I NEWS
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Supoort for Israel is a primary component of the B'nai B'rith agenda.
Israel's vulnerability is not just a matter of geography,
but a condition brought about because it is a nation of
Jews. If Israel is to continue as a haven for the Jewish peo-
ple, she needs our support. One of the many ways B'nai
B'rith supports Israel is through its continuing Jewish educa-
tion about the Holocaust. B'nai B'rith's determination
to assure the independence and security of Israel
is enduring and unconditional.
HENRY DORFMAN
As a long time member of Centennial Lodge, B'nai
B'rith has come a long way since my days in AZA, part
of the B'nai B'rith youth organization.
In recent years, one of its proudest and most signifi-
cant achievements has been the entry into the Soviet
Union. December of 1988 a mission was led to Moscow
where the first unit of B'nai B'rith was chartered and subse-
quently dozens of other units formed. As the Communist
ROBERT NAFTALY
bloc crumbles and Democracy reemerges in that part of
the world, B'nai B'rith has been among the first to reach out to the long oppressed
Jewish populations of the area.
B'nai B'rith has become a meaningful force in world Jewish affairs.
WE ARE B'NAI B'RITH
A WORLD-WIDE "FAMILY" ORGANIZATION
THAT DARES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
B'NAI B'RITH IS PROUD OF ITS INTERNATIONALITY, FOR THROUGH ITS
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL IT HAS THE ABILITY TO INTERACT WITH
GOVERNMENTS AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ON THE GLOBE. ITS PUBLIC AF-
FAIRS DEPARTMENT IS THE VOICE FOR WORLD JEWRY AT ALL FOREIGN EM-
BASSIES. WITH A WORLD-WIDE MEMBERSHIP IN OVER 43 COUNTRIES, B'NAI
B'RITH HOLDS ONE OF THE FEW NON-GOVERNMENTAL SEATS AT THE U.N.
- WE NEED TO UTILIZE THAT CAPABILITY TO ITS UTMOST AN EVEN
STRONGER; MORE VIGOROUS INTERNATIONAL MEMBERSHIP WILL ADD
AUTHORITY TO OUR PRESENCE, INCREASE VISIBILITY AND INFLUENCE,
AND ALLOW US TO DEAL, WITH JEWISH ISSUES MORE EFFECTIVELY. THE
NEED FOR B'NAI B'RITH — FOR A UNIFYING JEWISH FORCE AROUND
THE WORLD — WAS NEVER GREATER!
gth
VI F For further information regarding membership, please contact:
B'NAI B'RITH MICHIGAN REGIONAL COUNCIL (313) 5528177
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Traffic Accident
Starts New York Riot
JONATHAN MARK
Special to The Jewish News
N
ew York —The
Chasidim of Crown
Heights, poised for
what their rebbe said was
the "imminent arrival of the
Messiah," found themselves
instead confronting an
apocalypse of blood and
broken glass, with two dead,
dozens injured, scores ar-
rested and racial tensions
that were reportedly the
worst in the 50 years that
Chasidim and blacks have
shared that Brooklyn neigh-
borhood. -
According to police and
community spokesmen, the
tensions erupted Monday
night from an accident and a
rumor, both of which were
deadly.
A three-car motorcade, in-
cluding one car transporting
the Lubavitcher rebbe,
Menachem Mendel Schneer-
son, was returning at about
8:30 p.m., with police escort,
from the Old Montifiore
Cemetery in Queens. At the
Crown Heights intersection
of President Street and
Utica Avenue, around the
corner from Chabad-
Lubavitch World Head-
quarters, the traffic light
turned to red and the trail-
ing car of the motorcade, ac-
cording to police, apparently
picked up speed in order to
catch up with the leading
cars.
The Lubavitcher vehicle —
a station wagon said to have
been driven by a 22-year-old
identified as Yosef Lisef —
then reportedly swerved to
avoid an oncoming car on
Utica Avenue. Police said
Lisef apparently lost control
of the car and it plowed onto
the sidewalk, killing Gavin
Cato, a 7-year-old black boy
who had stopped to fix a
chain on his bicycle.
Immediately on the scene
was a Hatzolah ambulance,
a citywide Jewish volunteer
service. Moments later, an
Emergency Medical Service
ambulance arrived as well.
When Yakov Speilman got
out of the station wagon on
his own, he said he had his
"lights punched out" by
angry blacks that had sur-
rounded the car. "They were
mercilessly beating on us.
Someone was saying 'Kill
the Jews.' "
To protect the Hatzolah
Jonathan Mark is a reporter
with the New York Jewish
Week.
volunteers and three
Lubavitchers from the mob,
a female police officer at the
scene instructed the vol-
unteers to help the beaten
Chasidim rather than the
Cato cousins who could be
helped by the EMS
paramedics, said Hatzolah
leaders. As the Jewish am-
bulance sped away with the
Chasidim, a rumor spread
throughout Crown Heights
that the Jewish ambulance
left the black children to die.
Hatzolah has been fre-
quently criticized by radical
blacks and some Reform
rabbis for giving preferen-
tial treatment to Jews. A.
spokesman for Hatzolah de-
nied any impropriety, and
said that their drivers are
strictly instructed to follow
the directions of police at an
accident.
Over Monday and Tuesday
night, more than 2,000
police in full riot gear were
Police ordered a
Jewish ambulance
service to help the
Jews, leaving the
black child for EMS.
patrolling the streets,
separating blacks and Jews.
As of Wednesday morning,
the Crown Heights Jewish
Community Relations Coun-
c i I reported that one
Lubavitcher was killed, 18
Chasidim were injured, 50
Jewish cars were vandaliz-
ed, - a Lubavitch "Mitzvah
tank" was destroyed and 60
Jewish homes were damag-
ed.
One Jewish leader re-
ported receiving calls in the
middle of the night from
Jews in Crown Heights say-
ing that windows of Jewish
homes were smashed on
Tuesday night. "They told
me, 'You look out the
windows and see cars burn-
ing.'
Said a neighborhood resi-
dent whose car was
firebombed: "I saw flames
coming through the roof of
my car. There were hun-
dreds of blacks with sticks,
stones and bottles. It was
like a pogrom."
Through the intermittent
rain and thick humidity, as
many as 500 blacks then
went on what was called a
"wilding" rampage through
the neighborhood, throwing
bricks and bottles, smashing
windows and looting several