Shomrim under scrutiny? Only by the increasingly anti-Orthodox Jewish Week. Indeed, it was vulgar for The Jewish Week to attack the Borough Park community as they were sitting shiva for a murdered 8-year-old (“Tragedy In Borough Park Puts Shomrim Under Scrutiny,” July 22).
From Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on down, the New York Police Department supports the work that the Shomrim do. The NYPD can’t be everywhere and don’t know the Chasidic communities as well as the Shomrim do. There was absolutely no insinuation that the Shomrim somehow hurt the search for Leiby Kletzky or delayed the arrest of the cretin who murdered him. So one could wonder why The Jewish Week ran a story that was largely negative towards the Shomrim.
Over the years, the Shomrim have had confrontations with members of the black community who preyed on the peaceful chasidic communities in Brooklyn, and this undoubtedly upset the liberal and secular Jews who write such articles. Interestingly, Eric Adams, now a New York State senator and formerly head of 100 Black Men in Law Enforcement, was quoted as saying that he had no problem with the Shomrim or the way they patrol the chasidic communities.
So again, one must wonder why only The Jewish Week finds the need to attack this self-help organization in the chasidic community on the week that it sits shiva for an 8-year-old. It is simply baseless hatred for fellow Jews.
Highland Park, N.J.
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