New York – A Brooklyn rabbi who serves as principal of a major religious school in Spring Valley has been charged with assault after repeatedly slapping a 10 year-old boy.
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The Journal News (http://lohud.us/XBCy8s) is reporting that a criminal complaint charges that Rabbi Meilech Spitzer, an administrator at the United Talmudical Academy, ‘slapped the victim numerous on the left side of his face and left ear.’
Spitzer is charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and is accused of intending to physically harm the boy.
The complaint also states that as a result of the Feb. 12 assault, the boy’s left eye, left ear, and left side of his face swelled up.
The United Talmudical Academy operates numerous schools in New York for boys and girls in pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade.
Spitzer, who gave police a Brooklyn address of 147 Rutledge Street, could not be reached for comment at the United Talmudical Academy.
James Licata, who has served as Rockland County’s chief public defender since his appointment in 1993, is representing Spitzer privately in the matter.
Licata also declined comment, other than to say Spitzer has not yet appeared in Spring Valley Justice Court.
Spitzer’s first court appearance is scheduled for April 4.
I looked at the horrendous pictures of this poor baby–all red and terribly bruised. Will the parents press charges or will they say it didn’t really happen? Will they remove their other kinder from this Yeshivah? This is just heart breaking to beat a kid like this.
It’s about time the bullying ends!
About time. I wish I coulad have gotten some of my Rebbeim arrested when I was a kid. The beatings we (me and others in my school) took in elementary school was insane. There’s a difference between a potch and getting beaten.
truth to be told today when one sends his child to a yeshiva he/she knows before hand what the school policy is regarding corporal punishment
its known that in chasidish yeshivas today they still potch their kids who misbehave
where is the yeshivish or more american yeshivas will for the most part stay away from patching their students
when a parent sends his child to satmar he is implicitly aknowledging that his child at some point during his 8 years of elemntry school may be potched
im in no way siding with the school for hitting a student as i wouldnt want my child diciplined that way
we dont know the full story here if the parents have had prior issues with this particular rebbe or principal or had specifically requested their child not be hit etc
your average parent doesnt run to civil court filing a lawsuit
we are missing the zaltz&feffer; of what happened before and cant judge anyone involved just by reading a news item
Can’t wait to hear his “reason” for slapping this little boy.
Wow, which Moiser turned him in? That rasha snitch needs a good lynching. This message has been brought to you with all sarcasm intended.
While I know nothing about this case, not the victim, not the principal, I am waiting for the debate to begin about how precious a disciplinary tool corporal punishment is. Even if I take a pro-hitting stance, which is probably inconsistent with secular law, I still see this situation, as described here, as a serious problem. Larger seforim stores usually have a section of seforim on chinuch, totally Torah based, without contributions from any secular sources. I have yet to encounter a single yeshiva that requires that a prospective mechanech be proficient in any of these texts, or at least to have completed a series of trainings that have been available for several years. The result is what we see in this case, where the principal violated what the Brisker Rav ZT”L stated so clearly – that the first potch might be excusable, but any subsequent petch were against halacha, essentially assault. The Peleh Yoetz openly instructs to smack only on the legs where no harm will come, and without anger. The rage of the mechanech is not justified by hilchos chinuch.
I have a brother a melamed and he told me he will never ever patch a child..If the student is a mecitzef or dosent want to listen he will call the parent and try to correct the child and if this dosent work he will remove him from the class and ultimately the parent has to look for a different yeshive which we all know is almost impossible to find…He wont take the chance of getting accused for slapping a kid,let the father worry about his upbringing…Rabbi spitzer has a long history of slapping kids and so his son who rund Satmar in Wmsbg have a temper and looses control…Of course messierah is not the way to go but after 24 years slapping its time for him to be removed or arrested…
Hope that they don’t start tormenting the boys family- thus inflicting more pain on them.
Many people have misguided compassion as well as misguided zealousness and scrupulosity. They misinterpret the beautiful Torah that HaShem has given us- and they change the rules to fit their needs.
So reporting such a crime- which is v’nishmartem meod l’nafshoiseichem, as well as do not put a stumbling block before your brother- (thus letting authorities know- prevents him from hurting many more children) and more…. The Torah does NOT encourage hurting others and then pretending to be the victim- once authorities find out.
frum yidden took the whole “moser” issue to a whole other level… selfish level… If I want to report my s/o to the IRS to get even at him- that would be massering- but to report an incident that may be pekuach nefesh- for physical and emotional health- and removing such a violent man from hundreds of children is not massering. Going to the Rabbanim- does NOT work. Therefore, people are forced to go to authorities
I wish this boy a Refuah Shelaima & I wish the family much strength as they will probably become the target of mass bullying…I hope I am wrong!!
We didn’t hit our own children, so we warned the Principal after the first time one son was potched that this would never happen again. When a bus driver kicked him off the bus LITERALLY, with a foot on his behind & a bus full of witnesses, we withdrew all our boys. We thought long & hard about calling the police, but decided against it. They never went back, I went to the Yeshiva the next day & cleared out all their sefarim etc. As probably the only full tuition paying parents, the financial losses were probably worse than any court case.
I haven’t seen the pictures, but the description sounds terrible. I understand the parents’ decision. Like other forms of abuse, we have to take a stand against brutality in the Yeshiva system.
Predictable supportive responses let me save you the trouble, so please read and move on (were tired of it) “one” incident is taking away a Tzadik and a real machanech away from the yeshiva and his family, hes being treated unfairly because he is jewish and its anti-semitism, whoever turned him in is a moser, the child comes from a bad family and was ruining other children….Weve heard all the excuses.
He beat a 10 year old, he is to blame and now owns the responsibility. Finished.
My ancestors left yiddishkeit after a male relative was hit by a rebbe in a New York City yeshiva at the turn of the century. I would have been the third generation in a reform family, but I am a BT. When I hear stories like this I cringe.
Im a neighbor (not Satmar) to the parents of the child. They are not charging Spitzer and not upset at him. The swelling and redness of face was very temporary, I saw the kid at night and he looked perfect. The kid was questioned and stated he loves the menahel and never had a problem with him before, he was begging to return to yeshiva the day after.
The dropouts of the Satmar community chose this child as a target after long internal politics within the satmar community in Monsey.
In Hilchos Talmud Torah Rambam (Chapter 2 Halacha 2):
ומכה אותן המלמד להטיל עליהם אימה
“…the teacher should hit the children in order to instill fear on them…”
However:
1- This specifically states “teacher” and does not necesserally apply to the principle.
2- It states that ואינו מכה אותם מכת אויב מכת אכזרי “we don’t hit the children like an enemy or with cruelty”.
3- This does not apply in our days since secular education has unlimited funding and can hier many trained professionals for each class and individual student.
(Generally Hitting a anyone is prohibited under לא תוסיף להכותו but it does not apply in Chinuch.)
I still think that it is a dirty thing for a parent to be a moser and send a principle to jail because they hit your child. If your not happy – you have all rights to remove the Child from that private school. If you cannot find a private school that suits your needs – you could send the child for free to public school. (Just don’t complain if your child is molested by another student and becomes pregnent).
I wonder if this parent paid full tuition and is now comming with demands.
i wish i can meet this kid, it takes a lot of courage to do what he did, i hope thatall the rabbonim & all will give a an award for bravery
A beating like this should NOT be tolerated by any yeshiva.However,any yeshiva that keeps in their school the children of parents who would go to police when their kids are hit,is just plain stupid.Folks,you are all foolish if you cant see where this is going to end.We are becoming like the public schools that for anything we don’t like we go to the police.what a shanda
There is nothing wrong with giving a child a few good “petch” when deserved. One who spares the rod hates his son (Proverbs 13:24). We are bringing up a pack of misbehaved wusses.
Before you judge you have to know the story first. As I heard is that the child clogged all toilets in the chieder and the whole yeshiva was flooded with sewer water, the students had to be dismissed early and cost for the yeshiva to fix a nice bundle$, then when the mother went to the doctor in the evening with the child, the doctor contacted authrities, I don’t know if it justifies the slapping, but I still wanna tell you the story.
We report, you decide….
Common! Who didn’t get Petch as a kid?
No Big deal.
I can only defend the kid if it was above normal beating!
A smack what a joke when i was a kid we came home black and blue we where beat with sticks a bunch of spoiled kids today we have
I only wish the principal of my high school was alive to see this article – maybe he would have had second thoughts about all of the kids he took pride in having beaten up through the years. He’d toss his keys into the air and say “watch the keys, jackass!” and while you were watching, he’d hit you with a haymaker that made you see stars. I am not kidding – anyone who knew which man I am talking about would agree that this happened many, many times.
To all those commentin how absolutely disgusting it is for the parents to go to the authorities get a life! the brutality that was shown is inexcusable. Period ! Perhaps if this was your child, you would agree with them. And for the brilliant person that wrote the child stuffed all the toilets bla bla bla… Get your facts straight before going off on a tangent. I wish the family much strength in what they are about to go through and may Hashem give them the courage to do the right thing And save many nefashos that are to be the future fathers of klall yisroel!
None of us know if this was a “potch” or a real punch. If a principal punched my children, I wouldn’t moser him, I’d teach him a lesson with a few potches of my own.
I went to Cheder at the Young Israel of Flatbush, back in 1954. There was one particular teacher, who would walk up the aisles of the classroom, and pass one particular student that whom he didn’t like, and who may have been misbehaving. Then, out of the blue, he would grab that student by the nape of his neck, and pull/push him into a corner. As the coup de grace, he would poke his ribs a few more times, and tell him to keep quiet, and make him stand in that corner. Unfortunately, the actions which I described appeared to be the modus operandi at that time, as they were tolerated. Today, the same teacher would also be arrested. I’ve heard other horror stories from other students. One told me that if he asked his Moreh a question which could not be readily answered, he would be slapped!
None of us know the truth such as;
1, Was this rebbe a person with a temper and violent tendencies?Ther can be a patch and there can be a PATCH, neither of which I condone.
2, There are those that follow the rule, “those that can’t teac”. Some losers become teaachers and take out there pressure by verbally or physically nistreating kids.
i’m very happy for the parents & the boy We should all give them chizok. I learned in krasna in boropark in 1980 by the machloika satmar & belz my so called rabbi s g who is belz was all day in the hall arguing with the satmar rabbis who is right that what they all cared for. I remember when a father came to complain he beat up his son after he left & warned threatened us if we ever dear tell our parents
To whom it may concern: this arrest may come as good news to some but is a somber reminder to many students who went thru The satmar chinuch system of the beatings of eedensless children at the hand of Old rabbis.
It is about time that UTA takes a tough stand on teachers who use kids as punching bag in a way to air out their personal anxiety of life.
In many cases that I am personally aware of patents refrain from reporting the rabbis to the school out of fear of reprisal from the rebbe
First of all anyone who even thinks about hitting a child obviously has not professional training in chinuch and does not know what he is doing and does not belong in a school either as a rebbe or a menahal. If you have the proper training you know how to deal with school children without ever having to resort to physical discipline. Secondly the doctor is a mandated reporter and therefore there is no issur Mesirah. Thirdly even if the doctor was not a mandated reporter there is no issur Mesirah to report child abuse – it is pikuach nefesh and a mitzvah to stop a rodef.
reply #21 : you have to consider the pros and cons with keeping a mis-behaved child in yeshiva. If he will be influencing bad traits to those around him its prob better to have him out of yeshiva, than to have him ruin or down-grade the other childrens standards regarding judaism.
No one is saying that no child may ever get a patch. That’s not what this is all about.
Giving Petch is 100% legal in all US states!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment
Corporal punishment is 100% Legal.
So why do you think he was arrested? Don’t police follow the law?
The answer is that corporal punishments has it limits and does not include cruelty and does not make it legal to physically abuse children.
That’s why this principal was arrested, NOT because of just “giving petch” but because he was using cruelty and it WAS clearly child abuse.
But the real reason behind it all is because this relatively minor story is only the tip of the iceberg, it’s like when Police arrest a major felon, and at first only charge him because he merely crossed a red light (before they get the rest of the evidence against him ready).
In short, it’s no secret that MAKAS ACHZORIUS is rampant by certain individuals and before you get all the goods on them, you first get them arrested for a minor infraction like for “crossing a red light”.
GROWNUP Satmers hit with RETZICHA, whomever disagrees with their “shita” because they got the same, when they were kids, too.
There seems to be a problem in the Satmar community. Parents are afraid to call the police because of being put in carim from their community. It is always the “doctors ” that have to call the authorities to get things reported. Why can’t the “Satmar Rebbe”
get involved and fix the system? It’s obviously broken.
I am shocked by how many people condone corporal punishment. It is inexcusable for a principal (or a teacher) to strike a child. It is a shandah that ANYONE would defend this behavior.
I am not impressed by the bloggers who write that they too were brutalized in their Yeshivas and turned out okay. That you minimize the results of beating a student, tells me that you did not turn out so okay!
come on people who are we kidding, hitting and more has been going on forever, sitting with my wife here, telling her stories how the rebbe would scream leig dich ariber
OK. I am dizzy from all of your bleeding heart comments. This kid is a little punk and needed a gitte frask oif beide zeiten (and possibly oif dem mechille as well). Gimme a break! One of you wished him a refuah sheleima? Are you bleeping kidding me? A refuah sheleima? He needs a few gitte shmeissen and thaen all will be well. Who knows what he did. He might have stolen the principal’s wallet! He might have brought a (gasp) ipod to cheider. Or concert tickets, baavoinoisinee hoorabim, rachmune litzlon. We know nothing. Not all ten year olds are angels. #1 , you said you saw pictures of the “poor baby” in question. You too – are you kidding me!? A freiliche peerim to you too.
There is a yeshiva in BP where the Menahel did brutalize the kids when they were young. However now, that the kids are all older, they went wild on Purim and vandalized the Mesivta. So go figure.
same old story blame the victim rally around the abuser what a sad commentary on the frum comminty.
the problem is when these things get reported to the higher up nothings gets done so the only option is the secular system.
if the higher up would do something then most would not go outside the community, but they realize their complaints are falling on dead ears
look at the pictures it was not just a potched it was abuse no one should hit a child that hard
My son who is 17 recalled his pre1 A rebbe yanking off boy’s pants exposing his backside and slapping him in front of the class…. What could a 5/6 year old have done so offensive to deserve such “chinuch”. I wish he would have told me then. Here I thought he was in a Yeshivishe cheder (boro park)…. As I recalled he simply switched to a more chsiddishe yeshiva in Monsey the following year! That’s how it works… The lemon dance. One Yeshiva takes another one’s lemon and they are good at keeping things quiet!
At 40 years old, I still remember my second grade teacher pulling my hair for looking out the window instead of in the siddur. This was a “rebetzin”, no less. Back then, parents felt that they had no recourse.
I believe parents should beat their kids if need be. It’s a good medicine. The kids growing up today spoiled like Chaya’s did not get a good patch. Even my own kids I beat the daylights out of one of my eight kids who was a shtickel rebellious and today he is in a top kollel in eretz yisroel. King Solomon was smarter than today’s liberal loons. He said you must beat your kids. It’s a mitzvah if he is not following the truth. I can honestly advice all parents with kids at risk who are younger not the 17 year olds that they can have nachos if they force their kids to be frum.
For all those that say “common who doesn’t poch their kids” afew points here
1. Poching should only be used when it involvs a safety matter. example- playing with fire or climbing over a banister…
2. Yes, if we over poch our children then we don’t have the self control that we should have. That’s why we don’t go into the line of chinuch because we are not trained to handle 30 (sugar powered) kids. We leave that to the” professionals”
3. If the pouch comes from the same parent who hugs and kisses their children and shows them love, and lives for their children. Then that pouch comes from love.
(Not like my rebbie who beat the….out of me because he received food stamps instead of cash in his paycheck)
I am a relative to this boy. He was hurt for no reason. He did not clog up toilets. He did nothing wrong to receive such abuse. The parents did not press charges either. For the respect of the family and this innocent boy, please stop posting stupid comments. Please give this family the privacy they need in order to heal. Let the police do their own investigating. No one called them. They found out anonomously.
I am a relative to this poor boy.
Does this Rabbi have children at home and can protective services interview his children or grandchildren? If he would beat up another’s child, I can only imagine what happens in his house!
if the federal gov reads these comments they will be outraged
hitting is illegal respect this countries law or go live where you can beat people
I look forward seeing more abusers arrested
in most cases thou the exposing backside and ariber leigen was really about a personal fantasy the rabbi had
I hate to digress, but I can’t resist. It is noteworthy that every commenter on this post has misspelled the word “principal”!!
I. Wanna make a simple comment, I don’t know anything about this whole story and its not my area, we. And our teachers, principals, some time deserve better. Credit and lot of times they are really overwhelmed and that’s why they. Got out of control, but being said, there is no eexcuse of slapping hurting or even teasing children, I could tell. You that some times teasing (what is. Normal in other schools) could some times have a worse effect on children…. A child could understand and adopt when he/she gets a slap. But when a teacher or even a parent teases a. Child or shows a cold face that hurts and has no explanation.
I was also hit by this MONSTER 12 years ago Thank god for the (banned….)internet so we can get rid of this MONSTER & start teaching our children with LOVE & not HATE
We can argue the benefits or damage that corporal punishment may cause. One thing however is clear from the picture, excessive force was used and was most likely done in anger. That’s abuse – clear as day. The monster who did this must be removed from any involvement with kids.
I was potched and witnessed potchings back then in the 1960’s . I have not stopped praying that the rebbe/ potcher gets his big potch.
Thank Gd there’s justice for these kids. A veteran school Rabbi told me once, that a rebbe who needs to smack a kid to discipline him, should not be rebbe.