Grieving loved ones of a Brooklyn rabbi, who was shot in cold blood Saturday morning while heading to temple in Miami, say his murder is a hate crime — while authorities in Florida say it was a random robbery gone bad.
Rabbi Joseph Raksin, 60, was walking by himself, heading to an early morning Shabbat service close to his daughter’s Miami home when two men approached him.
Local police said the incident seems to be a robbery gone bad, adding that there is “no indication of this being a hate crime,” according to Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Elena Hernandez.
But Raksin’s friends and family said the loving father of six was targeted.
“It was not a robbery,” said Elehana Giezinsky, 56. “The criminal element in Miami and New York knows that the Orthodox don’t carry money on the Sabbath.”
“He was targeted because he was Jewish,” Raksin’s son-in-law, Lieb Ezagui, told The Post. “They walked up and shot him and just walked away cold. They didn’t even try to rob him.”
Ezagui said his wife and the rest of Raksin’s large family is having trouble understanding why this tragedy happened.
“The family is shocked and devastated,” Ezagui said.
Raksin went to Florida Thursday to visit his daughter for a one-week vacation. He’s known as a leader in the Crown Heights Orthodox community and is remembered as a scholar and family man.
“He was a quiet person who minded his own business,” said Giezinsky, who was one of Raksin’s longtime friends.
News of Raksin’s death quickly spread through his tight-knit community over the weekend, with many resolute that he was purposely sought out by the two men.
“A rabbi gunned down on the Sabbath is not a robbery, it’s a murder,” said Shimon Goldner. “Jews all over the world are being killed.”
The two suspects were still at large on Sunday, and there is a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest, according to the Miami Herald.
Raksin’s body is expected to land in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon. A funeral for the rabbi is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the Shomrai Hadass Chapel.