Riots III: Making Restitution and Making a Cheshbon HaNefesh
(My final post on the subject)

This is the last post I will make about the Boro Park riots. I am so disturbed by the silence and even more concerned by those who justify the riots, thereby excusing the property damage (one police cruiser was severely damaged, one was completely destroyed) and uncivilized, animalistic behavior. So far we have seen one public letter from Rabbi Yacov Horowitz, a menahel from Monsey and I have heard that HaModia published a repudiation of the riots. Considering that these riots were seen the world over on national television, it should go without saying that this repudiation lacks a punch. I am sure there is a great amount of condemnation taking place in Boro Park, but the rest of the world needs to know that the parents and leaders of that community are upset too.

Also disturbing is, 1. The chutzpah of the frum politicians refocusing the discussion off the rioters and onto the police chief who supposedly made an anti-semitic remark and used vulgarity (quite honestly too, if I had a riot on my hands, I'd use some vulgarity too). 2. The blaming of a non-Jew for starting the first fire. Besides the fact that the picture circulating is obviously a photoshop job, it is downright ridiculous, if true, to blame one perpetrator for the actions of the rest of them. Do these people jump off the Brooklyn Bridge when they see someone else try? No, I didn't think so.

Now that the riots are done, what should be our reaction? Here are my ideas:

1. Arrest and Prosecution: The perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted. I posted a comment at Beyond BT with the other ideas below, but Rabbi Horowitz felt strongly and stated that gedolim agree that the perpetrators should be prosecuted. The thought had not crossed my mind as a viable one that anyone would support. If it is a viable idea, I hope to see Rabbis letting the community know it is a viable and correct option. In my community there was some criminal action by youngsters and when I stated that they should be arrested, I was met with strong feelings the opposite way. I'm thrilled to here that prosecution is an option that Gedolim in America support.

2. Community Service Programs: Restitution must be made. The boys who set the fires and burned a police cruiser absolutely need to work off their debt to society (hopefully as part of their sentence).

The problems of property destruction are not limited to Boro Park. There seems to be a general disrespect in many communities. For example, in the school where I taught briefly, the desks were destroyed by graffiti caused by the students (there is no way to be dan l'chaf zechut when Adina, Ahuva, and Faigy are scribbled all over the desks). In my public school, if you were seen writing on the desk, you were forced to clean not only your desk, but other desks in the classroom over lunch or after school. Our school was clean and nice and beautiful. The school I taught in was a dump and was treated as a dump. My school also had a work program where disruptive students cleaned the grounds of the campus of trash. Needless to say, the program wasn't very large, by virtue of its very existence.

We need to enact common sense, tried and true policies in all of our own communal institutions to encourage better behavior: Behavior that is in conformance with halacha and the way B'nai Torah should act.

3. Cheshbon HaNefesh: I view the riots in Boro Park as a wake up call for all Orthodox Jews. We should all be doing a serious Cheshbon HaNefesh. We should all be trying to understand which underlying problems, attitudes, and behavior patterns are negative and counterproductive in our own lives and in our own communities.

Even if you or I believe that a riot could never take place in your community, this should not be a sign that everything is A-OK. This is a terrible blight on all Orthodox Jews and for it to happen before Pesach is quite devastating. We should definitely use it as a wake-up call when it precedes a holiday based around family and the chinuch family provides.