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NYC Cop-Turned Rabbi Teaches Jews to Protect Vs. “Knockout” Attacks

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Seventh-degree blackbelt Rabbi Gary Moskowitz teaches a student in his Flushing dojo
Seventh-degree blackbelt Rabbi Gary Moskowitz teaches a student in his Flushing dojo
A New York City cop-turned-rabbi is using his karate skills, he’s a seventh-degree black belt, to teach vulnerable Jews in the area karate in response to the recent spate of “knockout” attacks that has occurred in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in the city.

So far at least eight Jews have been singled out and attacked recently. The attacks are part of an unusual, and disturbing trend, whereupon inner-city youths single out and sucker punch a stranger, according to the New York Post. As many media outlets have reported, the name comes from the main objective in these seemingly senseless attacks, which is to literally knock someone out, meaning the victim will lose consciousness.

“If Jewish kids started fighting back, they wouldn’t get picked on so much,” Rabbi Gary Moskowitz told the Post recently. “I’m just trying to encourage the Jewish community to do that.”

Rabbi Moskowitz, 56, certainly knows what it’s like to be a Jew in the Bronx. He grew up in the 1960s in the Soundview section and was the victim of harassment himself.

“I wore a yarmulke, and I was a target,” he told the Post. “I was once dragged up six stories to a rooftop by a gang. … They held me over the ledge.”

After attending a Jewish Defense League-sponsored summer camp at age 14, Rabbi Moskowitz returned with the best knowledge of all – he learned how to defend himself.

“I came back, and I was able to do 400 push-ups,” he said.

One day a bully urinated on his yarmulke, according to the Post.

“He threw a punch, and it came at me in slow motion. I . . . brought him down,” he reportedly said. “I could have hit him, but I didn’t. I didn’t have to. It was like angels were singing.”

Rabbi Mosowitz became a police officer in 1982 where he earned the nickname “Rambowitz” and is now an Orthodox rabbi. He is currently teaching self-defense out of a dojo in the Flushing section of Queens, the Post reported.

In one recent karate session, he told his young students — his “Savage Skullcaps”— it isn’t size that wins fights.

“These are all physics tricks,” he reportedly said.

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