Rabbi Elazar Muskin

Young Israel of Century City rabbi Elazar Muskin was held up at gunpoint Friday night, Oct. 26, 2007.

He was not hurt.

Pico-Robertson has had a rash of these incidents (recently and over the years).

Is this going to be the impetus for armed Jewish protection patrols?

Crime is the most important issue in Pico-Robertson. Who's going to respond?

Joe emails:

When are people buying houses in Pico Robertson going to realize it is a slum.
Go one mile east from Pico-Robertson and you are in a shooting gallery with lots of pissed off minorities living in cruddy apartments, probably owned by some of the members of the Orthodox community. The area is just way too dense not to have some garbage (other than the felons mentioned on this site) lying around. I dare anyone to walk down Corning or Holt Street with a yarmulke and the people in the east of Robertson area better have a sixth sense or a six shooter.

You do not see the non-Jewish citizens out at night - and Jews should not think that we are on a better plane - if you want to walk to synagogue, travel in numbers or pack some heat in addition to the booze you are bringing to the shalom zachor.

The valley community is similar, one mile north is mexi/arme/disgusting people land and there was a shooting that just missed taking out a group of walkers. The rabbi had to beg people not to walk alone.

This is LA under Villalaraza where illegals are running wild and somehow there is a decreasing crime rate, just like there is no inflation and just like there is economic growth.

Brad A. Greenberg writes in the June 8, 2007 Jewish Journal:

As dusk turned to dark on the first night of Shavuot, one rabbi, who asked not to be named, was mugged at knifepoint on Rodeo Drive near Olympic Boulevard as he was walking home after services. Eight hours later, five Orthodox men were walking down Pico Boulevard near Sherbourne Drive when a van pulled up and two men jumped out waving handguns. Less than a week later, another Jewish man was mugged in Beverlywood.
"All we want to do is be left alone and be able to go to shul and spend time with our families," said Cliff Alsberg, who handles security at Aish Los Angeles. "But these people are coming in and disrupting our lives."

Los Angeles police have attributed 11 robberies of about 30 people -- including many non-Jews -- to three teams of suspects. Five people, comprising two of the teams, have been arrested and charged; three men believed to be members of the third team have been arrested but not yet charged.

From YICC.org:

For the past twenty-one years, Rabbi Elazar Muskin has served as the Rabbi of the Young Israel of Century City in Los Angeles, California. Under his leadership, the congregation has become one of the fastest growing Orthodox synagogues in the West Coast, and is considered a leader in creative adult education programs. The synagogue was awarded the national citation from the Orthodox Union for its Annual Adult Education Program Calendar and the Tikun Olam Award for its varied Chesed Programs.

Prior to becoming Rabbi of Young Israel of Century City, Rabbi Muskin served for five years as the Rabbi of the Mt. Sinai Jewish Center in New York City. Before entering the rabbinate, Rabbi Muskin served as Executive Director of T'chiya Volunteers, an organization dedicated to serving development towns in Israel. Rabbi Muskin directed T'chiya for eleven years, helping establish it as a premier summer program for American college students interested in volunteering in Israel.

Rabbi Muskin studied in Israel at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh from 1972-1975. He continued his studies at Yeshiva College, where he earned his B.A. in Psychology. He received his Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He also earned a Master’s degree in Medieval Jewish Philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and a Master’s degree in Education from Columbia University.