Rabbi Raskin Attacked on Joralemon Street

Rabbi Aaron Raskin (photo), of Congregation B’nai Avraham on Remsen Street, was, as reported by the Eagle, attacked by a group of people while walking on Joralemon Street near Hicks Street at 6:18 this past Sunday evening, January 31. He was talking on his cell phone at the time of the attack, and it was knocked from his hand. Evidently he was able to recover it, and a police officer was near at hand, as a 15 year old was arrested and charged with attempted grand larceny.

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  • Jorale-man

    I hope this man is doing okay now. The Eagle story notes that there appears to be a pattern of crime on Joralemon St. and it “may be related to teenagers who use Joralemon Street as a corridor going to or from Brooklyn Bridge Park.”

  • One Who Knows

    A problem with the park? No, I can’t believe it. That park has been nothing but a joy for the neighborhood and the improvement to the view made by the addition of the Pier House is a wonder to behold!

  • Eddyde

    Damn footbridge…

  • Concerned

    Eddyde, you really are one of those people who can’t add 2 + 2 in logic. This violence on Joralemon is EXACTLY the reason I don’t want the footbridge to open in the north heights. I don’t want the north heights to end up like Joralemon. I HAVE SAID THIS MULTIPLE TIMES AND YET YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT!!! How can you not understand the logic!?!?!?!?! HOW!?!?!?!?!
    (My apologies to everyone who hates screaming on the internet)

  • GHB

    I disagree with a lot of what you say, but I agree 100% on the bridge. Having it is a convenience, but unless they have constant police patrols on both ends, not worth all the aggravation!

  • Concerned

    Joralemon street…where the violent youth of Brooklyn go in-between Juvenile Hall and Rikers, Real estate dreams turn into nightmares, and the overly politically correct attempt to spin that the basketball courts in the BBP aren’t the reason for this crime (of course it is the socio-economic plight of this youth…but you get my point that the basketball courts attracts this demo).

  • Teresa

    People have gotten mugged in that area of Brooklyn Heights for as long as I’ve lived here (since 1998). Seems to me that additional foot traffic in any area is likely to deter, rather than increase, crime.

  • Concerned

    Right…because NYC is exactly the same as it was almost 20 years ago….
    This is what I’m talking about, here come the people who try to deflect and spin this senseless act of violence against a man simply trying to mind his own business. Have you ever seen someone sucker punched? It is a cowardly and heinous act that takes a depraved heart; people die from being sucker-punched and hitting their heads on the concrete all the time. The act, here, clearly could have caused more damage. I wonder if this man had fallen and had a brain bleed, if your response would be the same?
    All that being said, I would hope that you would want more police presence in the area, since your experience is that this is an area where crime has been occurring for years.

  • Teresa

    I think that what happened to him, and to everyone else who is senselessly attacked, is horrible and should be stopped. My point (made not well enough at all) is try to stop the knee-jerk blaming of park patrons.

  • Concerned

    I understand your point and I appreciate your POV. But how many incidents do we have to have until the blame is not a “knee-jerk” reaction?
    Joralemon is a changed street as an ingress/egress to the park. Can anyone argue that Joralemon is a better street as a result of the BBP?
    Look, as I’ve said before, I like the BBP. All I ask is for more police presence than we’ve had before to handle the influx of people. And more police in the park is not all that is needed. We need more of a police presence in Brooklyn Heights because we are the ingress/egress to what is now a very large and popular park?

  • A Tree

    I think you’re the type of person Phil Ochs sang about.

  • Concerned

    LOL. If Phil Ochs were alive today, I’m sure he’d be singing songs about a person in Brooklyn Heights who cares about his neighborhood and is only slightly non-PC. You know, because he’d jump right to me after he got sick of writing songs about Cheney, Rumsfeld, Trump, Cruz, ISIS, Aids, Wall Street, etc…
    Do you sound how ridiculous you are. Clearly, Mr. Ochs’ wit did not rub off on you.

  • A Tree

    No, he spoke to people with that attitude very specifically:
    “I love Puerto Ricans and Negros –
    As long as they don’t move next door”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52Oz-54VYw

  • Concerned

    Cute. I forgot that you have to bleed with the poor to have any type of credibility with people like you. It’s impossible to work hard and do well for yourself and expect a safe place to live in return, unless EVERYBODY gets it??? Otherwise, I’m a hypocrite and a racist.
    The pathetic thing is that you think this way of thinking is deep and committed, when really it’s sad, it doesn’t work and you end up frustrated and miserable from taking such polarized positions of people who simply want to keep their family safe by a little extra police presence. Good day.

  • petercow

    Easy to take a kid out of the ghetto.

    Harder to take the ghetto out of the kid.

  • Jorale-man

    It also all comes back to the BBP’s lack of accountability. They don’t seem to answer to anyone except their shareholders and stand on the sidelines when BH feels the consequences of their users’ actions.

  • Eddyde

    FYI, Joralemon St has always had a history street crime. You think its bad now the 80’s & 90’s were much worse.
    Anyway, the park is here to stay, it will forever change the flow through the neighborhood, footbridge or not. The sooner you face reality, the sooner you can move on and enjoy the positive aspects of the hood… Or perhaps you’re just one of those people who just like s to “scream on the internet”.

  • Concerned

    Everybody listen up!!! Because NYC was a more dangerous place in the 80’s and 90’s, there should be nothing done in response to violence, today. We should not strive for more safety. We should not fight for a better place. Take it and suck it up. And when you’re sucker punched while walking down the street or you are assaulted while walking your newborn in a stroller, just remember that it used to be worse. The blood coming from your head from a punch, today, would have been from a tire iron in the 80’s, so it’s ok. The brain damage that you receive today, would have been certain death in the 80’s and 90’s, so rest easy.

  • Bornhere

    Allow me to get all anecdotal, because I am guessing that’s about what we are all doing on the then-and-now of Joralemon: I have lived in the Heights my entire life, and have lived on Henry/Joralemon for the past 30+ years. I have NEVER felt as unsafe as I do now. And it’s not just because I’m gettin’ on in years, I can assure you.

  • Brixtony

    My ancestors lived in a real ghetto. I’m surprised you posted this. Unless you were referring to the rabbi, of course.

  • Brixtony

    That’s ridiculous. Either your memory is severely damaged or you’re becoming irrationally paranoid. I’ve lived here for 26 years and am out all hours. I’ve never felt safer. I’m also pushing 70, so it isn’t that either.

  • Brixtony

    Go vote for tRump or Rafael. I’m sure they’re just as scared as you and the other hysterics on this thread. We need a wall around the Heights so we can keep out the wrong element. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

  • Concerned

    I just figured out why I’m at odds with so many on this blog. You’re all a bunch of hard-liner left wing lunatics. Just like the hard-liner right wing, if someone doesn’t agree with you, you put them on the far right side of things. A moderate like myself, who will vote for Clinton and voted for Obama twice, cannot exist in your screwy world because you’re just like the far right. It’s people like you who give Ted Cruz and Trump their talking points, because the world we would live in if you were in charge is probably scarier than the one we would live in if Ted Cruz was in charge.
    Truth be told, this is a great education for me. So thanks for opening my eyes to realize that I’ve been posting on the left wing version of Breitbart.com.

  • martinlschneider

    The politically correct people remind me of that Groucho Marx salesman’s joust: “Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes!?”

  • Concerned

    Brixtony, you have a neighbor who is telling you how they feel and you call them “ridiculous” and accuse them of having mental problems. Wow! What a rude and terribly unempathetic thing to say.
    Worse off, you pump yourself up by explaining to everyone how you never felt safer and you’re 70 years old. Hmmmmmmm…this sounds like someone. Unempathetic + self-aggrandizing = DONALD TRUMP!!!

  • Brixtony

    Ooo. You’ve resorted to the trump’ite PC epithet . However, my eyes are not seeing what the fearful folk are feeling. “Say the magic word(s) and you win a prize!”

  • Eddyde

    LOL, no one is throwing a sucker-punch my way.
    Again, the park is here to stay, it will forever change the flow through the neighborhood, footbridge or not. The sooner you face reality, the sooner you can move on and enjoy the positive aspects of the hood… Or perhaps you’re just one of those people who just like s to “scream on the internet”.

  • Concerned

    Ok. I take the bait. Why wouldn’t anyone sucker punch you?

  • Bornhere

    Tony — Unless you live on or very near Joralemon Street, you really cannot know how BPP has contributed to changes there. I live only two blocks from both Montague Street and Atlantic Avenue, and I am not affected by the activity of commerce and crowds and traffic on those particular streets; I grew up on Clark and Willow, and that little corner of the Heights was like Walton’s Mountain, compared with Joralemon and Henry. So, no, I am neither demented nor paranoid. Your experiences are yours, and mine are mine, and neither is more valid than the other. You would think that one who is “pushing 70″ might have learned such a truth decades ago….

  • Eddyde

    Let’s just say I have mastered the look of “don’t f*@k with me” and I back it up too. The last guy who attempted to rob me wound up in the hospital & jail.