Video: Fight In 770

CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — No one ever believed 770 would devolve into utter chaos as it did this afternoon - not even the biggest sympathizers towards the Tzfati cause. Two members of the yeshiva's hanholo, Rabbi Kuti Feldman and Rabbi Zalman Labkowski, were both physically and verbally attacked by the same hooligans who have been running wild and unrestrained these past few weeks.

Today’s episode began when Rabbi Labkowski was about to give his weekly Thursday Shiur at 1:30 in the downstairs of 770. About a half hour before the Shiur began, a Tzfati Bochur, Tzachi Cohen, stole the microphone that is usually used for the Shiur in retaliation for the revocation of one Tzfati's visa.

Bochurim who wanted Rabbi Labkowski to give his shiur set up an alternative microphone - the Gabboim's system (with their permission), and the Shiur began on time.

As the Shiur began, a Tzfati Bochur, Eliyahu Singawi – the one who had his visa revoked, ran over to the cabinet where the microphone system is kept and grabbed the wire, pulling it away in order to tear it.

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Rabbi Kuti Feldman went after the Bochur to get the microphone back, and was attacked by a gaggle of Tzfatis who kicked, punched and slapped him, eliciting cries of outrage from the hundreds of people who were present in 770.

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That wasn’t enough; another Bochur began yelling at Rabbi Labkowski, while spitting at him and throwing things. He shouted: ‘you should die today,’ ‘yemach shimcha,’ and ‘you menuval.’

According to witnesses, all this took place in the presence of Gabbai R. Menachem Gerelitzky and R. Yosef Braun, both of whom did not intervene.

One bochur told Crownheights.info that a Poilisher chossid happened to be present, and he asked him if this was regular occurrence in the shul, and why nobody did anything about it. The bochur couldn't answer.

The incident concluded when Rabbi Labkowski left 770, and Shiur was canceled.

Flatbush, NY - Kosher Sushi Distributor Goes Up In Flames

Crown Heights [CHI] — A four-alarm blaze broke out in a one-story commercial building that houses a kosher sushi distributor on Utica Ave. Monday morning, sending nine city firefighters to the hospital.

The fire broke out at 561 Utica Ave. about 10:30 a.m., FDNY officials said. At least 35 units responded to the blaze with roughly 150 firefighters on the scene. A fourth alarm was issued just before 1 p.m. for relief purposes, fire officials said.

Firefighters had rushed into the building with a hose, but were forced out when the roof, ceiling and part of a wall collapsed.

“It's too dangerous to send people in,” Deputy Assistant Chief Michael Marrone said at the scene.

There was also a lot of debris inside the store, he said.

At least one of the building's tenants is Natural Earth Products, a large kosher food distributor of nori, wasabi and other sushi products, according to its website. The company is listed at 563 Utica Ave., which is in the same building as the blaze.

A person who answered a phone for the company was unable to talk, saying things were “too hectic” at the moment.

“We had a lot of fire in the store in the front and also on the left hand side. As soon as we opened the roll down gates there was fire. Our units operated inside for at least 10 minutes but the amount of fire was just too much. We pulled them out for their own safety, part of the ceiling started to come down,” said one fire chief on the scene.

The firefighters suffered minor injuries and no civilians were hurt.

As of late Monday, officials were still investigating the cause of the fire.

Crown Heights Beis Din: Informing on Molesters – Not Messirah

Rabbis Yaakov Schwei and Yosef Braun





















In a new letter, two members of the Crown Heights Beis Din declared that child molesters have the Din of a Rodef and therefore it is permissible to inform on them to the police and courts, given that there is real evidence of abuse.

The letter, signed by two of the Rabbonim - Rabbis Yaakov Schwei and Yosef Braun, goes into explaining how severe the ramifications of abuse are and how much they effect children, and that someone who does not act on the knowledge of abuse is transgressing on “Lo Taamod Al Dam Reiacha”.

This letter comes on the heels of a number of stories coming out of Australia where certain offenders were exposed, as well as rumors of offenders living in Crown Heights

Crown Heights: Jewish Boy Brutally Beaten & Pistol Whipped

Crown Heights Info reports: Two thugs accosted a Jewish boy Monday night, putting a gun to his head and brutally beating him on his head and body. The victim recounted his terrifying ordeal in detail to our reporter.

The incident occurred on Monday night at around 11:00pm on Union Street between Troy and Schenectady Avenues.

Two black assailants in their 20s approached the Bochur, one of them asking if he knows him and pointed a gun to his head. The victim told CrownHeights.info “I told him to calm down and the guy wacked me in the face with the gun, and the other guy punched me in the nose, and since he had a gun I wasn’t really going to try to fight back.”

“Then he wacked me again on the head with the gun and in the nose, and I fell to the floor and I covered my head. The guy with the gun just kept hitting me in the head and the other guy kept punching me in the head, I guess they were trying to knock me out” recounted the victim with harrowing clarity.

“Finally I pulled out my wallet and threw it to the side and I said enough, and the guys got up took my wallet and ran towards Utica Avenue” he said.

Two black girls who passed by and saw the Bochur all bloodied and beaten called 911 and stayed with him until an ambulance and police arrived.

The Bochur was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he received a staple to the back of his head, and multiple stitches on his forehead and nose. An additional visit the following day to a plastic surgeon was necessary to close up the stitches again.

The mother of the victim urged us to raise awareness that walking alone at night is extremely dangerous, and that girls and boys should always walk in pair, at the very least. She also hopes that this incident will serve as a deterrent to others to stay alert when out at night. “Please, please get off your phones and pay attention to your surroundings” she pleaded.
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UPDATED:4:15pm

Stumbling and Bumbling: Police Have No Record of the Brutal Assault

This is how the NYPD fights crime, by have no record of it! It seems that being taken away by ambulance after a brutal beating and calling 911 is not enough for the cops to hear about an incident in which police officers actually responded to. CrownHeights.info has learned that more than four days after the incident took place neither the local precinct, nor the Patrol Borough of Brooklyn South have any idea that this crime took place.

According to the victim’s mother, the police were present at the scene of the incident on Monday night, and the same police officers later arrived at Kings County Hospital to interview the victim.

But the police department says that they have no record of the attack.

Batya Breindel of the Community Council asked our reporter if he had any information on the victim since the police had no report or record of a 911 call. She said that “the police said they are trying to find out, that they have no report, and they are trying to check 911calls, and there were no calls made. Tthey tried to check the hospital, and they couldn’t find, so they are trying to make more phone calls, they called Hatzalah, but they said maybe EMS took them, so they are trying to make more phone calls to find out.” Breindel added that “They don’t even know that it happened. They know nothing about it.”

“It appears that until [CrownHeights.info] reported that this incident took place it appears no one but the victim and his family knew that it even happened” said a spokesperson for the news website, adding “that if we hadn’t reported on this incident it would probably have been swept under the rug.”

As this story was being prepared for publication A source in the police department told us that just now the 71st precinct had managed to get in touch with the mother of the victim.