Anger and frustration are running high among Jews in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section following the acquittal of a black teen-ager in the August 1991 murder of Hasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum.
But aside from a few raucous rallies and scattered incidents of minor violence, the heavily Hasidic neighborhood has been mainly quiet since the Oct. 29 verdict, in sharp contrast to the riots that tore through the area when Rosenbaum was stabbed to death 14 months ago.
Leaders of the Lubavitch movement have discouraged those from inside and outside their community from venting their rage at the verdict through violence. They have instead pledged a peaceful response to what is universally regarded here as an act of terrible injustice.
Just hours after the verdict, Norman Rosenbaum, the slain scholar’s brother, mounted a makeshift platform set up in the middle of a Crown Heights intersection to urge a peaceful response to the jury’s decision.
“I am incensed at what’s happened,” he yelled out hoarsely to a crowd of thousands of Hasidim as he stood under a banner reading “Moshiach is on the way – let’s be ready.”
But he added, “This isn’t a black or a white issue. This affects every decent New Yorker.”
“We must fight with chochma, binah and da’as to ensure that no more Jewish blood is spilled and that the blood of Yankel is avenged,” he said, using the Hebrew words for wisdom, insight and understanding that form the acronym Chabad used by the Lubavitch movement.
It had been a long day for Rosenbaum, 35, who four hours earlier had heard a jury clear Lemrick Nelson, Jr. of all charges in the murder of his only sibling, Yankel.
Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old native of Melbourne, Australia, Who had studying in Crown Heights, was stabbed to death by a rampaging mob of 20 young blacks on Aug. 19, 1991, the first of three nights of violence, arson and looting in Crown Heights.
Rosenbaum was murdered in retaliation for the accidental killing of Gavin Cato, a 6-year-old Caribbean-American boy, by the driver of a car in a motorcade escorting the Lubavitcher rebbe home from a cemetery visit outside Crown Heights.
Nelson, 17, had been found near the scene of Rosenbaum’s stabbing with a bloody knife in his pocket and while in custody admitted to the act, according to police testimony.
And according to police, as well as other eyewitnesses, as Yankel Rosenbaum lay bleeding he identified Nelson as his attacker, saying, “You in the red shirt! Why did you do this to me?”
Still, the State Supreme Court jury acquitted Nelson of each of the four counts with which he had been charged: second degree, or intentional murder, murder with depraved indifference, and first-and second-degree manslaughter.
None of the jurors were thought to be Jewish; six were black, four Hispanic and two white.
Jurors said that they thought that the six police officers who testified during the trial, which began Sept. 23, had lied.
“I have a terrible fear that the jury was intimidated by the politically correct thing to do,” Norman Rosenbaum told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Nelson is so far the only member of the mob that attacked Rosenbaum to be indicted, a reality that has the community here feeling it has been betrayed by the mayor, the district attorney and the criminal justice system.
Said one woman the night of verdict, “The D.A. can’t come up with the other 20 people because Jews don’t riot. If Nelson had been found guilty, the city would be in flames.”
Rabbi J.B. Spielman, chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, said that the message in the verdict and in the district attorney not indicting any of the other participants in the mob that murdered Rosenbaum is that “the Jewish community is expendable.”
After the verdict was announced at the State Supreme Court in downtown Brooklyn at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Norman Rosenbaum led about 300 Lubavitchers in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to New York City Hall in downtown Manhattan, tying up rush-hour traffic.
When the procession reached City Hall, the demonstrators called for a meeting with Mayor David Dinkins, who failed to appear.
Instead, Dinkins issued a statement saying: “We cannot rest until the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum is solved and all involved in the attack on him are brought to full justice. I am assured by the Police Department that the investigation, which seeks to identify other involved in this tragedy, is being vigorously pursued.”
The mayor offered a $10,000 reward to anyone providing information leading to the conviction of the killer. The American Jewish Committee offered an additional $5,000 reward, and the Anti-Defamation League said it would provide $100,000.
But the mayor’s offer did not seem to mollify the Jews of Crown Heights, who called on Dinkins to join them at their evening demonstration.
“We’re not going to be appeased by some sort of token reward,” said Rosenbaum. “Where is the mayor tonight?”
“The mayor may have his gorgeous mosaic,” he said, citing a metaphor often used by Dinkins, “but we Jews are not part of it.”
Rosenbaum also called Thursday night for a federal investigation into the case. He got his wish the following morning, when the U.S. Justice Department Announced it would review the murder case for possible civil rights violations.
The rally Thursday night was largely peaceful, as was another on Sunday that drew a crowd of several thousand. On Thursday night, the hundreds of police who had been dispatched to Crown Heights for the most part stood in their riot gear and looked on from a distance as the Jewish community rallied.
At one point, a large group of black teen-agers began throwing rocks and large bottles at Hasidic men a few hundred feet away from the center of the rally.
As the Hasidim surged forward, police rushed in and held them back. One non- Lubavitcher, thought to be affiliated with the militant Kahane Chai group, was arrested.
Shortly after that, bottles and rocks were rained down on the Jewish crowd from apartment building roofs. One Lubavitcher, bleeding profusely from a cut on his hand, was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Another scuffle broke out as non-Lubavitch Jews who had come to the rally from outside the community jumped on two of the black rock-throwers, according to Kasriel Shemtov, a Crown Heights resident.
There was anger and tension, but the evening passed peacefully for the most part.
A handful of blacks even stood on the periphery of the Jewish crowd and listened to the Lubavitch speakers, apparently feeling safe, though few police were nearby.
At Sunday’s rally, people came from across the city, in an expression of unity that was appreciated by the Lubavitch community. But there was little visibly non-Orthodox presence at the rally, at which organizers tried to keep the sexes separate as if in a Hasidic synagogue.
Perhaps sensing his lack of popularity in Crown Heights, the mayor also stayed away. Signs bearing his face and the caption, “Wanted for Murder,” were in evidence.
Among the many groups and individuals issuing statements in the aftermath of last week’s verdict was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has tried in recent months to repair his often frayed relations with American Jewry.
The one-time presidential candidate said he would “not impugn the integrity of the jurors or their intent,” but added: “Somebody killed Yankel Rosenbaum and is still on the loose. Justice has not been served.”
Speaking nostalgically of the “sacred coalition” of black-Jewish relations, Jackson said, “Let our temple and church Sabbath services make room for a special prayer for the Rosenbaum family, and an appeal to end the explosion of senseless death that now dominates our society.”
Meanwhile, Norman Rosenbaum told JTA that he would stay in New York for as long as it takes to convict his brother’s murderers.
“It’s going to be long, hard and slow, but we’ll get justice let me assure you of that,” he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
