Wenjian Liu, the first Chinese-American cop in New York to be killed in the line of duty, was honored in his home 84th precinct Sunday with a sea of blue stretching “as far as the eye could see.”

Among the crowd were representatives from all the Jewish first response and security teams, as well as many Jewish civilian residents of Brooklyn. “Hakaras hatov” – acknowledging and thanking someone for the good they’ve done – was the reason given over and over when asked why they came.

Tearfully, Liu’s young widow Pei Xia Chen thanked the tens of thousands who gathered to grieve with her.

“He is my soul mate… an incredible husband, son, co-worker and friend; my best friend. As the only son, the Number One Son, he was extremely close [to] and respected his parents, of course,” she added. “One his many passions was being a police officer. He took pride in the fact that he was NYPD… I thank you, my extended family, my family of blue.”

The couple had wed only two months prior to Liu’s death. The 32-year-old police officer, promoted posthumously to first detective, had been on the job for seven years. Together with his parents he emigrated from China 20 years ago, with a dream to become a cop.

In addition to Sunday’s funeral, Liu’s family was to hold private ceremonies in the Buddhist and Chinese traditions as well.

“God bless America. God bless NYPD. You are the best!” Liu’s father said in a broken voice after delivering a eulogy in Chinese.

In addition to his wife, his father, cousins and city officials, a police chaplain and FBI Director James Comey spoke.

“These are our most difficult days,” Comey said. “I make far too many calls [like these] … 115 police officers killed this year, a shocking increase over 2013. I do not understand evil, I cannot understand evil. Our obligation is to do good, to honor this good man and do everything to protect those who would protect us. They want to do good for other people.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was to have spoken as well, but his own father passed away on New Year’s Day and arrangements for the wake and funeral, which are to take place Monday and Tuesday, were still being made.

With reddened eyes and a husky voice, Police Commissioner William Bratton expressed the feelings of the “thousands upon thousands” of officers standing outside a Brooklyn funeral home on a “very gray morning.” He commented that Liu was about to join his partner, “his partner for all time,” First Detective Rafael Ramos – also promoted posthumously –to be laid to rest. The two were executed by deranged gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley while eating lunch in their squad car. Brinsley turned the gun on himself right after.

“Liu believed in the possibility of a city free from fear,” Bratton told his family, who had traveled from China to attend the funeral. “The NYPD has done that for millions upon millions of citizens of this city.”

Addressing the tens of thousands of officers, Bratton went on to explain: “He left China at age 12, and his parents worked hard; his father was a garment worker in Queens. Liu called himself Joe and was on the way to becoming an accountant on 9/11, the day Al Qaeda attacked the Twin Towers.” That event changed his life, and inspired Liu to become a cop instead.

“The NYPD looks like the city it serves,” Bratton noted. “Our heroes are from everywhere too.” He listed the departed and the lands from which they had emigrated to America. Ramos and Liu came last.

New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind called on the Jewish community to attend the funeral of an assassinated New York police officer.

“The brave men and women of the NYPD risk their lives every day to protect us. We value them and stand with them,” Hikind, a Democrat who represents Brooklyn, said in a statement issued Monday. “We are more than appreciative of what New York’s Finest do and we should convey that. Their loss is our loss.”

The funeral for NYPD officer Wenjian Liu is scheduled for this Sunday in Brooklyn although the viewing of the body will take place on Saturday morning.

Liu and his partner, Rafael Ramos, were shot to death inside their patrol car on Dec. 20 by a gunman who had posted online about plans to attack police.

Ramos’ funeral took place on Saturday, Dec. 27, which is the Jewish Sabbath.

New York Councilman David Greenfield, who represents Brooklyn, also called on his Jewish constituents to attend the funeral.

“The last funeral was on Shabbos, so we could not attend. This one is literally in our neighborhood. We need to show our “hakaros hatov” to the late Detective Wenjian Liu and provide “chizuk” to the NYPD during this difficult time,” Greenfield said in a statement, using the Hebrew words for appreciation and strength.

In another spin of the cycle of well-publicized deaths of black unarmed Americans at the hands of police officers and random police officers being shot dead out of rage at the situation, there was another shooting overnight in Los Angeles.

Two officers from the LAPD’s 77th Division were in their patrol car responding to an unrelated call Monday evening, Dec. 29, when two men opened fire on them.

Los Angeles Police Department Captain Lillian Carranza said that several rounds were shot in the direction of the officers, and that it “was a completely unprovoked attack.”

The incident took place in the Vermont-Slauson neighborhood of South L.A. It happened around 9:20 p.m. local time.

During a Monday afternoon news conference, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck explained that the officers “observed muzzle flashes and heard gunshots coming from two male pedestrians. They believed that they were the object of an attack and returned fire,” KTLA 5 reported.

Beck added that a rifle, a pistol and multiple shell casings were found at the scene.

Eighteen-year-old Christopher Taylor was taken into custody and charged with suspicion of shooting at an occupied vehicle.

After an eight-hour six-block manhunt, the police were unable to find a second shooter and the manhunt and lockdown in the neighborhood was called off. Police are continuing to follow leads to find the other person present at the scene Monday night.

“Obviously, with what happened in New York and what we know is a sentiment right now nationwide…when you put on your uniform, you’re very much aware that there are some currents of anger toward police,” said LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar. “We’re aware that we could be a target for individuals that are angry at law enforcement right now.”

LAPD officers were in “heightened awareness mode,” Carranza said.

A motive for the L.A. shooting was not known.

Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area has been asked by the LAPD to call 911.

There’s an ugly tempest brewing at Brandeis University and it’s based, at least in part, on free speech, tolerance and student safety. The storm grew out of a more generalized anger with the state of public discourse and of the safety of individuals in our society at large.

But at this point, one black self-described revolutionary and one Jewish conservative journalist, both Brandeis students, are the figureheads in a battle for the soul of an institution.

That institution, Brandeis University, was founded so that Jews, barred from most colleges by anti-Semitism, could find an open door to attain the education they desired. The school was named after the Supreme Court justice Louis D. Brandeis, whose distillation of the essence of freedom of speech has stood for decades as the lynchpin for America, and, in turn, much of the western world.

It was also Louis Brandeis, in an earlier incarnation as a lawyer, who brought humanity into the justice system. His famous “Brandeis Brief” for the first time opened the way for courts to consider human facts, not just legal doctrine, when making decisions about the lives of those people.

DEATHS BY POLICE OFFICERS FOLLOWED BY DEATH OF POLICE OFFICERS

The deaths of black unarmed men at the hands of police officers, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City this summer led to days of protests which increased in fury and exploded in violence after grand juries in both cases declined to indict the police officers involved.

Those deaths were followed by the execution-style murder of two random New York City police officers by a man pledging vengeance for the murders of Brown and Garner.

In response to the death of  the two officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu on Dec. 20, a Brandeis junior, Khadijah Lynch, tweeted the following: “i have no sympathy for the police officers who were murdered today.” She followed that bleet with another, the next day: “lmao, all[,] i just really don’t have sympathy for the cops who were shot. i hate this racist f[expletive deleted]ing country.”

Justice Brandeis might have been first in line to offer to defend Lynch if she were threatened with expulsion for expressing her views publicly. But no one made any such threats. Instead, another Brandeis student took what Lynch placed in the public arena, and wrote and published an article about it for his site that same day. Daniel Mael, a Brandies senior and journalist for the site TruthRevolt.com, merely sent out further what Lynch had already launched.

What Mael wrote was little more than a description of Lynch and what she tweeted. All facts. All taken from public information. All fair game. And then some commenters to Mael’s article posted some seriously ugly talkbacks. Also free speech. Also fairly common in the world of Internet websites with any political orientation.

PUBLIC REACTION BY BRANDEIS COMMUNITY

It was at this point that certain members of the Brandeis community decided to rally ’round Lynch, raising the issue of “community” and “safety.” But it was too late for such hamishe invocations. Once Lynch chose to make her views public by using social media (one that could have been set on private, but was not), she left the cocoon of the university; her righteous defenders were unlanced. But that did not stop them.

No Brandeis Lynch defenders publicly praised her lack of sympathy for the murdered police officers, but one student, Michael Piccione, sent an email on Dec. 22 to more than 200 members of the Brandeis community. Piccione’s statement condemned Mael for “compromising” Lynch’s security and for continuing to endanger her. What Piccione demanded, in his own and in the name of others, was that “action [be] taken to hold this student accountable for his actions.”

Brooklyn authorities have charged a 24-year-old man with attempted murder and armed robbery after three store employees chased after him and pinned him down until police arrived.

Jeandro Perez, 24, allegedly tried to rob the AS Appliance store and then shot one of the employees when he and other workers refused to hand over the cash.

Perez fled the scene but was chased down by three other store workers, one of whom also was shot before Perez was tackled. The accomplice who fled has been identified and his arrest s expected.

The victims were treated at a hospital for their injuries and released.

Perez has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, four counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault and one count of illegal possessing a loaded gun.

Store employee Ali Mazer said that after a fellow employee was shot, he joined the chase after the gunman.

“When I went outside, the guy turned and shot me right here,” pointing at his stomach, he told WABC.

Mazer said he was suspicious of the two attempted robbers as soon as they entered the store.

“I was by myself, they was [sic] looking around. I said do you need help? They said ‘no;’ they went across the street to the bar. I had a feeling something was going to happen but I wasn’t sure. 30 minutes later, another two guys came in with guns.”

“They told us to get on the floor, my uncle pushed them, I ran out and chased them and they shot me.”

Although investigators have learned more information about the man who shot and killed two police officers on Saturday, they still have no idea what set off Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley in the first place.

The 28-year-old Brooklyn-born murderer had a long history of problem behavior; born to a Muslim family, he was estranged from his mother for some time.

He was described by police and family as being “very troubled” in his youth: so much so that his own family feared him.

So did his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore County; he shot and nearly killed her at 5:45 am Saturday before stealing her iPhone. He used it to post an anti-government, anti-cop rant on Instagram, and then headed north to New York to kill cops. On earlier posts, he had shown an effigy of a burning American flag.

Police are not sure where he was between 12 noon and 2:47 pm that day, but from then, events moved very fast. He asked bystanders in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn what gangs they were with, told them to “follow him on Instagram” and then said, “Watch what I’m going to do.”

He walked up to the passenger side of a squad car where two police officers were peacefully eating their lunch, pulled a gun and shot both at point-blank range, each in the head. Then he made a run for the nearby subway station, chased by SWAT team members down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he pointed the gun at himself, and pulled the trigger.

Brinsley was listed in the Georgia arrest database on nine separate charges. They included crimes such as: “use of fighting words,” carrying a concealed weapon, tampering with evidence, theft, receiving stolen property and reckless behavior, as listed in Arrest.org.

Brinsley’s Facebook page – which has been taken down since the murders — carried a photo of a page from the Qur’an, and a quote from it as well: “Strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies, And others besides, whom Ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.” His comment on the quote was long and rambling, but significantly, he ended it with, “You’re Nobody Til Somebody Kills You.”

Before he made it to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant, he bragged on Instagram, “I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours… Let’s Take 2 of Theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGardner #MikeBrown This May Be My Final Post “ (sic)

The word “pigs” is a ghetto epithet for police officers; the references to Brown and Gardner follow deaths in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York of people, both of black men killed by white police officers while resisting arrest. In both cases, grand juries declined to indict and charge the police officers with murder. The decisions ignited massive violence in Ferguson, and endless protests that began in New York but have since continued nationwide.

Seconds before shooting the two officers, he asked those standing nearby for their gang affiliations, advised them to follow him on social media and then said, “Watch and see what I’m going to do.”

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Sunday that Brinsley had also been in the city earlier in the week; police are still trying to figure out why.

His estranged mother said in a statement she was “deeply sorry for the loss of the two innocent men who were killed.” She offered “sincerest condolences to their families” and added, “I am also grieving for my son.” Brinsley allegedly also tried to hang himself a year ago, according to ABC Channel 7 News.

The 22-year-old rabbinic student stabbed last week inside “770” Eastern Parkway, the synagogue at Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, is home from the hospital in a Hanukkah miracle.

Israeli yeshiva student Levi Rosenblatt underwent emergency neurosurgery at New York’s Bellevue Medical Center after he was stabbed by Calvin Peters. The attacker was subsequently shot and killed by police who raced to the scene upon seeing the stabbing unfold on their monitors at a special mobile base across the street from the synagogue.

Rosenblatt was rushed in very serious condition to nearby Kings County Hospital but quickly moved to Bellevue when it became obvious he required specialized surgery. His condition stabilized soon after the operation was completed.

“Mr. Rosenblatt suffered a knife injury to the blood vessels in an extremely sensitive area of his brain,” neurosurgery chief Dr. Paul Huang explained in a news release. “Because of the resources available to us, as well as the experience and expertise of the nurses and physicians at Bellevue Hospital, we were able to deliver a very sophisticated level of care to this patient. He underwent a procedure to repair two blood vessels, which was successful. He has had an amazing recovery.”

Groups of Chassidim maintained a vigil at the hospital, praying for Rosenblatt’s speedy recovery, as his name was circulated by others to prayer chains around the world.

“I have a lot of people from way back in the beginning to thank, above all, God and the [Lubavitcher] Rebbe who provided his blessings,” Rosenblatt said in the release.

“Thanks to the Hatzalah (emergency rescue service) of Crown Heights volunteer ambulance service, the NYPD, the doctors and nurses here at Bellevue and at Kings County Hospital (where he was first taken), my friends who stayed with me in my room around the clock, my family who came from Israel to be with me, and all the people all over the world who have prayed for me,” he said.