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 May 2003 Officer Otto Raphael: One of New York's Jewish Finest By Rabbi Alvin Kass I have always maintained that our New York City Jewish police officers are also exemplary embodiments of the Maccabean spirit. Thanks to our members, Michael and Janet Marcus, I recently learned about an extraordinarily heroic Jewish cop whose exploits had heretofore eluded me. Named Otto Raphael, he was born in 1871 and died in 1937. The story of his remarkable life is documented in the April 1987 issue of the American Jewish Archives. The Raphaels emigrated to this country from Russia in the 1870's. Otto's father, who had been a butcher in Russia, settled on the lower East Side of Manhattan where he started out as a peddler until he could afford to open his own meat market around 1890. Otto, who was one of several children, helped his father in the business. In 1895, Otto and his father saved the lives of over twelve people who were caught in a burning tenement near the Raphael residence on Allen Street. Shortly thereafter, Otto met Theodore Roosevelt at the Bowery Branch of the YMCA. Roosevelt, who had recently been named president of the New York City Police Board, a position equivalent in importance to that of police commissioner in our own time, was introduced to Raphael, who was hailed as a local hero responsible for saving many women and children from a dangerous fire. Roosevelt urged Raphael to take the police test. The young man did so, getting the highest score in the physical exam and ranking tenth in the mental exam. As a result, he was selected to be one of 85 recruits from an applicant pool of 380. The chance meeting between Raphael and Roosevelt profoundly affected the whole future course of the young police officer's life. Roosevelt and Raphael became lifelong friends. The future president of the United States wrote in his autobiography that he admired Raphael as a man of "strong physique and resolute temper, sober, self-respecting, self-reliant, with a strong will to improve himself." Subsequently the tall and strong Otto taught Roosevelt how to box and became his sparring partner.Ê Raphael did well on the police force. Appointed on December 22, 1895, he achieved the rank of sergeant ten years later, was designated a detective in 1910, and became a detective lieutenant in 1917. He retired in 1921. Otto had many notable incidents in his career including his arrest of a dangerous murderer who had previously killed 14 people. On another occasion he was shot while taking a prisoner. He also sustained serious injury while saving crowds of school children from a runaway horse. When Raphael died in 1937, he was buried in Brooklyn's Washington Cemetery. Two years later, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. arranged to have a plaque attached to Raphael's tombstone which read: "Lieutenant Otto Raphael. Who has done credit to the uniform he wore - Theodore Roosevelt." As we honor the Maccabees of modern Israel, let's add the name of Otto Raphael to the list of remarkable American-style Maccabees who made their mark in the New York City Police Department. |