In the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, some residents dial 911 to report a crime in progress. Others call a Jew.
That's unusual enough. But the fact that Crown Heights boasts a Jewish security patrol – complete with police cars, a riot van and fast fists – is just the beginning of the remarkable story of one the most insular communities in the United States. Crown Heights actually has two Jewish security forces, the product of a cleft in a sect of Hasidic Judaism that's obsessed with the impending arrival of the messiah.
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