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Abe Lebewohl Park honors murdered 2nd Ave Deli founder and East Village ‘mensch’
(New York Jewish Week) — “I need two matzah ball soups!” a deli clerk yells into the microphone during the lunch rush at 2nd Ave Deli — which, since 2006, is no longer located on Second Avenue but on East 33rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenue.
While the original deli building is now a bank, the Midtown location boasts the same old-school vibe: The menu is packed with Ashkenazi treats such as knishes, stuffed cabbage and, of course, pastrami; the gregarious waiters are full of personality; the logo’s Hebraic-styled lettering remains unchanged.
But one fundamental part of the restaurant’s DNA didn’t make the move: its founder, Abe Lebewohl. He was robbed and killed on his way to the bank on March 4, 1996, in a crime that transfixed New York City and has yet to be solved.
Back at East 10th Street and Second Avenue, across from where the deli sat for over 50 years, is a triangular, tree-lined plaza named Abe Lebewohl Park. “They called him the mayor of Second Avenue,” Steve Cohen, the longtime manager of the deli, told the New York Jewish Week of his former boss.
The decision to name the park after Lebewohl was a “no-brainer,” as Cohen called it. It was “neighborhood people” who initiated the naming of the plaza, which is located in front of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery and dates to 1799. As it happens, in 1980, Lebewohl had joined forces with Marilyn Appleberg, who was president of the 10th and Stuyvesant Streets Block Association, in an effort to clean up the plaza and make it more welcoming.
“That was his neighborhood,” Cohen said. “He was ubiquitous and all-encompassing. When you were around him he blanketed you.”
That Lebewohl would make his mark in Manhattan wasn’t preordained. Lebewohl was born in Kulykiv, Ukraine, in 1931. When World War II broke out, his father was sent to Siberia and Abe and his mother went to Kazakhstan. The family ultimately reunited and ended up at a refugee camp in Italy, where Abe’s brother Jack was born. In 1950, when Abe was 19, the Lebewohls emigrated to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Eager to help his family, Abe went to work as a soda jerk at a deli in Coney Island.
In 1954, Abe opened 2nd Ave Deli with two partners. A few years later, he bought out his partners, and the deli would remain on that corner for decades to come.
Cohen first met Lebewohl while he was working for an electrician, and Lebewohl was looking for a bookkeeper for the deli. Cohen took that job and has now worked at the 2nd Ave Deli in various roles for 40 years. He said Lebewohl was always urging people to “do better” and “would bother you until you did the right thing.”
“He was a world-class noodge but he did it with such warmth,” Cohen said, adding, using a word referring to the Jewish way of life, “He believed very strongly in Yiddishkeit.”
Cohen said Lebewohl was always helping people. One, he recalled, Lebewohl personally drove a 100-year-old customer to the tailor from the deli because he couldn’t get a cab. Another time, he went out of his way to deliver a Shabbat meal to an elderly woman every week. And there was a time he flew to England to cater a wedding so the family of the groom didn’t have to pack deli food in their suitcases. Cohen added that there were several instances when Lebewohl told customers who came up short on their checks, “You’ll pay me next time.”
Cohen said Lebewohl’s kindness extended to his staff, too “I broke my back and I was in the hospital for six weeks and he visited me every day and brought me food every single day,” he recalled. “I would give out the food — I had doctors coming to my room and I would say, ‘You were here yesterday, give it to another doctor.’”
Lebewohl was known for his faith and optimism in people: “He gave them his best and he expected the same in return,” Cohen said in a speech on “Abe Lebewohl Night” in 1998 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
The deli is now under ownership of Lebewohl’s nephews, Josh and Jeremy Lebewohl. Following the move uptown, they opened a second location on the Upper East Side. It’s been 27 years since his murder and, on 33rd Street, there is still a sign in the deli’s window offering a $150,000 reward for information that will help solve the crime.
In addition to the park, Lebewohl left another lasting mark on Second Avenue: the Yiddish Theatre Walk of Fame, which he installed on the sidewalk in 1984 to honor Yiddish theater actors, playwrights and composers, including Fyvush Finkel and the Barry Sisters.
“One of the great things Abie has taught me was that you could be a success in business and still be a mensch,” Cohen said. “I attended Talmud Torah [school] for 10 years and learned more about being a good Jew and a good human being working for Abie. It certainly was more palatable.”
Lebewohl was known for sitting down with his customers and enjoying half a sandwich with them. “You thought, and rightly so, you were coming to his home to eat,” Cohen said.
That same sort of hospitality is kept alive to this day: When I arrived at the 33rd Street at the midtown location to interview Cohen, he immediately asked if I wanted a sandwich, some matzah ball soup, the works. When I declined, he turned to the deli clerk behind him and said, “Let me get some pieces of sliced pastrami and corned beef.”
Cohen said he consciously carries on Lebewohl’s way of interacting with customers. “I tell people when they start to work here; you can either be entertained by people all day or assaulted by people all day, now which one are you gonna have a better day with?” he said. “Abe always felt he was entertained by people and he wanted to entertain people.”
During our conversation, every time someone walked into the deli, Cohen greeted them like an old friend. “When people leave here and they say to me, ‘It’s exactly like I remember it,’ to me that’s the greatest compliment,” he said. That’s the way I want it. I want people to say it’s like when Abie was here. I want to carry out his legacy.”
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The post Abe Lebewohl Park honors murdered 2nd Ave Deli founder and East Village ‘mensch’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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UAE Says Suspects in Murder of Chabad Rabbi Are From Uzbekistan
A view shows Rimon Market kosher store, which was managed by Zvi Kogan, an Israeli rabbi who was found murdered, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Cornwell
Three suspects arrested in the United Arab Emirates and accused of murdering an Israeli rabbi in the UAE are citizens of Uzbekistan, the Emirati Ministry of Interior said on Monday.
The ministry released a statement identifying the three men as Olimpi Toirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, also 28, and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33, releasing images showing each of them blindfolded and handcuffed in custody.
Ministry of Interior: Security authorities identify the perpetrators of the murder of the Moldovan citizen and initiate legal proceedings.
The Ministry of Interior announced that the competent security authorities have begun initial investigations with the three… pic.twitter.com/f5eNwVvdCa
— وزارة الداخلية (@moiuae) November 25, 2024
The investigation by Emirati authorities is continuing, the statement said, without saying whether the men had been charged.
The embassy of Uzbekistan in Abu Dhabi did not immediately respond to an emailed Reuters request for comment.
The body of the rabbi, Zvi Kogan, 28, was discovered on Sunday. He had been reported missing on Thursday and an Israeli official has said it is believed Kogan was last seen in Dubai.
Emirati authorities have not said if they have established a motive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it was an “antisemitic terrorist act,” and the Israeli official had said it is believed Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish.
“The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death,”read a joint statement on Sunday from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry.
Former Israeli Druze politician Ayoob Kara, speaking to Reuters in Dubai on Sunday, accused Iran of being involved. Iran’s embassy in Abu Dhabi has rejected the accusation.
Kogan’s death has shaken the UAE‘s Jewish community, which Jewish groups estimate to number in the several thousand.
Kogan was a resident of the UAE and also a Moldovan national, according to local authorities. He lived in the UAE for several years, working with the New York-based Chabad movement, involved in Jewish community outreach.
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of Chabad, said on Sunday that “the worldwide Chabad community and the international Jewish community at large are shocked, grieving, and outraged.”
“Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a young Chabad emissary, was kidnapped and murdered in cold blood last week while serving the Jewish community in the UAE,” Krinsky said. “Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries serve in countries around the globe in a spirit of generosity and kindness. Wherever they are stationed to grow and sustain Jewish life, they benefit the larger community as well with their love and light for all humanity.”
Israeli agencies are taking part in the investigation, the Israeli official told Reuters on Sunday. The Moldovan foreign ministry has said that it is contact with UAE authorities.
UAE Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba has said that Kogan’s murder was a crime against the Gulf Arab country, which sits on the Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf from Iran.
The Israeli and Jewish community in the UAE has grown more visible since 2020, when the Gulf Arab country established official ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement known as the Abraham Accords.
The UAE has maintained ties with Israel amid the 13-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
In the US, the White House National Security Council condemned Kogan’s murder.
“Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council, said on Sunday. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance, and coexistence. It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Savett added that the US “is working in close coordination with Israeli and UAE authorities, and we have offered all appropriate forms of support.”
The post UAE Says Suspects in Murder of Chabad Rabbi Are From Uzbekistan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Khamenei Calls for Death Sentence for Israeli Leaders
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with Iran’s parliament members in Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
The so-called “supreme leader” of Iran, which backs the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists fighting Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, said on Monday that death sentences should be issued for Israeli leaders, not arrest warrants.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was commenting on a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri.
“They issued an arrest warrant, that’s not enough … Death sentence must be issued for these criminal leaders“, Khamenei said, referring to the Israeli leaders.
Khamenei made the comment on Monday while speaking before a gathering in Tehran of Basij forces, the paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Iranian military force and internationally designated terrorist organization.
“Iran’s Basij will definitely succeed in destroying the Zionist regime one day,” he added, according to Iranian media. What the Zionist regime did in Gaza and Lebanon is not victory; it is a war crime. They are fools and should not believe that by bombing houses, hospitals, and congregations they are achieving victory. Nobody considers that victory.”
In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
The decision was met with outrage in Israel, which called it shameful and absurd. Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.
The warrant for Masri lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, and also charges of rape and the taking of hostages.
Israel has said it killed Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.
The post Iran’s Khamenei Calls for Death Sentence for Israeli Leaders first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Anti-Israel Group Lambasted for ‘Desecrating the Name of Raphael Lemkin’ in ‘Infuriating Abuse’
Raphael Lemkin being interviewed on Feb. 13, 1949. Photo: Screenshot
Pressure is mounting on a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization that has usurped the name of a Jewish lawyer and anti-genocide activist to pursue a campaign of strident anti-Israel activism.
Earlier this month, The Algemeiner exposed the extreme anti-Israel activities of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, reporting that family members of Raphael Lemkin are outraged that the name of Lemkin, who died in 1959, is being used without their permission to groundlessly vilify the world’s lone Jewish state.
Jewish organizations and Israeli government representatives voiced alarm at the situation disclosed in the article. Lemkin was an ardent Zionist who coined the term genocide and spearheaded the effort to win passage of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, while the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, founded in 2021, has repeatedly and — despite all evidence to the contrary — accused Israel of planning and perpetrating a genocide in Gaza.
“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (@LemkinInstitute) is desecrating the name of Raphael Lemkin and the word ‘genocide’ by falsely labeling the Gaza war as ‘genocide,’” the Simon Weisenthal Center said in a social media post linking to The Algemeiner story. “Lemkin was a Jewish lawyer who coined the term ‘genocide’ and dedicated his life to exposing the horrors of the Holocaust. While the Lemkin Institute is entitled to its political agenda, it has no right to besmirch Lemkin’s legacy.”
An Israeli diplomat, Tammy Rahaminoff-Honig, posted about the article from her official government account: “An important story by @IraStoll in the @Algemeiner reveals infuriating abuse by @LemkinInstitute of Raphael Lemkin’s name and legacy, as well as the terms Holocaust and Genocide, for political bashing of Israel.”
The Azerbaijani Jewish Assembly of America wrote in response to the article, “Finally, @LemkinInstitute has been exposed. It has been a platform for not only antisemitic rhetoric but also blatant Azerbaijanophobia. Backed by funding from the Armenian lobby, it has relentlessly targeted Azerbaijan, promoting the dehumanization of the Azerbaijani people.”
The Lemkin Institute, which didn’t answer The Algemeiner‘s inquiries before the article was published, issued “a note on recent criticism of the Lemkin Institute.”
“We are proud of our record and of our unfailingly frank assessments,” the statement said. “It is almost never popular to call out genocide as it is happening or to point to red flags as the process is getting started.”
In a social media post, Michel Elgort characterized the Lemkin Institute’s note as “a very long, vague, and empty statement that didn’t answer the most basic question that was asked by The Algemeiner: Did you or did you not co-opted the name of Raphael Lemkin to appropriate the good will associated with his name and works, without his family and successors approval?”
The post Anti-Israel Group Lambasted for ‘Desecrating the Name of Raphael Lemkin’ in ‘Infuriating Abuse’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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