September 2025
Benjamin Gelber
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In July, along with my colleagues from the NYPD, NYPD Shomrim members, Shomrim members from other chapters and police officers from across the region and across the country, I attended the funeral of murdered NYPD Police Officer Didarul Islam, a father of two and with another baby on the way. PO Islam worked in the 47th Precinct in The Bronx, NY, and picked up some off duty security work in a building in midtown Manhattan. He was murdered by a coward with a sick sense of revenge on a perceived slight by one of the businesses in that building. The coward took his own miserable, useless life, but not before killing PO Islam, two Jewish women working in their offices, and a security guard. He was posthumously promoted to detective by the Police Commissioner. We stood shoulder to shoulder, honoring Det. Islam’s work and life and committing to assisting his family. As the cycle of life shows, less than a month later, Det. Islam’s wife gave birth to their third child, a baby boy, who will never know his father but will hear about him from his family, friends and the NYPD family he has been born into.
We’re coming up to the 24th anniversary of 9/11, where we lost over 3,000 people in the worst terrorist attack on American soil in our country’s history. We’re also facing one of the worst epidemics of antisemitism that our country has experienced. With the war in Israel still going on, we see the hate for Jews spreading and it’s becoming almost acceptable to physically and verbally assault Jews. We must not be complacent. Report any incidents of antisemitism you experience at work to your department or agency’s EEO/DEI for their immediate handling. If they are not willing to assist, please let me know. Now more than ever we have to support our Jewish colleagues in their workplaces, their homes, their businesses. We said we’d never forget. May the innocent souls who were murdered on that day 24 years ago continue to rest at the right hand of the Almighty. Never forgive. Never forget.
We are considering attending the March of the Living (MOTL) in April 2026 as a delegation and will need at least 35 people who are willing to commit by the end of October to participating. If you can commit, please email Corresponding Secretary Betty Astrizky at BAstrizky@aol.com ASAP. The dates for the next MOTL are April 12 thru 18, 2026. The preliminary information we have is that it begins in Krakow, Poland, and ends in Warsaw, Poland. The actual event recreates the death march the Nazis forced the Jews in the Auschwitz death camp to walk three miles to the Birkenau death camp, and always takes place on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Again, for National Shomrim to have a delegation for 2026, the MOTL requires 35 participants, which can include family, friends and colleagues. If we don’t meet that number we will consider planning for 2027.
Fraternally,
Benjamin Gelber
President