(Click HERE to see exclusive photos of the funeral.) A sea of thousands of police officers – from many states traveled to Brooklyn this morning to pay their last respects to NYPD officer Russel Timoshenko. He died on Saturday, five days after he and his partner were shot when they pulled over a stolen vehicle. The other officer, Herman Yan, was wounded but recovered. Three suspects were arrested and have been charged with murder.
Yeshivaworld mourns the death of Officer Russel Timoshenko, and prays for the speedy recovery of Officer Herman Yan.
(Seen in the photo is Rabbi Bernard Freilich, special assistant to the Superintendent of the New York State Police speaking to NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.)
(Photos by Yeshivaworld / Photodynamics)
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15 Responses
May he rest in peace. It’s a sad day.
No matter what race or religion, the Jewish community mourns the death of any police officer.
Not that it makes a difference, he was not Jewish.
When it says that this officer died , someone posted that he is a
Jew and that his name is Reuvan ben Sara
It is tragic to us as people who live here ,who are protected by our police,that a any of them is killed doing his duty. (or hurt)
When we have problems we complain;when there is a tragic event,we should also show we care.
he was a russian Jew
Editors Note: He was not Jewish. The officer’s parents, Leonid and Tatyana Timoshenko, sat before their only child’s open casket, graced with a folded American flag, a cross and a Russian icon – a sacred image in their Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. He is being laid to rest at the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island
First and foremost, Officer Timoshenko’s death is, and should be, deeply mourned by the community, regardless of his personal religion or ethnicity.
What seems to be confusing everyone is that the venue for the funeral was I.J. Morris, a funeral chapel that caters ALMOST exclusively to the Jewish community.
From a public relations standpoint, this makes much sense because they drew a bigger crowd in Brooklyn than if it were held in Staten Island.
In a similar vein, the logistics of the Brooklyn venue made it more convenient for more uniformed police officers to show up in the crowd. I have seen NYPD and FDNY funerals on Long Island, and, crowded as they may be, are nothing compared to those held in more populous sections of NYC.
As for I.J. Morris, there is justice in this world! In the small towns away from the population centers, Jewish funerals use the goyishe funeral parlor facilities, and the goyishe small town funeral directors, while not necessarily harboring any personal animus towards Jews, lament the fact that Jewish funerals don’t bring as much $$$$ into their coffers as do the goyishe ones.
This is strictly a business perspective. The funeral parlors, whether small town goyish or I.J. Morris, are, first and foremost, businesses, and operate accordingly. I.J. is just as ready, willing and able to provide all of the pageantry of an ornate goyishe funeral as any other funeral parlor (though they do not push it too hard, given their main clientele and their need to be on good terms with the chevra kadisha).
But this time, instead of the goyishe funeral director making money off of the dead Jew, a Jewish funeral director got financial benefit from the dead (albeit al kiddush Hashem) gentile police officer.
The previous comment was very well written and I share your sentiments.
He WAS a Jew, regardless of how and where he was buried, his mother’s father is in Community Hospital ICU (because of the tragedy) his name is Mr. Grutman. The father was a Goy (Russian Orthodox)
Yedid, His mothers father doesn’t make him a Jew. (It would have to be his mother’s mother, for him to be Jewish.)
first of all, Russell was not Jewish, the Grandfather is in hospital and asked someone there to pray for his grandson Reuven Ben Sarah, when word got out about his hebrew name, the mother was contacted and she admitted to being Jewish, on Wednesday a few NYPD Chaplains approached the mother for a second time to confirm the facts, to which the mother responded “I am Jewish” so she was asked how far back to which she responded “my father is Jewish but my mother is not” so that is when we confirmed with the grandfather again to which he agreed.
may we not have any more sorrow and only strive forward for happiness.
Have a good Shabbos
According to the Jewish tradition, a child is Jewish if the MOTHER is Jewish.
But according to the Non Jewish tradition, the FATHER is the determining factor as to whether or not the child is Jewish.
Halachically,as we’ve been informed,he was NOT a Jew. It does not matter what the secular world says. Still ,the fact is that an innocent young man,doing his job fighting crime and protecting the public,namely,US,was BRUTALLY murdered and that is a tragedy. We should think of that aspect and hope justice will be done.He was a human being!Let’s hope and pray;daven and improve our middos,so we should see no more violence.
We know that everything that happens, happens for Am Yisroel.
Having gone to a shiur this week givin by R’ Yissochar Frand and the topic being Ahavas Yisroel/Machlokes, that got me thinking (Uhoh).
Maybe Hash-m is trying to tell us to have more Ahavas Yisroel.
Just by looking at the multitudes of police officers that came out to pay their fellow officer respect is mindboggling – most of them probobly didnt even know him!
Of course nothing is coincidence, and it is surely no coincidence that this took place in the 9 days, where the theme of these days are Ahavas Chinum.
Hopefully we will all take this lesson to heart and see the coming of Moshiach, speedily.
nameless, non-Jewish “tradition” is irrelevant to Jews.
Now that we know that Russell Timoshenko was not Jewish, we must remember that his maternal grandfather is. He may be 69 years old but there is still time for him to do Teshuvah. Let’s hope that people get involved in this great mitzvah of Kiruv Rechokim.