Yisroel Schwartz

We did not install a ghost bike for Yisroel out of respect for his family and community - though we did not manage to get in touch with them. This page is intended to remember him. 

From Gothamist

Sixteen-year-old Yisroel Schwartz was biking home from yeshiva for
dinner on May 15th when police say he struck the open door of a parked
car on 17th Avenue in Borough Park. The impact knocked him off of his
bicycle, and another driver fatally struck him. An NYPD spokesperson
could not locate any record showing that the motorist received a
citation for opening their door onto Yisroel.

When he died, the
tenth grader was in his second year at Yeshiva Novominsk, a school that
neighbor Alex Rappaport, 41, described as particularly friendly to
bikers. “They had bicycle racks in front of their buildings before
Bloomberg,” he told us. Yisroel was quiet and studious, according to
Rabbi Lipa Brennen, the executive director of the yeshiva. Two of his
brothers attended the same school. “He was very analytical. And so the
study of the Talmud was very enticing for him and very challenging for
him,” Brennen told Gothamist. “And he was able to master the subject
matter.”

Yisroel’s death was shocking for his classmates, as well
as the broader Chasidic Jewish community of Borough Park. The school
brought in counselors, and the funeral drew mourners from across the
tri-state area. In the months since, Yisroel’s classmates have decided
to honor him with additional study sessions. “As a sign of respect for
him they have made extra study sessions throughout the whole year,”
Brennen said. “For the first anniversary of his passing, they're doing
extra studies in his memory.” In the coming year, Brennen expects many
of his students will keep biking to and from school. “The city buses in
Borough Park don't go all over the place, and it takes time as well,” he
said. “Especially in the morning with the yeshiva buses. So it's a much
easier and faster way to come, with a bicycle.”