The Maccabees was a volunteer neighborhood patrol organization that operated in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

from 1964 to 1971. Hasidic rabbi Samuel Schrage founded the group in 1964 to counter a rising crime wave in the neighborhood. During its peak, the group had a membership of 500 men, most of them young and Jewish. With the local population feeling more secure and improved police protection, the Maccabbees dissolved in 1971. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', the Maccabees "overcame the reputation of being antiblack vigilantes." The Maccabees are considered the forerunner and inspiration for today's neighborhood patrol groups in Brooklyn and beyond, the Shomrim and Shmira. Rabbi Schrage died on December 31, 1976, at the age of 44.

References

{{reflist 1964 establishments in New York City Neighborhood watch organizations Jews and Judaism in Brooklyn 1971 disestablishments in New York (state) Crown Heights, Brooklyn Jewish organizations based in New York City