A teenager has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a violent robbery of a rabbi last year.
Superior Court Judge James Den Uyl imposed the prison term Friday on Timothy Swift and ordered that he serve 85 percent of the term before he can be considered for release on parole, under the state’s No Early Release Act for violent criminals.
Swift, 19, pleaded guilty in July to the robbery. Authorities said that on July 8, 2008, Swift accompanied Jose Diaz, 42, of Seaside Heights and Devon Hardy, 20, of Lakewood to a location in Lakewood where they robbed Rabbi Yaakov Goldbaum, then 41, in front of his home – as first reported HERE on YWN. Rabbi Goldbaum was punched and stabbed, and his wallet was stolen.
Hardy and Diaz are awaiting sentencing for robbing Rabbi Goldbaum and another Orthodox Jew, David Davidovish. Davidovish was struck with a baseball bat and robbed of his laptop computer and several hundred dollars as he sat in a car in front of a convenience store on Route 9 in Lakewood on May 25, 2008 – as first reported HERE on YWN.
Davidovich, then 38 and visiting from Israel, suffered a broken nose.
Authorities said that the trio targeted Orthodox Jews because they believed they would be unlikely to resist being robbed.
(Source: APP)
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3 Responses
Ladies and Gentlemen: The punchline (no pun intended) of the story… “the trio targeted Orthodox Jews because they believed they would be unlikely to resist being robbed.”
Aside (of course) from doing our spiritual Hishtadlus re our relationship to HaSh-m, to protect us from such chayas, we MUST also do our PHYSICAL hishtadlus… i.e. learning how to fight back, carrying whatever weapons we legally can carry (from firearm to pepper spray to stun gun – or even a mini can of deodorant or WD40 kept in your pocket, and sprayed in the eyes can be very effective). This is not only so we can protect OURSELVES and our loved ones, but it is a chilul HaSh-m that these sub-humans should look at Jews as an easy target!
#1, A “chilul Hashem that these sub-humans should look at Jews as an easy target!”???? A chilul Hashem on who? And for being a decent person that “sub-humans” decide to, heaven forbid, attack? Is that not blaming the victim? I must be misunderstanding something.
#2 No, I am NOT, chas v’shalom, blaming the specific victim, however these thugs should, in general, have the Pachad HaYehudim on them! Jews should NOT be looked at as “easy targets” as these punks said. When they find that Jews ARE, in fact, easy targets, it encourages them (as they said) to attack Jews again (the next time they want to rob someone.) Conversely, if they know that the last time they started with a Jew, they got their jaw broken, they will likely decide to target someone ELSE next time! Let the reputation of Jews (in this regard) be that we CAN and WILL defend us ourselves, and NOT that we are an easy mark.