He is the founder of the first Shomrim security patrol—a private, all-volunteer neighborhood watch—in Bnei Brak, a Tel Aviv suburb dominated by ultra-Orthodox Jews. Rotter and a few carloads of his fellow Shomrim came to the falafel stand in response to a call for back-up by Bnei Brak police and arrived to find the teens outside the restaurant.
Moments later, the teens slink off, one of them mouthing a death threat to Rotter as they go. Rotter, a stout year-old Satmar Hasid, climbs into his unmarked car and parks on Rabbi Akiva Street, one of the main thoroughfares of Bnei Brak, and waits for the next call.
Last year, an additional branch began operating in Elad, another predominantly ultra-Orthodox suburb about 10 miles east of Tel Aviv. The groups are modeled on Shomrim patrols that operate in other ultra-Orthodox enclaves around the world, from Brooklyn to London and Melbourne. Those groups function as a combination neighborhood watch and AAA service, responding to calls about suspicious activity and flat tires. That anxiety has its roots in the longstanding prohibition against mesira—turning over fellow Jews to non-Jewish authorities.
Rotter says that for many residents of Bnei Brak, secular state institutions like the police remain foreign, even if staffed by their fellow Jews, and they worry that complaining to police could cause them to face repercussions from their neighbors. Five years ago, Rotter was working as a paramedic. One night, he caught a burglar in the act in Bnei Brak. Hopped up on adrenaline, he decided to recruit a few friends to form a neighborhood watch, with Rotter acting as the dispatch and officer in charge.
In time, the men acquired walkie-talkies and authority. On a normal night, they respond to dozens of calls and often arrive well before the police. They are unarmed and not allowed to use force against the people they encounter. Rotter says the group is funded by private donations and money the volunteers pay out of their own pockets, and on any given night the members—mostly young, unmarried men—come in whatever cars they can get, often borrowed from their parents.
