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.

(Click on image to see huge turnout at courthouse) At the request of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshivos and Lakewood Vaad: A large crowd is needed at 1:00PM this afternoon at the court-house on 4th Street to counter the NAACP crowd at the trial of R’ Elchonon Zimmerman. Rav Malkiel Kotler has already left the Bais Medrash and is on the way there as well. The NAACP is expected to have a large crowd, and it’s imperative that the judge sees that R’ Elchonon Zimmerman has a large crowd backing him. For all those unfamiliar: R’ Elchonon Zimmerman – a Choshuv Rebbe in Lakewood Cheder – was arrested [as reported HERE on YW] when a black teenager, Jamarr Dickerson, cut through a private alley on Lawrence Avenue. Rabbi Zimmerman told the youth he was on private property and tried to take the teen’s picture with his cell phone camera. A scuffle ensued and, when a patrolman arrived, he found Rabbi Zimmerman detaining the youth by kneeling on his back. He told police that he wanted to press charges against the teen, so police told him to file a complaint at the Lakewood Police station. When he showed up a few minutes later, he had a surprise waiting for him – he was arrested. Rabbi Zimmerman was charged with simple assault, but the Ocean County-Lakewood branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has lobbied for bias crime charges to be filed because Dickerson told NAACP officials that several men surrounded the two and yelled racial slurs at Dickerson. UPDATE 12:48PM: The trial of R’ Elchonon Zimmerman is taking place right now at the Lakewood Courthouse (on 4th Street). The Lakewood Roshei Yeshivos have arrived just a few moments ago [Rav Malkiel Kotler & Rav Yeruchim Olson].

The following article was taken from the NY Times website, and will appear in Monday’s newspaper: A fault line runs through Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in Lakewood, dividing the black families that have lived here for years, many in run-down apartment complexes at one end of the street, from their new neighbors, the Orthodox Jewish families who mostly occupy a row of two-story houses on the other side. The black families are slowly leaving this street, and the Orthodox Jewish families are moving in. Their lives barely intersect, though it is barely half a mile from one end of the drive to the other. Motti Schwartz, a 26-year-old student at a large yeshiva here, rents an apartment on King Drive. “You come into a neighborhood that’s not really yours,” he said. “I think there’s probably a lot of animosity.” Ronald Daye, who is black, lived in one of the apartment complexes but recently moved to another town. “There’s jealousy because they stick together,” he said, referring to the Orthodox Jews. “We all want our own schools. This town has too many people, and there will be problems.” The problems, many people say, are already here. Black residents charge that new housing is being built only for Orthodox Jews, who, they say, are pushing black residents out and taking over the town. Members of the Jewish community say such accusations sometimes cloak anti-Semitic sentiments. The tension has played out in a series of violent episodes over the last two years that have laid bare the strains in this town of 73,000 near the Jersey Shore. In 2006, a black teenager and an Orthodox Jewish teacher got into a fight in an alley behind a synagogue, and the teacher’s trial on assault charges still divides the town into angry camps. In October, another Jewish teacher was beaten with a bat by a black man with a history of mental illness. Last month, there was another beating: a 14-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy was attacked by what he described as a gang of black and white teenagers. The attackers, the boy said, used the word “Jew.” Lakewood reported 41 bias crimes to state authorities in 2005 and 26 in 2006, more than any other town in Ocean County. But officials say that this, in part, reflects Lakewood’s greater diversity, and no one believes that the relations between Lakewood’s black and Jewish residents have sunk to the depths that contributed to the 1991 riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Still, interviews with people living in the town suggest that black and Jewish relations are, for the most part, locked in a deep misunderstanding because of cultural differences, economic disparities, or complaints by some members of each group about unequal treatment by the town’s authorities. “This is a divided town,” said Steve Sanders, who raked leaves on a recent afternoon at the home of his boss, an Orthodox Jew. Mr. Sanders, who is white, said he moved to Lakewood a year ago. Now, he said, he is considering moving to Freehold, N.J. “It’s not segregated there,” he said. There is a familiar ring to Lakewood’s story: One group arrives, another leaves, and in the upheaval, sparks fly. But town officials say that the changes here have been so rapid that they are struggling to keep up. The

The Asbury Park Press has an article in this mornings paper, about last nights Lakewood Township Committee meeting. A prayer was said for the speedy recovery of Rabbi Mordechai Moskowitz who was beaten beyond recognition – and nearly to death with a baseball bat – by an African American male. A variety of township and religious leaders arrived at the meeting Thursday night to offer prayers for the victim and urge the public to remain civil and tolerant amid rumors that the incident was a bias crime. “We don’t have any evidence to support that (it’s a bias crime),” Police Chief Robert Lawson said. “I just want to assure everyone that we’re doing all we can to try to apprehend this individual.” Still, half of the 16-member Lakewood Community Response Team – formed of leaders from each religious and ethnic sect of the town to quell reactions to potentially explosive incidents such as this – showed up Thursday to speak. The team meets once a month. James Waters, former head of the NAACP’s local chapter, criticized the team and the town and said. “I would’ve liked to see (the response team) give Jamarr Dickerson the same kind of consideration. When something bad happens to anybody we have to have the same vigilance, the same concerns and the same sympathy, because everybody’s equally important.” Dickerson was 15 when he had a violent scuffle with an Orthodox man in May 2006. The man, Elchonon Zimmerman, 44, was found not guilty in August of assaulting the black teenager, but not before the situation had created a bitter divide between Orthodox and black residents in town. Committeeman Charles Cunliffe, however, sees comments on Internet blogs and media sites as doing just that. He asked publications such as the Asbury Park Press not to allow people to post anonymous comments that might inflame the situation. [Seen in above photo left to right: Committeeman Singer, Mayor Coles, Deputy Mayor Lichtenstein, Committeeman Cunliffe, Committeeman Miller]

NOTE CHANGES MADE TO ARTICLE: Asbury Park Press reports: Two weeks after Rabbi Elchonon Zimmerman was exonerated of assault charges against a black teenager, Lakewood Township Committeeman Charles Cunliffe publicly criticized Rabbi Zimmerman’s behavior while also condemning what he considered “vile” and “racist” Internet postings from both sides in the wake of the trial. The postings, appearing on Jewish blogs and as comments on the Asbury Park Press Web site, speak of the case using strongly biased language against both black people and Jews. “One said Hitler was right,” Cunliffe said in a five-minute speech he requested at the Township Committee meeting Thursday. “Then it gets worse, people start sending postings to yeshiva blogs. That stuff written there was just as vile and just as racist, and that is wrong.” He added: “I’m afraid it could boil over into something very serious in this town.” YW Editor reports: Yeshivaworld had received word a few days ago from a leading Lakewood Askan that Mr. Cunliffe claimed he saw the use of the “N” word on our site, and urged YW to call him and straighten things out. YW called Mr. Cunliffe yesterday – prior to last nights meeting – and ensured him that the “N” word was never used on this website, and if he ever notices a comment which he feels does not belong on YW he can call YW and it will be removed. Mr. Cunliffe then told us that the comments he saw were on a “blog coming out of Williamsburg”, and not YW. In addition, we informed him that YW had sent an email to the Asbury Park Press after we noticed the vile, anti-Semitic slurs all over their forum page. The email was sent after seeing the comment “Hitler was right” and dozens of other hate-filled comments. The APP removed the Hitler comment……….DAYS LATER, and never responded to the email. To this day, the forum page (which was also printed out) on the Zimmerman trial page is filled with anti-Semitic comments. CORRECTION: Mr. Cunliffe contacted YW today (after seeing the article) and informed us that we made a gross error. He told us that he was never referring to Yeshivaworld as having had the “N” word in the comment section. As a matter of fact, he said that YW was “the better of the sites – regarding the comments in this particular incident”. We publicly apologize for the error. YW Editor.