The Rabbi and the Hostage Negotiation

The Wall Street Journal has a great profile of Rabbi Alvin Kass, the 46-year NYPD veteran who leads the congregation at the East Midwood Jewish Center. If you’re not a member of EMJC, you may seem him around at many other religious institutions and local events–he’s deeply involved in the community, no matter what the faith of the people he’s working with.

Same goes for his work with the police department, where he’s an assistant chief and the chief chaplain. It’s a somber job that takes him to a lot of funerals, but he says he’s also had some unusual moments on the force, including one time when he was dealing with a man who had taken a woman hostage:

Pastrami sandwiches were ordered from the nearby Carnegie Deli. “They got one for him and one for me,” the rabbi went on. “I couldn’t eat it. I only eat kosher meat. I said, ‘You can have this pastrami sandwich,'” meaning the one ordered for the hostage taker, “‘but you have to give up your gun.’ He gave up the gun, but he had another gun.

“Have you seen the sandwiches from the Carnegie Deli?” the rabbi said. “They’re huge.” Nonetheless, the perpetrator polished his off and was still hungry.

“I said, ‘I’ll give [mine] to you but you have to give up the other gun.’ He gave up the other gun and the police rushed him.”

Be sure to click over to read the whole story, and to thank him for his service the next time you see him around the neighborhood.