, the single act of "losing control of a car" is not criminal negligence, even if death or injury resulted. Lifsh waived immunity and testified before the Grand Jury.<ref name=Kifner/> About an hour after hearing Lifsh’s testimony, the Grand Jury voted not to indict him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1083487.html |title=N.Y. Jury Doesn't Indict Hasidic Driver: Boy's Death in Auto Wreck Set Off 4-Day Race Riot in Brooklyn |accessdate=October 20, 2007 |format=fee required |work=The Washington Post |date=September 6, 1991 |first=Michael |last=Specter}}</ref> Subsequently, Lifsh moved to [[Israel]], where his family lives, because his life was threatened. In Israel, Lifsh settled in the Lubavitch village of [[Kfar Chabad]].<ref name="Haberman-1991-09-18">{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDF173EF93BA2575AC0A967958260 |title= Sharpton Tries to Serve Summons In Israel but Doesn't Find His Man |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |date=September 18, 1991 |work=The New York Times |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref>

Afterwards, Hynes fought unsuccessfully for the public release of the testimony that the grand jury had heard. His lawsuit was dismissed, and the judge noted that more than three-quarters of the witnesses who had been contacted refused to waive their right to privacy. The judge also expressed concern for the witnesses' safety.<ref name=Kifner/><ref name="Haberman-1991-09-18" /><ref name="Yarrow">{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DE1631F934A2575AC0A967958260 |title=Bid to Unseal Crown Heights Testimony Founders |first=Andrew L. |last=Yarrow |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 1991 |accessdate=October 20, 2007}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
===Impact on the 1993 mayoral race===
The Crown Heights riot contributed to the defeat of [[David Dinkins]] in his second mayoral bid.<ref>Spencer, B. (2000). The Death of American Antisemitism, p. 52 ISBN 0-275-96508-2</ref> He was attacked by many political adversaries in his reelection bid, including vocal proponents of “black nationalism, back-to-Africa, economic radicalism, and racial exclusiveness.”<ref name=Shapiro/>

====Girgenti Report====
On November 17, 1992, New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave the Director of Criminal Justice Services, Richard H.Girgenti, the authority to investigate the rioting and the Nelson trial. The Girgenti Report was compiled by over 40 lawyers and investigators, and consisted of a two-volume, 600-page document of its findings on July 20, 1993. It was extremely critical of Police Commissioner [[Lee P. Brown|Lee Brown]]. The report also embarrassed Dinkins on his handling of the riots. However, the report found no evidence to support the most severe charge against Dinkins and Brown: that they had purposely delayed the police response in order to allow rioters to "vent" their rage.<ref>Martin Gottlieb [http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/21/us/crown-heights-report-overview-crown-heigts-study-finds-dinkins-police-fault.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "The Crown Heights Report: The Overview"], [[The New York Times]], 21 July 1993</ref>

The first night of the riot, Dinkins, along with Police Commissioner Lee Brown, both African Americans, went to Crown Heights to dispel the rumors about the circumstances surrounding the accident, but they had no impact on the rioters, most of whom were young black men.<ref name=Mintz/>

In a 16-minute speech on the Thanksgiving holiday following the riot, Dinkins rebutted allegations that he had prevented police from protecting citizens in Crown Heights.<ref name=Shapiro/> The Jewish community believed Dinkins failed to contain the riot and failed to exercise his responsibility, to the detriment of the Jewish community.<ref>Cohen, D. N. Crown Heights Jews feel vindicated by report. Jewish Tribune (Rockland County, NY), July 23–29, 1993.)</ref>

====Use of the term "pogrom"====
The Crown Heights riot was an important issue raised repeatedly on the campaign trail in the 1993 mayoral election.<ref name=Shapiro2>Interpretations of the Crown Heights Riot, Edward S. Shapiro, ''American Jewish History'', Volume 90, Number 2, June 2002, pp. 97–122</ref> According to Edward S. Shapiro, politicians opposed to Mayor Dinkins used the word pogrom to characterize the riot in order to discredit the mayor's response to the riot, writing "the controversy over how to define the Crown Heights riot was not merely an issue of semantics."<ref name=Shapiro2/>

[[Rudolph Giuliani]], who would become the next mayor of New York, called the Crown Heights riot a "pogrom" on 1 July 1993 in a speech at [[Bay Ridge, Brooklyn]]: "You can use whatever word you want, but in fact for three days people were beaten up, people were sent to the hospital because they were Jewish. There's no question that not enough was done about it by the city of New York. One definition of pogrom is violence where the state doesn't do enough to prevent it."<ref>''Daily News'', July 1, 1993.</ref> Other political opponents to Dinkins used the term, including [[Ed Koch]], who had been defeated by Dinkins in the 1989 Democratic mayoralty primary, and [[Andrew Stein]], a candidate in the 1993 Democratic mayoral primary.<ref name=Shapiro2/> The term had been used previously in 1991 by journalists such as [[A. M. Rosenthal]] in the ''[[New York Times]]'' and [[Eric Breindel]] in the ''[[New York Post]]'', and politicians such as New York City Councilman [[Noach Dear]] and later by Judah Gribetz, president of the [[JCRC]] of New York.<ref name=Shapiro2/> By September 1991 it had become routine within Jewish circles to describe the riot as a pogrom and would remain so for some Jews a decade later,<ref name=Shapiro2/> as shown by articles in publications such as ''[[Jewish Week]]'', ''[[Jerusalem Post]]'', ''[[The Forward]]'' and ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', and others went further calling it "America's Kristallnacht".<ref name=Shapiro2/>

Use of the word was rejected by Dinkins and his supporters, primarily on the basis that a pogrom needs to be state-sponsored.<ref name=Shapiro2/> Dinkins said "To suggest that this is [a pogrom] is not to contribute to the resolution of the problem but to exacerbate tensions and problems that are there." Dinkins was personally offended by the use of "pogrom" since it insinuated that the riot was state-sanctioned and that he personally was an antisemite.<ref name=Shapiro2/> "I am incensed by it... [it is] patently untrue and unfair."

[[Michael Stanislawski]], Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University, wrote in 1992 that it was "historically inaccurate" to couple "pogrom" with Crown Heights, because the word denoted organized violence against Jews "having some sort of governmental involvement."<ref name=Shapiro2/> Journalists also disagreed with the use of the term, including Joyce Purnick in the ''[[New York Times]]'', [[Earl Caldwell (journalist)|Earl Caldwell]] in the ''[[New York Daily News]]'', and an article in ''[[The City Sun]]''. [[Al Sharpton]] said that Giuliani was engaged in "race-baiting" by using the word "pogrom."<ref name=Shapiro2/> [[Henry Siegman]] and Marc D. Stern of the [[American Jewish Congress]] also publicly rejected the term.<ref name=Shapiro2/>

In 2011, shortly before the twentieth anniversary of the riots, an editorial in ''[[The Jewish Week]]'' wrote: "A divisive debate over the meaning of pogrom, lasting for more than two years, could have easily been ended if the mayor simply said to the victims of Crown Heights, yes, I understand why you experienced it as a pogrom."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Jewish Week]]|date=2011-08-09|title=What The ‘Pogrom’ Wrought|first=Jonathan|last=Mark|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/what_pogrom_wrought}}</ref>

===Race relations===
Relations between blacks and Jews in Crown Heights began to improve almost immediately following the rioting. Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden summoned the leaders of each of the ethnic communities to Borough Hall within days after the riots ended, creating what became known as the Crown Heights Coalition. The Coalition, led by [[Edison O. Jackson]], the then President of [[Medgar Evers College]] and Rabbi [[Shea Hecht]], Chairman of the Board of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE), functioned for ten years as an inter-group forum in which to air neighborhood concerns and work out issues. Golden used the Coalition to initiate interracial projects designed to promote dialogue.<ref name=Beep /> One project involved sending a Jewish leader and a Black leader together in a pair to public intermediate and high schools in the area to answer questions from the children about each other's cultures.<ref>{{cite book |title=Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights |last=Goldschmidt |first=Henry |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8135-3883-9 |page=139 }}</ref>

A week after the riots, Hatzolah helped repair an ambulance of a black-owned volunteer service. The following year, the [[Brooklyn Children's Museum]] held an exhibit on the contributions made by blacks and Jews in New York. In 1993, the Rev. [[Jesse Jackson]] was active in promoting improved black-Jewish relations.<ref>[[Jerome Chanes|Jerome A. Chanes]], "Review of the Year: Intergroup Relations", ''[[American Jewish Year Book]]'', ([[American Jewish Committee]], 1994) p. 123.</ref> In 1993, a series of neighborhood basketball games were scheduled between the two groups, including a scrimmage held as part of the halftime entertainment of a [[New York Knicks]] vs. [[Philadelphia 76ers]] professional basketball game. Also that year, [[Rabbi Israel Shemtov]], whose anti-crime patrol had long been perceived by many black residents as biased against them, rushed to the aid of a black woman who had been shot on the street in Crown Heights, putting her in his car and taking her to the hospital.<ref>{{cite news| title=Hasidic Patrol Group Faces Questions After a Crown Heights Clash | url=http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/11/nyregion/hasidic-patrol-group-faces-questions-after-a-crown-heights-clash.html?sec=&spon= | work=The New York Times | first=David | last=Kocieniewski | date=May 11, 1996 | accessdate=May 12, 2010}}</ref> The [[Crown Heights Mediation Center]] was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences, also a direct outcome of the Coalition.<ref>[http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewarticle/c343_a10086/News/New_York/Neighborhoods.html Conflict Control], ''The Jewish Week'', November 13, 1998.</ref> On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

===Demographics===
To this day, the demographics of Crown Heights remains largely the same as it did in 1991; Jews did not flee from Crown Heights, and the [[Lubavitch]] population of Crown Heights increased after the riot, with the area in which they reside having expanded.<ref>Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, And the 1991 Brooklyn Riot, by Edward S. Shapiro, p. xvii</ref> Twenty years after the riots, Sharpton regretted some aspects of his involvement. He insisted that his marches were peaceful, although his language and tone "sometimes exacerbated tensions".<ref name="gothamist08-21-11">[http://gothamist.com/2011/08/21/al_sharpton_regrets_how_he_handled.php Chung, Jen. "Al Sharpton Regrets How He Handled Crown Heights Riot Reaction". ''Gothamist''. gothamist.com. August 21, 2011.]</ref><ref name="JTA08-22-11">[http://www.jta.org/2011/08/22/news-opinion/united-states/al-sharpton-i-made-mistakes-during-crown-heights-riots Klein, Dan. "Al Sharpton: I made ‘mistakes’ during Crown Heights riots". ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''. jta.org. August 22, 2011.]</ref>

==In popular culture==
* On the sketch comedy show ''[[In Living Color]]'', the 1991 season 3 premiere episode did a sketch parodying [[West Side Story]] called Crown Heights Story.
* A 2004 television movie, ''[[Crown Heights (film)|Crown Heights]]'', was made about the aftermath of the riot, starring [[Howie Mandel]].
* Two episodes of ''[[Law & Order]]'', one during season two and another during season four, were based on the riots.
* [[Anna Deavere Smith]] wrote a play called ''[[Fires in the Mirror]]'', depicting 29 real-life interviews with actual people involved in the riots.
* ''[[Brooklyn Babylon]]'', a feature film starring Tariq "[[Black Thought]]" Trotter and [[The Roots]], presents a fictionalized version of Crown Heights neighborhood unrest in the 1990s.
* The 2011 ABC Australian documentary "Death in Brooklyn" by Tracey Spring.
* On the song "How Many Mics?" on the album [[The Score (Fugees album)|The Score]] by [[Fugees|The Fugees]], [[Wyclef Jean]] raps that "I run through Crown Heights, screaming out 'Mazel Tov.'"

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|African American|Judaism|1990s}}
*[[New York City teachers' strike of 1968]] – which took place immediately to the east of Crown Heights in Brownsville and was another chapter in African-Jewish American relationships.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* Conaway, Carol B. "Crown Heights: Politics and Press Coverage of the Race War That Wasn't." ''Polity'' (1999): 93-118. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3235335 in JSTOR]
* Goldschmidt, Henry. ''Race and Religion among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights'' (Rutgers University Press, 2006) [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0813538971/ excerpt]
*Shapiro, Edward S. "Interpretations of the Crown Heights riot." ''American Jewish History'' (2002) 90#2 pp: 97-122. [http://mtw160-198.ippl.jhu.edu/journals/american_jewish_history/v090/90.2shapiro.pdf online]
*Shapiro, Edward S. ''Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot'' (U. Press of New England, 2006) [http://www.upne.com/1584655615.html link]

{{Ethnicity in New York City |state=collapsed}}

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[[Category:1991 in New York]]
[[Category:1991 crimes in the United States]]
[[Category:1991 riots]]
[[Category:African American–Jewish relations]]
[[Category:Anti-Jewish pogroms]]
[[Category:Antisemitic attacks and incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Chabad history]]
[[Category:Ethnic riots]]
[[Category:Jewish-American history]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in New York City]]
[[Category:Menachem Mendel Schneerson]]
[[Category:African-American riots in the United States]]
[[Category:Religiously motivated violence in the United States]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in New York City]]
[[Category:Crown Heights, Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:20th century in New York City]]
[[Category:History of Brooklyn]]

Manny Waks

2015-08-12T12:00:39Z

DatabaseSQL:

{{multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=February 2015}}
{{POV|date=February 2015}}
{{COI|date=February 2015}}
}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Manny Waks
| image =
| occupation = Community activist
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1976}}
| birth_place = Israel
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse =
| religion = Judaism
| known for = Founding Tzedek, an anti-abuse organization
| website = {{URL|mannywaks.com|MannyWaks.com}}
}}

'''Manny Waks''', born Menachem Leib Waks <ref name="abc.net.au">[http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4174255.htm Breaking a cultural code of silence on abuse] ABC, broadcast 2 April 2015</ref> in Israel in 1976, is Jewish activist. He was previously part of the [[orthodox judaism|orthodox]] community in Australia<ref name=Topsfield /> and later became known for his activism against child sexual abuse in the Jewish community worldwide. He founded Tzedek, an organization to fight child sexual abuse in Jewish communities. Waks assisted the [[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]] in investigating Melbourne Yeshivah centre of the Orthodox [[Chabad]] sect of Judaism on their handling of child sexual abuse cases.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/16/manny-waks-i-was-the-yeshivah-troublemaker-i-hope-now-everyone-can-see-why Manny Waks: I'm the 'troublemaker' who blew the whistle on Jewish abuse scandal] The Guardian, 15 February 2015</ref>

== Personal Life ==
After publicizing child sexual abuse in the Jewish community in Australia, Waks moved to France. <ref name="Topsfield">{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jewish-community-leader-tells-of-sex-abuse-20110707-1h4t4.html | title=Jewish community leader tells of sex abuse | accessdate=2014-08-06 | date=2011-07-08 | publisher=[[The Age]]| first=Jewel | last=Topsfield}}</ref>
Waks is married and is the father of three children.<ref name="CJF Founder and President"/>

=== Early life and education ===
Although born in Israel, Waks was raised primarily in Australia. He is one of 17 children in an Orthodox Jewish family who were part of the [[Chabad|Chabad-Lubavitch]], [[Hasidic]] community in [[Melbourne, Australia]]. Before they were eventually ostracized for reporting child sexual abuse within the community, Waks, his parents and siblings were viewed as a "poster family for the Australian Chabad movement." <ref>[http://www.timesofisrael.com/advocate-calls-for-global-jewish-child-abuse-commission/ Advocate calls for global Jewish child-abuse commission] The Times of Israel, 16 February 2015</ref> Waks returned to Israel when he turned 18, where he served in the [[Israel Defence Forces]].<ref name="CJF Founder and President">[http://www.capitaljewishforum.org/founder-and-president.html CJF Founder and President] Capital Jewish Forum</ref>
After returning to Australia from his service in the IDF, he obtained a degree in International Relations. He completed internships with a federal parliamentarian and the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.
Waks' family featured in the 2003 [[Special Broadcasting Service|SBS]] documentary ''Welcome to the Waks Family''.<ref name=waksfamily>{{cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/waks_family.htm | title=Welcome to the Waks Family (2003) | date= | accessdate=2014-11-14}}</ref>

=== Personal experience with sexual abuse ===
In the late 1980s Waks attended Melbourne's Yeshivah centre, run by the Chabad ultra-orthodox movement of Judaism. Starting at the age of eleven, he was sexually abused by two members of the staff at the centre. Waks reported sexual abuse by two different pedophiles to the Yeshivah leadership and to the police in 1996. When no action was taken, Waks went public in 2011 with his story of being sexually abused, being pressured to keep the abuse quiet and with no consequences for the abusers. Indeed, he and his family suffered further abuse when they complained. "You might think Manny Waks would be a hero for breaking the silence about child sexual abuse within Melbourne's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community this year," wrote the Sydney Morning Herald, but instead of the Chabad community thanking Waks for ensuring pedophiles were caught and jailed, Yeshivah rabbis "railed against the whistleblowing Waks" and claimed that Waks and his father had "a vendetta against the centre." Some Orthodox communities, particularly in Israel and the US, abide by the prohibition against [[mesirah]] (a Jew reporting another Jew to non-Jewish authorities). Those who do can be ostracized or otherwise punished within the community.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-the-whistle-has-blown-20131107-2x47b.html After the whistle has blown] The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2013</ref>

== Activism against sexual abuse ==
Waks is an advocate against child sexual abuse within the Jewish community. In 2012 he founded Tzedek, an Australia based organisation advocating for a Jewish community free of child sexual abuse, after having brought his own experience of [[Child sexual abuse in Australia]] within the Jewish community<ref name="Topsfield"/> into the public domain in July 2011.
Waks featured in the [[ABC (Australian TV channel)|ABC]] documentary ''Code of Silence'' in 2014; the documentary shows how Manny Waks breaks the "code of silence" in Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community by publicizing his story about being sexually abused at the Chabad-Lubavitch Yeshivah College, an Orthodox Hasidic Jewish school for boys.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://identity-films.com/films/code-of-silence | title=Code of Silence | date= | accessdate=2014-11-14}}</ref>
Waks reported sexual abuse by two different pedophiles to the Yeshivah leadership and to the police in 1996. When no action was taken, Waks went public in 2011 with his story of being sexually abused in his Chabad community, being pressured to keep the abuse quiet and with no consequences for the abusers. Indeed, he and his family suffered further abuse when then complained. "You might think Manny Waks would be a hero for breaking the silence about child sexual abuse within Melbourne's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community this year," wrote the Sydney Morning Herald, but instead of the Chabad community thanking Waks for ensuring pedophiles were caught and jailed, Yeshivah rabbis "railed against the whistleblowing Waks" and claimed that Waks and his father had "a vendetta against the centre." Some Orthodox communities, particularly in Israel and the US, abide by the prohibition against [[mesirah]] (a Jew reporting another Jew to non-Jewish authorities). Those who do can be ostracized or otherwise punished within the community.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-the-whistle-has-blown-20131107-2x47b.html After the whistle has blown] The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2013</ref>

== Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse ==
Manny Waks and his father, Zephaniah Waks testified before the [[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]]. As Zephaniah Waks shared evidence about the abuse his sons, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, sent a text message to the [[Australian Jewish News]] accusing him of “destroying Chabad” and labelling him a “lunatic”. Kluwgant resigned the next week after child sexual abuse victims told him his position was "untenable."<ref name="theguardian.com">[http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/16/manny-waks-i-was-the-yeshivah-troublemaker-i-hope-now-everyone-can-see-why], The Guardian, 16 February 2015</ref>

In her testimony before the Royal Commission, Nechama Bendet, former general manager of Yeshivah College, said it was a mistake that Yeshivah College had never apologised to Manny Waks directly. She acknowledged that Waks had done nothing wrong by reporting the child sexual abuse to police and to the press, that his activism had been a positive contribution to the community, and she acknowledged and condemned "the harassment and intimidation of Mr Waks and his family." Don Wolf, former director of Yeshivah College's committee of management, testified that the school should have done more to prevent the Yeshivah community from vilifying the Waks family for reporting the abuse to the police.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4178116.htm Senior Yeshivah official apologises to abuse victim Manny Waks] ABC, 11 February 2015</ref>

As a result of the Royal Commission hearings, three rabbis were forced to resign. In addition to the resignation of Kluwgant, Rabbi Yosef Feldman, the former director of Sydney’s Yeshivah Center, home of the Chabad headquarters there, was delisted after suggesting in his testimony that pedophiles who had not sexually abused children for two decades should be treated with leniency. Rabbi Avrohom Glick, who had been principal while the child sexual abuse was taking place in the 1980s and 1990s, resigned from the spiritual committee of the Yeshivah Center.<ref>[http://forward.com/articles/215258/sydney-chabad-rabbi-stripped-of-post-over-child-se/ Sydney Chabad Rabbi Stripped of Post Over Child Sex Abuse Scandal] The Jewish Daily Forward, 22 February, 2015</ref>

Waks commented on his willingness to speak about the abuse he endured, noting he wants justice and closure, for himself and for other victims. He wants the alleged perpetrators of the sexual crimes to be held accountable as well as the Yeshivah Centre, which he believes betrayed victims by convincing them to remain silent and not report crimes to the police.<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jewish-community-leader-tells-of-sex-abuse-20110707-1h4t4.html] The Age</ref>

== Tzedek ==
Manny Waks founded Tzedek, an organization dedicated to fighting sexual abuse. The organization has received $300,000 in funding from the Australian Federal Government.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jta.org/2014/03/10/news-opinion/world/group-for-jewish-victims-of-child-sex-abuse-gets-federal-funds | title=Australia funding group for Jewish victims of child sex abuse | date=2014-03-10 |accessdate=2014-08-08}}</ref>

== Global campaign ==
Waks is now working establish a global inquiry into sexual abuse in the Jewish community, using the Royal Commission as a model.<ref name="abc.net.au"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mannywaks.com/scoping-study.html | title=Scoping Study | accessdate=June 25, 2015}}</ref>

== Lawsuits ==
Waks has initiated civil proceedings against [[Yeshiva Centre, Melbourne|Yeshivah Centre]] in Melbourne, Australia.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/alleged-sex-abuse-victim-manny-waks-sues-yeshivah-centre-for-negligence-20140502-37mpf.html | title=Alleged sex abuse victim Manny Waks sues Yeshivah Centre for negligence | first1=Mark | last1=Russell | first2=Adam | last2=Cooper | date=2014-05-02 | accessdate=2014-08-08}}</ref>

Waks was sued for [[defamation]] after a member of the public posted a false accusation against a member of the community on his organisation's (Tzedek) web site, and for posting things that suggested to some that this member was guilty.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rabbi launches legal action against sex abuse victims' advocate |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/rabbi-launches-legal-action-against-sex-abuse-victims-advocate/story-fni0fee2-1226786774549|accessdate=24 June 2015|date=December 19, 2013}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Child sexual abuse]]
**[[Anti-pedophile activism]]
*[[Jewish Community Watch]]
**[[Jewish Community Watch#Founding|Meyer Seewald]]

== References ==
{{reflist|3}}

{{Persondata
| NAME = Waks, Manny
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian businessman
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1976
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Israel
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waks, Manny}}
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian Jews]]
[[Category:Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim]]
[[Category:Jewish activists]]

Manny Waks

2015-08-12T11:58:00Z

DatabaseSQL: /* Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse */

{{multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=February 2015}}
{{POV|date=February 2015}}
{{COI|date=February 2015}}
}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Manny Waks
| image =
| occupation = Community activist
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1976}}
| birth_place = Israel
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse =
| religion = Judaism
| known for = Founding Tzedek, an anti-abuse organization
| website = {{URL|mannywaks.com|MannyWaks.com}}
}}

'''Manny Waks''', born Menachem Leib Waks <ref name="abc.net.au">[http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4174255.htm Breaking a cultural code of silence on abuse] ABC, broadcast 2 April 2015</ref> in Israel in 1976, is Jewish activist. He was previously part of the [[orthodox judaism|orthodox]] community in Australia<ref name=Topsfield /> and later became known for his activism against child sexual abuse in the Jewish community worldwide. He founded Tzedek, an organization to fight child sexual abuse in Jewish communities. Waks assisted the [[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]] in investigating Melbourne Yeshivah centres of the Orthodox [[Chabad]] sect of Judaism on their handling of child sexual abuse cases.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/16/manny-waks-i-was-the-yeshivah-troublemaker-i-hope-now-everyone-can-see-why Manny Waks: I'm the 'troublemaker' who blew the whistle on Jewish abuse scandal] The Guardian, 15 February 2015</ref>

== Personal Life ==
After publicizing child sexual abuse in the Jewish community in Australia, Waks moved to France. <ref name="Topsfield">{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jewish-community-leader-tells-of-sex-abuse-20110707-1h4t4.html | title=Jewish community leader tells of sex abuse | accessdate=2014-08-06 | date=2011-07-08 | publisher=[[The Age]]| first=Jewel | last=Topsfield}}</ref>
Waks is married and is the father of three children.<ref name="CJF Founder and President"/>

=== Early life and education ===
Although born in Israel, Waks was raised primarily in Australia. He is one of 17 children in an Orthodox Jewish family who were part of the [[Chabad|Chabad-Lubavitch]], [[Hasidic]] community in [[Melbourne, Australia]]. Before they were eventually ostracized for reporting child sexual abuse within the community, Waks, his parents and siblings were viewed as a "poster family for the Australian Chabad movement." <ref>[http://www.timesofisrael.com/advocate-calls-for-global-jewish-child-abuse-commission/ Advocate calls for global Jewish child-abuse commission] The Times of Israel, 16 February 2015</ref> Waks returned to Israel when he turned 18, where he served in the [[Israel Defence Forces]].<ref name="CJF Founder and President">[http://www.capitaljewishforum.org/founder-and-president.html CJF Founder and President] Capital Jewish Forum</ref>
After returning to Australia from his service in the IDF, he obtained a degree in International Relations. He completed internships with a federal parliamentarian and the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.
Waks' family featured in the 2003 [[Special Broadcasting Service|SBS]] documentary ''Welcome to the Waks Family''.<ref name=waksfamily>{{cite web | url=http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/waks_family.htm | title=Welcome to the Waks Family (2003) | date= | accessdate=2014-11-14}}</ref>

=== Personal experience with sexual abuse ===
In the late 1980s Waks attended Melbourne's Yeshivah centre, run by the Chabad ultra-orthodox movement of Judaism. Starting at the age of eleven, he was sexually abused by two members of the staff at the centre. Waks reported sexual abuse by two different pedophiles to the Yeshivah leadership and to the police in 1996. When no action was taken, Waks went public in 2011 with his story of being sexually abused, being pressured to keep the abuse quiet and with no consequences for the abusers. Indeed, he and his family suffered further abuse when they complained. "You might think Manny Waks would be a hero for breaking the silence about child sexual abuse within Melbourne's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community this year," wrote the Sydney Morning Herald, but instead of the Chabad community thanking Waks for ensuring pedophiles were caught and jailed, Yeshivah rabbis "railed against the whistleblowing Waks" and claimed that Waks and his father had "a vendetta against the centre." Some Orthodox communities, particularly in Israel and the US, abide by the prohibition against [[mesirah]] (a Jew reporting another Jew to non-Jewish authorities). Those who do can be ostracized or otherwise punished within the community.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-the-whistle-has-blown-20131107-2x47b.html After the whistle has blown] The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2013</ref>

== Activism against sexual abuse ==
Waks is an advocate against child sexual abuse within the Jewish community. In 2012 he founded Tzedek, an Australia based organisation advocating for a Jewish community free of child sexual abuse, after having brought his own experience of [[Child sexual abuse in Australia]] within the Jewish community<ref name="Topsfield"/> into the public domain in July 2011.
Waks featured in the [[ABC (Australian TV channel)|ABC]] documentary ''Code of Silence'' in 2014; the documentary shows how Manny Waks breaks the "code of silence" in Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community by publicizing his story about being sexually abused at the Chabad-Lubavitch Yeshivah College, an Orthodox Hasidic Jewish school for boys.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://identity-films.com/films/code-of-silence | title=Code of Silence | date= | accessdate=2014-11-14}}</ref>
Waks reported sexual abuse by two different pedophiles to the Yeshivah leadership and to the police in 1996. When no action was taken, Waks went public in 2011 with his story of being sexually abused in his Chabad community, being pressured to keep the abuse quiet and with no consequences for the abusers. Indeed, he and his family suffered further abuse when then complained. "You might think Manny Waks would be a hero for breaking the silence about child sexual abuse within Melbourne's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community this year," wrote the Sydney Morning Herald, but instead of the Chabad community thanking Waks for ensuring pedophiles were caught and jailed, Yeshivah rabbis "railed against the whistleblowing Waks" and claimed that Waks and his father had "a vendetta against the centre." Some Orthodox communities, particularly in Israel and the US, abide by the prohibition against [[mesirah]] (a Jew reporting another Jew to non-Jewish authorities). Those who do can be ostracized or otherwise punished within the community.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-the-whistle-has-blown-20131107-2x47b.html After the whistle has blown] The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2013</ref>

== Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse ==
Manny Waks and his father, Zephaniah Waks testified before the [[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]]. As Zephaniah Waks shared evidence about the abuse his sons, the president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, sent a text message to the [[Australian Jewish News]] accusing him of “destroying Chabad” and labelling him a “lunatic”. Kluwgant resigned the next week after child sexual abuse victims told him his position was "untenable."<ref name="theguardian.com">[http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/16/manny-waks-i-was-the-yeshivah-troublemaker-i-hope-now-everyone-can-see-why], The Guardian, 16 February 2015</ref>

In her testimony before the Royal Commission, Nechama Bendet, former general manager of Yeshivah College, said it was a mistake that Yeshivah College had never apologised to Manny Waks directly. She acknowledged that Waks had done nothing wrong by reporting the child sexual abuse to police and to the press, that his activism had been a positive contribution to the community, and she acknowledged and condemned "the harassment and intimidation of Mr Waks and his family." Don Wolf, former director of Yeshivah College's committee of management, testified that the school should have done more to prevent the Yeshivah community from vilifying the Waks family for reporting the abuse to the police.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4178116.htm Senior Yeshivah official apologises to abuse victim Manny Waks] ABC, 11 February 2015</ref>

As a result of the Royal Commission hearings, three rabbis were forced to resign. In addition to the resignation of Kluwgant, Rabbi Yosef Feldman, the former director of Sydney’s Yeshivah Center, home of the Chabad headquarters there, was delisted after suggesting in his testimony that pedophiles who had not sexually abused children for two decades should be treated with leniency. Rabbi Avrohom Glick, who had been principal while the child sexual abuse was taking place in the 1980s and 1990s, resigned from the spiritual committee of the Yeshivah Center.<ref>[http://forward.com/articles/215258/sydney-chabad-rabbi-stripped-of-post-over-child-se/ Sydney Chabad Rabbi Stripped of Post Over Child Sex Abuse Scandal] The Jewish Daily Forward, 22 February, 2015</ref>

Waks commented on his willingness to speak about the abuse he endured, noting he wants justice and closure, for himself and for other victims. He wants the alleged perpetrators of the sexual crimes to be held accountable as well as the Yeshivah Centre, which he believes betrayed victims by convincing them to remain silent and not report crimes to the police.<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jewish-community-leader-tells-of-sex-abuse-20110707-1h4t4.html] The Age</ref>

== Tzedek ==
Manny Waks founded Tzedek, an organization dedicated to fighting sexual abuse. The organization has received $300,000 in funding from the Australian Federal Government.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jta.org/2014/03/10/news-opinion/world/group-for-jewish-victims-of-child-sex-abuse-gets-federal-funds | title=Australia funding group for Jewish victims of child sex abuse | date=2014-03-10 |accessdate=2014-08-08}}</ref>

== Global campaign ==
Waks is now working establish a global inquiry into sexual abuse in the Jewish community, using the Royal Commission as a model.<ref name="abc.net.au"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mannywaks.com/scoping-study.html | title=Scoping Study | accessdate=June 25, 2015}}</ref>

== Lawsuits ==
Waks has initiated civil proceedings against [[Yeshiva Centre, Melbourne|Yeshivah Centre]] in Melbourne, Australia.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/alleged-sex-abuse-victim-manny-waks-sues-yeshivah-centre-for-negligence-20140502-37mpf.html | title=Alleged sex abuse victim Manny Waks sues Yeshivah Centre for negligence | first1=Mark | last1=Russell | first2=Adam | last2=Cooper | date=2014-05-02 | accessdate=2014-08-08}}</ref>

Waks was sued for [[defamation]] after a member of the public posted a false accusation against a member of the community on his organisation's (Tzedek) web site, and for posting things that suggested to some that this member was guilty.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rabbi launches legal action against sex abuse victims' advocate |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/rabbi-launches-legal-action-against-sex-abuse-victims-advocate/story-fni0fee2-1226786774549|accessdate=24 June 2015|date=December 19, 2013}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Child sexual abuse]]
**[[Anti-pedophile activism]]
*[[Jewish Community Watch]]
**[[Jewish Community Watch#Founding|Meyer Seewald]]

== References ==
{{reflist|3}}

{{Persondata
| NAME = Waks, Manny
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Australian businessman
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1976
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Israel
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waks, Manny}}
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australian Jews]]
[[Category:Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim]]
[[Category:Jewish activists]]

The Temptation of St. Anthony (Dalí)

2014-11-10T13:05:15Z

DatabaseSQL: removed irrelevant sentence: created while Dalí briefly occupied a studio located next to the Colony Restaurant in New York City,

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Charity Music Inc}}
{{copy edit|date=September 2014}}


'''[http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/salvador-dali/the-temptation-of-st-anthony ''The Temptation of St. Anthony'']''' is a [[painting]] by Spanish [[surrealist]] artist, [[Salvador Dalí]]. Painted in 1946, it is a precursor to the body of Dalí's work commonly known as the "classical period" or the "Dalí Renaissance."

==History==

Dalí painted "The Temptation of St. Anthony" in 1946 in response to a contest held by the [[David L. Loew]]-[[Albert Lewin]] film production company for a painting of [[The Temptation of Saint Anthony]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Salvadore Dalí's The Temptation of Saint Anthony|url=http://mediavisuallit.wikispaces.com/Salvador+Dali's+The+Temptation+of+Saint+Anthony|accessdate=13 September 2013}}</ref> to be used in the film ''[[The Private Affairs of Bel Ami]]''. This was the only art contest in which Dalí participated, but his painting was not chosen for the film.

The painting contains many surrealistic elements typical of his work. Significantly, it was the first of his pieces to exhibit his interest in the intermediates between heaven and earth.<ref>Neret, Gilles. Dalí, edited by Taschen 1994. Bennett, Leonie. Salvador Dalí. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2005</ref> The painting is now at the [[Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts]], in [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]].<ref>{{cite web|title= the Temptation of saint Anthony|url= http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/salvador-dali/the-temptation-of-st-anthony/|accessdate= 13 September 2013}}</ref>

==Description==
'The Temptation of St. Anthony' is painted with oil on canvas and depicts a desert-like landscape; a low horizon line with high clouds with dark of warm tones in azure sky. The figure of St. Anthony kneels in the bottom left of the canvas. He holds an up cross in his right hand and supports himself on an ambiguous form with his left.

A human skull lies by his right foot. A parade of elephants, led by a horse, approach St. Anthony. The elephants carry symbolic objects representing temptation: a statue of a nude woman holding her breasts; an obelisk; a building complex confining a nude, disembodied female torso; and a vertical tower. The animals have exaggerated, long, spindly legs, giving the effect they are weightless.
Throughout history, artists and authors (including [[Hieronymus Bosch]] - circa 1501-1516) have used the temptation of St. Anthony as subject matter for art works.

==Interpretations==
{{Unreferenced section|date= September 2014}}
The title, ''The Temptation of Saint Anthony,'' provides clues as to the meaning of the painting and its iconography. In this painting, various temptations appear to [[Anthony the Great|Saint Anthony]] (the naked man in the painting), in the form of a horse, representing strength and voluptuousness.

The form of the elephant carrying on its back the golden cup of lust in which a nude woman is standing, emphasizes the erotic character of the composition. Of the other elephants carrying buildings on their backs; the first of these is an obelisk inspired by that of [[Bernini]] in Rome, the second and third are burdened with Venetian edifices in the style of [[Palladio]].

The focal point is the animal parade because the parade is the largest element in the painting – not only in size but also in its arrangement, turning the viewer's focus to the temptation. In the background, another elephant carries a tall tower that displays [[phallic]] overtones, and in the clouds one can glimpse a few fragments of the Escorial, a symbol of temporal and spiritual order.

All temptation must be opposed by Saint Anthony, using his cross to ward off the vision. The saint is naked, suggesting the saint's weakness juxtaposed with the power of the cross towards his terrible temptation.

==Analysis==
The figure in genuflection is assumed to be St. Anthony, whose role, according to spiritual belief, is not to protect one from temptation so much as to be a conductor of the temptation.{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}} Here, he is seen as orchestrating the advancing parade of creatures, topped with various representations of erotic imagery.{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}} The rearing horse represents the fountain of desire. The obelisk mounted on the elephant's back is an homage to [[Elephant and Obelisk|the Roman obelisk designed by Bernini]]. The proceeding elephants carry structures reminiscent of the [[Palladium]] and the next with a [[phallic]] tower.{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}} In the clouds behind the elephants, glimpses of [[El Escorial]] can be seen, representing spiritual and temporal disorder.

Dalí chose to paint subjects that he considered spiritual, and to reveal hidden powers in them. He believed that all objects possessed this power, and desired to capture it in his painting and his own possession by painting them, this was inspired by a fascination he had with the [[Atom bomb|atomic bomb]], which he found particularly mystical and powerful.<ref>Neret, Gilles. Dalí, edited by Taschen 1994. Bennett, Leonie. Salvador Dalí. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2005</ref> By using the artistic style of [[classicism]], Dalí's aim was to use its realism to bring him closer to the spirituality contained in all substances and, therefore, closer to the divine.<ref>Neret, Gilles. Dalí, edited by Taschen 1994. Bennett, Leonie. Salvador Dalí. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2005</ref> The piece is the first of his works that uses classicism in this way, and is a precursor to other themes that were brought on by this interest in spirituality, such as [[levitation]] and the neutralization of [[gravity]].<ref>Dalí, Salvador, Charles Hine, Montserrat Aguer, William Jeffett, David A. Brennan, Elliott H. King, and High Museum of Art. Salvador Dalí: The Late Work. Atlanta [GA.]: High Museum of Art, 2010.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
Kay, Daniel, accessed Feb/12, 2013, Dalí Peep Show, http://www.danielkay.fr/img/
Dali_PeepshowStAntoine_15aout2007_Cerisy.pdf.

Neret, Gilles. Dalí, 1994. Bennett, Leonie. Salvador Dalí. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2005

Dalí, Salvador, Charles Hine, Montserrat Aguer, William Jeffett, David A. Brennan, Elliott H. King,
and High Museum of Art. Salvador Dalí: The Late Work. Atlanta [GA.]: High Museum of Art,
2010.

Bennett, Leonie. Salvador Dalí. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2005.

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Temptation of St. Anthony by Salvador Dali}}
[[Category:Paintings by Salvador Dalí]]