Just a few short moments ago, YeshivaWorld received the good news that Bicasdei Hashem the verdict is ‘not guilty’ in the “bogus charges” against Rabbi Elchonon Zimmerman – the Coshuver Rebbe from Lakewood Cheder.
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Just a few short moments ago, YeshivaWorld received the good news that Bicasdei Hashem the verdict is ‘not guilty’ in the “bogus charges” against Rabbi Elchonon Zimmerman – the Coshuver Rebbe from Lakewood Cheder.
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53 Responses
I was there. Judge actually went on and on about “What a fine man Mr. Dickenson is” and seemed to say that he belives it was Rabbi Zimmerman’s fault, but not without a reasonable doubt so he cannot be convicted.
Baruch Hashem.
Hopefully we will not need to deal with the drunks at the NAACP trying to pervert justice and retry it in a case of double jeapordy.
B’H
It is lechoira the koach Hatorah of Rabbi Z. He was my sons Rebbi. A real star!
rabos machshavos blev ish viatzas hashem he sukoom
A few facts from trial.
1.Kid trespassed on path belonging being part of private property.
2.R Z informed him of this, to which the kid said F U
3.Kid admittedly hit cellphone out of RZ,s hand, as the first act of aggression
4.Kid allegedly punched RZ in face
5.RZ constrained him and asked for police backup
6.At trial the kid changed his story many times
7. judge said kid was believable, that RZ assaulted him before he punched him in face
8. judge blamed attitude of the Orthodox, for judging kid based on color of his skin.
This Judge was anything but fair. He actually blamed the incident on Rabbi Z and the orthodox community at large, for discriminating against dickerson because of the color of his skin, and that he was a good kid, who acts like 16 year old kids act.
What a fool the guy is. The kid was trespassing on someones property. Racism or not, Is the judge condoning such behavior? And is being asked why he is there, an excuse to assault someone. This Lakewood judge is just encouraging kids to act this way .I myself, even when visiting someone in the area am reluctant to walk on this pathway, due to is private nature.
Additionally, why not judge the kid based on his color? Does this judge have any experience with the hostility black kids show to jewish people. Go to any place where they hang around in lakewood, and you will be a target of a nasty comment, or some form of aggression. What is the likelyhood or probability of a black kid causing trouble, or a jewish kid. I wounder if the judge did a study on this.
sammygol: your’e my hero!
Was this a jury trial or decided by the Judge?
I’m sure the judge will get his just dues one fine day. What goes around comes around.
I remember when Al Sharpton stuck up for a career ganev in Crown Heights, who kept breaking into Lubavitcher Yeshiva. He was finally caught and got the beating of a life time.
During the weeks that Al Sharpton defended him he broke into Al’s office and stole his TV. Al dropped him like a hot potato.
Remember, Hashem is the true judge and Rosh Hashana is coming up. Like our Rav once told us,
Hashem wants us to know that just like there is a Beis Din Shel Mata there is also a Beis Din Shel Malah.
there are 2 sides to every story maybe it really was the rabbi’s fault who will ever know
Hey sb – there are 2 sides to every story maybe it really was the rabbi’s fault who will ever know – what in the world are you smoking????????
Maybe you should get your facts in order! There was only 1 true side, as was evident to anyone who saw the trial.
B”H, R’Z. won. It was a huge Kiddush Hashem to have so many Yiddin out in support. His lawyer was excellent, & really did a good job showing what the emes was.
Bottom line – we are in galus, as we see how easy it is to make such a “bilbul” & cause so much tzaar!
what is the judges name?
It’s true that there are two sides to every story, but it seems every time something happens to a yid, we say that. I always thought we were supossed to give our fellow Jew the benfit of the doubt.
His lawyer sliced and diced the alleged victum
not every time a jew is involved with an incedent with a guy do we automaticly have to say the jew is wright and stop kissing up
The judge really did get it all wrong…
After sitting through the trial from the very begining to the very end, I was truly dismayed at this judge’s (Basen) conclusions. Before releasing his verdict, he went into a lengthy diatribe about his “moral” conclusions (verdict), in which he found “Mr. Zimmerman” GUILTY of causing the whole incident and acting excessively, and inappropriatly. In addition, he reiterated many times his feelings that the cause was due to the color of the assailant’s skin.
To make it worse, when he finally reached his verdict of NOT GUILTY, he prefaced it with an apology to the family of Mr. Dickerson in which he stated his hope that they not take this the wrong way and that he meant no insult by it.
His conclusion was simply that he feels Mr. Zimmerman is guilty, but due to the technical requirement of “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt” he is unable to find Mr. Zimmerman guilty. He expended great effort in ripping in to Rabbi Zimmerman about his racial biases and those of our community. As evidence to such, he pointed to the beautiful and astounding crowd that filled the ENTIRE courtroom (every single seat, with the exception of the Dickerson family). His understanding of this show of support was because a Jew was on trial, and somehow that means that we look down or otherwise judge other ‘types’ of people superficially.
we all thought the monsey rav was chashiv and look what happened so you never really who is at fault
It is difficult for me to believe that this judge who otherwise seemed smart, can really believe everything he said. There were definitly ulterior motives involved in pleaseing the black community like that.
a) Perhaps he was protecting the Lakewood Police Dept from a civil suit, by using his lengthy speech to establish “probable cause” which he explicitly stated that he finds.
b) Maybe this was his diplomatic way of finding the defendant not-guilty, but doing it with the least amount of damage.
Some highlights:
It was amusing to watch the defense, set-up, double-trap, then drop the bomb-shell, on the star prosecution witness. He slowly and methodically picked-off every aspect of this kids statements. In fact, at many occasions, the floor emmitted muffled laughs.
When the defense completely trashed the proffesionalism of Lakewood Patrolwoman Summer Cunliffe. At one point he asked her if it was appropriate to refer to the assailant as ‘Sweetie”, to which she defensively responded, “NO!, I would never do that, it is totally inappropriate and Unproffesional to do something like that” in a very dissimissive and talking-down tone of voice. The defense accepted her statement and moved on, only 10 minutes later asking her if she would be surprised to hear herself on tape in her squad-car referring to Mr. Dickinson as Sweetie on several occasions!!!
Also, nailing her on using very obsene language to describe her position to her supervisors…after that she plead the “no recollection” to every other question, she was terrified to say anything else!
we are jews and we are biased that is a fact so the judge is correct
After reading all these comments, it would be interesting if a complete transcript of this trial could be made available on line.
Judging by these comments, some papers such as the NY Sun or NY Post would have a good time with it.
Please disregard what sb writes – he seems to be a self-hating Yid. Not knowing any facts – he takes the liberty of saying that there is another side.
But….anyone who heard the evidence presented today saw that there is only 1 side – the emes won.
CoffeeKup gave a beatiful summary of the trial. There seemed to be a lot of problems with the memory of the prosecution’s witnesses.
It was a great Kiddush Hashem to see such a crowd of supporters.
The judge was paving the way for a vicious civil trial which is sure to follow.
Let me clarify my above statement if it wasn’t clear.
Dickerson, knocked RZ phone down, as their first interaction. Dickerson also punched him in the nose. However Dickerson claims that he was assaulted sometime too, before he punched RZ in the nose. However he could show no evidence to this, or an injury.
im not a selfing hating jew just you cant always defend someone because he is jewish
First and utmost, Baruch Hashem. May we always get good news about our fellow Jews, especially one as choshuv as Rabbi Zimmerman.
Thank you once again, sammygol, for making me laugh out loud. You deserve more than mere praise for that but alas, such is life sometimes. CoffeeKup, your court reporting blew me away. Wouldn’t mind if you would continually contribute on the relevant trials of our times. You would rival any of the best out there.
And finally, sb. The comments you submitted has me wondering. someone stated that Basen was the name of the presiding judge. Are you… related to him?
Next time people should call the cops instead of taking the law into our own hands and taking a chance of going to jail, not to mention all the bittul Torah that this caused.
sb –
Enough already. Who are you? Do you live in Lakewood? Do you know reb Elchonon bichlal? Obvious answer, NO!
Don’t bring a proof from that notorious rabbi(?) in Monsey. What’s wrong with you? There is proof upon proof, victim upon victim to substantiate the allegations against him.
To compare him to Reb Elchonon, a true Eved Ne’eman, a Ba’al Yiras Shomayim, and a ‘Zeeskeit’ to top it all off is incomprehensible! Reb Elchonon is a stellar ‘Mentsch,’ an example for all to follow.
Please, keep your fingers away from the keyboard for a while.
sammy, suddenly you are (appropiately) giving a Yid the benefit of the doubt, after hypocritacly not doing so for the Yidden in N.S.
SB,
We have a mitzvah to judge other people favorably;a mitzvah I presume you would be all in favor of if you were the one being judged.
I’M GUESSING MY LATEST TWO POSTS THAT WERE NOT POSTED ARENT WHAT YOU ALL WANT TO HEAR, SO THEY WERE NOT POSTED. THIS SITE IS A SHAM.
Obviously the Judge has anti-semitic tendencies, but couldn’t fully obsicrate the truth.
i dont think he is guitly but at the same time i dont think he is so inocent and who cares anyway he won the case and life moves forward this is old news stop talking about it, talk about a shmooz you heard from your rav about elul. to the editor this site should be closed down until after yom kippur because of all the bital torah it causes people including my self. good night!!!
I AGREE SB, HOPEFULLY THE EDITOR WILL POST THIS POST AS TWO OF MY LAST POSTS MUST HAVE BEEN DELETED DUE TO MY OPINIONON THIS CASE, RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH, NOT ON HERE.
Those who feel that the municipal court system in NJ is not quite “kosher” are not alone. Those who feel that the judge acted improperly should contact the presiding judge of the municipal courts for the county and the judicial ethics committee and file a complaint.
I believe the Lakewood community should request that a special prosecutor should review all the cases Judge Basen has ruled in the past. This case shrieks of anti-semitism, and condones violence from certain sectors, giving free reign to colored people to commit crimes for which they will be exonerated. I would not remain silent, as long as this judge remains on the bench.
charlie, I stand to be corrected if need be, but Chom has a place in our Torah.
Nothing wrong with blacks. NAACP is not usually an honest organization though.
I live a few houses away from this hoodlum Dickerson. He is no tzaddik and neither is his family… or whatever you wanna call all those ppl living in that house. There is no reason to assume he is innocent against the choshuva yid. E/o knows he snuck onto the property and was obviously up to no good. What wrong could RZ have been doing to say it is partly his fault?!
moreover, last year a neighbor was missing his lawn chairs and found them in their back yard. When he confronted them they said they just needed them…. the mom doesn’t pay her share of the rent and there are always official ppl from the hud office standin on their stoop having shouting matches…
When the judge made his comment that we the crowd were racist for attending the case in large numbers, I wanted to scream that he is the racist by judging us by the clothes we wear that were there for Reb Elchonon. Maybe we were there for the little black kid. This idiot of a judge also mentioned the Rabbi Klein was a racist for referring to the kid as a “colored person”. I went over to the President of NAACP and after the case and made it clear that he was not a racist since he was only referring to them as they call themselves “THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLORED PEOPLE”. He had nothing to say. I shudder to think was Asbury Park Press is going to say tomorrow and how they will trumpet the Judges words….
wow, bravo to you Stam, thats gutsy!
When Torah laws or “Judeo- xstian” laws are deemed to be for whites, and the ways of the street guides the ways of the other group,there will always be friction. People that are racist learn it from early on and teach it to the next generation. They hate those whom they cannot understand. They aren’t able to believe that people really can be morally upright and decent and honest,as our hashkofo teaches us.
ploini, who OWNS the house?? is it one of our ‘own’? We must root out the problem! Criminals (legal and illegal) are being sheltered in homes owned by yiddin! YIDDIN, STOP renting out your home to this scmutz… THIS is why they’re here in the first place!!
Charlie Hall,
You’re absolutely right, but you have to distinguish between the mom and pop working class, and the professional race baiters like the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons. This chapter of the NAACP seems to be like the latter, not doing anything for the working class to get ahead, but in the front of the marches screaming racism at anything and everything.
CharlieH: Is by any chance the Orthodox Rabbi leading the parade the Riverdale activist from YCT? I’m also not sure about you’re upteitch of Dr. King’s shitos, but he’s been gone a looooong time, and his primary talmidim, the late unlamented Malcom X, and the reverend Jesse are by no means of that belief.
I happen to have a next door neighbor who is of African American descent. We get along fabulously. I don’t automatically stereotype, which is somewhat racist. (My only beef with him is that he’s married to a Jewess.)
A teenager wandering in private property in the dark of the night, and who is aggressive when peacefully confronted, obviously does live up to that stereotype. I don’t think that pointing that out is racism.
Does that mean that Dickenson is Guilty, or is it just that Rabbi Zimmerman is not Guilty? Will Dickerson be punished for his actions?
I think that CoffeeKup Post 21 probably sums it the best. The judge was too afraid of the big old naacp and jesse and al to just plain out say to dickerson – don’t trespass, don’t assault people and be respectful and people will stop calling the police about you.
re: the comments the judge made regarding the nature of the observers — a complaint by the people in attendance should be filed with the State judiciary review board (assuming that there an oversight board) – he is showing and obvious bias towards the Yeshive population and considers them all to be intolerant racists.
I THINK ALL YOU COMMENTATORS ABOVE ARE MISSING IT.
THIS WHOLE THING WAS ONE BIG SHARADE TO END THIS TRIAL WITH ALL PARTIES KNOWING THE END RESULT
OF COURSE THE JUDGE KNOWS THE TRUTH BUT HE HAD TO BALANCE IT OUT FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE AND SPECIFICALLY TO LET ALL PARTIES HERE WALK OUT WITH WHAT THEY WANTED REZ TO BE NOT GUILTY AND BE FINISHED WITH THIS NONSENCE
AND THE PERP YIM”SH TO BE TURNED INTO AN INNOCENT HERO (NO LESS, SUFFERING AT THE HANDS OF THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY)
HOPE FULLY THIS WILL BE THE END OF THIS STORY
DWKL1 –
You hit the nail on the head. Do we need another Crow Heights style riot here in Lakewood?
The Judge is a smart cookie. The ‘victim’ walked away feeling that b’etzem he won just that a tecnichality (like lack of evidence!) prevented a guilty verdict. And Zimmerman walks free!
NOT ONLY ARE WE BIAS BUT ALL FAIL TO ARGUE THE TRUTH! the child was not tresspassing anywhere! that piece of properties taxes aren’t paid by Zimmermsn nor any of you or me that is twnship.property and the path the child was taking is a shortcut from one street to another I know this for a fact because I walk through or ride my bike through there alot people fail to mention that this child who struck Zimmerman out of defense or not its all hearsay was pummeled by this Rebbi the child was half his height and more than half his weight at the time of the confrontation, Zimmerman being a scholar that he is should have exercised better judgement giving his educational background in Toarah teachings this would’ve never been a case instead this child suffered at the time of the incident fractured ribs bloody face and nearly choked unconcious at the hands of such a gentle giant of a man while waiting for Police.The key word here is CHILD and as we all know a child doesn’t always know right from wrong all that child was doing was using the short cut he wasn’t sniffing around for treasure as some assumed that he was doing in fact if anyone knows this path what is around there that this kid would go out of his way to steal?NOTHING! the issue stems from this child not being a frum or the right color??? Sammygol ur a criminal for inciting hatred amongst jews it is not good. You are the first to shout anti-semetisem if you find yourself in hot water but you’re no better by giving it to someone else. You’re clown who needs to search your soul to understand where we are now B’H is because of where we came from and if any society should understand tolerance it is ours because we know what BIAS is and to degrade someone because of their ethinicity just makes you no better. Yes Jews own Lkwd.n.j. theres no secret there and I too believe the judge was trying to defuse a very real volitile situation by demeaning the defense but at this point everyone got almost what they wanted.
#56, “Mr. Outside the box”, I believe you are just that, out of your box.
1) This kid WAS trespassing.
2) Yes it is PRIVATE property, and taxes are paid on it by the residents of those 2 blocks (check the tax maps for yourself, they are public records and readily available)
3) The path is NOT a SHORT cut, in fact its exactly as long as either block, and does not lead anywhere the main street doesn’t leads to. Nor is it especially suited to walking or riding your bike through unless you like bending down under branches. Beside, this was WAY out of this kids way from Coventry to 4th&Princeton, so please explain to us why he chose to walk an extra 2 blocks OUT OF HIS WAY to take a “shortcut” and them walk back to the avenue???
4) The kid himself admitted to striking FIRST so that his picture shouldn’t be taken (that is not DEFENSE at lease not in this country). The only question is which version of the kids story you want to believe, the one he told the police, the one he told the detective, the one he told the court in Toms River, or the one he told us in Lakewood Municipal Court. If he hit his hand, the cellphone, his chest, his face….
5) This kid is does not make an impression as a minor by any stretch, and even if he did, this is of zero consequence. Weight and size have no bearing on whether or not he should be restrained till the police come, and as he has proven himself, he did give strike RZ in the face causing with some very significant impact. (I saw that injury with my very own eyes).
6) Please enlighten us as to what the correct course of action should have been, so that they too can be addressed.
7) Nobody, including the kid, the police, the EMS, or anybody else has accused RZ of causing A SINGLE SIGNIFICANT INJURY, let alone a bloody face, fractured ribs, or choking unconscious. The best that the police had was that there were ABRASIONS (scratches to non-medical personnel), and some bleeding from those abrasions, behind his ear. The kid claimed that he had asthma, which is why the he first went to police HQ, then was taken to the hospital to be checked out, bec. he was blue in the face and couldn’t breath. That’s also why he was on his cellphone talking to his friend in the back of the police car. Its also why he was screaming fiercely, by the account of many witnesses, bec. there was nebach so little air moving in and out of his lungs.
8) Child, or no child, he was where he didn’t belong, we don’t like our bikes being stolen even by children, he was EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE, and did not make the impression as a child by any stretch.
9) Yes, there is plenty to steal back there, including the MANY bikes that are constantly being stolen from there (which was the root of this issue in the first place).
In summation:
There was no reason for the kid to be there other than for reasons that he shouldn’t have been there (think probable cause to detain him even without his assault of RZ). This is in addition that the area has been victim of petty thefts numerous times in the time period just prior to this incident (including the day of itself).
The kid struck first (and even the judge had to agree that we have to assume this for the purpose of this case do to presumption of innocence). RZ did NOT avenge the punch he sustained, when he could have, rather he held the kid down even if that meant the kid will get scratched up in the struggle.
There was ZERO evidence of race playing ANY role here, other than the fact that black kids on the Lawrence path are an ANOMOLY. If it was a white kid who did the same thing he absolutely would get the exact same treatment.
The judge studied law and qualified himself to judge CRIMINAL LAW. This makes no statement of his MORAL understandings, and gives him no more credibility regarding his opinions outside of criminal law, than me or you (possibly less considering he that he practices criminal law). This judge HAD NO RIGHT to rip into an innocent man, as proven by HIS OWN COURT. In fact, what HE did was morally reprehensible.
By apologizing to the Dickerson family for the not guilty verdict, he has implicitly admitted, that the goal here was to find a GUILTY verdict, but due to technical limitations we were unable to do that. In reality, a person is innocent until proven guilty, and the goal of the judge is to decide if this charge is TRUE(guilty) or FALSE(not guilty). The Judge has no business playing prosecutor by trying to find a guilty verdict, because from his angle, it is unknown what or if these charges exist.
As an added bonus, if you were to take the Judges opinion’s as he expressed them, and if you followed his line of reasoning, his whole problem with RZ was that he EVEN NOTICED the kid more so than reacting the way he did.
outside the box,
I haven’t seen a picture of this ‘child’, but since you apparantly have, could you give us his approximate height?
outside the box-
You’re also outside the realm of truth.
Your fantasitical story is blatant falsehood- I am curious what you think you would gain from concocting this imaginative version.
You have a lot to answer for- I wonder that you are not concerned.