Rockland County, NY – Aron Rottenberg of New Square has long complained to Ramapo Police that he has suffered for his decision to pray outside his community’s synagogue. Now he is in critical condition with burns over half his body, and an 18-year-old New Square resident is charged with attempted murder, arson and assault. Federal authorities, better positioned to inquire where local officials will not, should vigorously investigate the attack, and the systematic harassment that preceded it, as a civil rights violation and hate crime.
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The federal probe is warranted because of the pattern of wrongful conduct alleged and the local officials’ seeming willful blindness to it. Village leaders and Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence summarily dismissed the notion that Rottenberg was the victim of a campaign of intimidation, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. St. Lawrence, who heads the town’s Police Commission, on Monday merely parroted representations from New Square officials that the violence was an isolated incident between Rottenberg and his accused attacker, Shaul Spitzer of nearby Adams Lane.
More rigorous inquiry is clearly warranted — and by an outside agency unencumbered by the dictates of local politics. Bloc voting in New Square makes the religious community a potent force in the conduct of town business. Clearly, the parameters of this dispute, rooted in religious expression and First Amendment protections, commands an assessment by impartial authorities.
Yes finally get the Federal Goverment involed……..please, before more people get hurt!
Michael Susman who was hired as attorney by the Rottenberg family will hold today 2pm a press conference at 29 Truman in New Square
The “Journal News” comment that:
‘According to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section “making violent conduct against religious property and those exercising their religious beliefs [is] a federal crime.”‘
is highly significant.
It would be beneficial to all concerned in this parasha – the Skverer Rebbe, his gabbaim, the accused person and the injured man and his long-suffering family – if the investigation was taken out of the hands of the local police and given to a (relatively) unbiased and objective investigatory team.
But above all the sooner justice is done – and SEEN to be done – the better. The last sentence should not be construed as inferring or implying that the accused youth is guilty. That we must all leave to a Grand Jury and ultimately to a trial judge.
One thing is certain: the Skverer Rebbe would be VERY ill-advised to try and place political pressure on anyone to interfere, or to impede, the course of justice.
The Egla Arufa ceremoney was performed when a Jew was found murdered in the Land of Israel and the murder was not found. The Rabbis of the nearest town had to do repentance for the possibitity of being somewhat responsible for his death such as not providing him with food for his journey and ensuring that all of his safety needs were provided for. The Skvr community must learn a valuable lesson from this mitzvah that the leaders and the community must take responsiblity for this action and fix it. They must say that we do not allow such behavior in our community. The leadership should visit the injured man in the hospital and ofer to provide the injured man and his family with all of their needs as taught by the mitzvah of Egla Arufa. if they fail to do this then they are guilty themselves as the Torah teaches.
A Federal Anti-Religious Discrimination lawsuit should be brought against this 18 year old alleged attempted murderer and arsonist and his helpers immediately.
Remember what happened when the Romans were called in to help the domestic dispute between two brothers who wanted to be king, we all ended up as victims. So although local justice needs to be meted out, be very careful what you wish for because once the Feds stick their noses in Jewish business, they will look for any excuse to make everyones lives miserable, even when nothing is found wrong. Also look exactly at who is calling and screaming for Federal intervention, the same people who really cannot stand the sight and presence of Jews no matter how law abiding the majority is. Please think long term.
והייתם נקיים מה’ ומישראל. There needs to be complete transparency. If someone is guilty, it should be addressed properly. If innocent, they should be vindicated. It seems, from the reports reaching us through the media, that there is a bigger problem than is acknowledged by the Ramapo Police. Having an outside agency without the inherent biases investigate is a great idea. If the claim of this having nothing to do with a bigger issue of intimidation and harassment is true, the investigation can find this. I usually detest outside interference, but in this case it is definitely needed.
please do whatever it takes to stop this insanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to burn someone?????????? where is this rebbe???????????????
why is he silent? why has he been silent fori years untill now???? that silence encourages such behaviour!!!!! when u dont denounce something and stay quiet it is as though you are agreeing to it and saying this behavior or chas veshalom- kavod shamayim!!!
the only kavod shamayim is shalom!! & burning a human being is not kavod shamayim!!!!! re read the torah all you jews if neccesary!! im an FFB and is famkrumte chassidim and farkrumte jews ( litvish…or any other..) that tuen me off from this religion!!! you r not kanaim- like pinchus!!! protecting a rebbe’s kavod…thats not what Hashem wants…..im sure im not the only one you r turning off….all you thousands of baheimas are causing a massive chilul HaShem to jews and nonjews alike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s what happens ‘religious communities’ with ‘bloc voting’, vote for politicians with anti-Torah views, Cuomo, Clinton, Obama, etc. who have repeatedly professed their anti Torah views, such as abortion, gay marriage etc. All for what ? for a few more welfare dollars.
This attitude is symptomatic of a disregard of Torah values and disproportionate embrace of Jewish culture (Levush, Rebbes, and petty Minhagim), while Gezel and Shefichus damim go unchecked.
This will all be swept under the rug, and undoubtedly the arsonist and attempted murderer will be declared legally insane and unable to stand trial.
prosecute to the full extent of the law and prosecute those that stood idly by and encouraged this retzichah……pure evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! while the rebbe continues his daily activities and his children continue to live off their chassidim this poor guy will have to suffer through tremendous pain……where r the mass tefillos for this guy for a refuah shelaimah? whats his name?
mashiach will never come this way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
teh rebbe should go to this persons hospital room and apologize for having any indirect involvement into this heinous crime!! now that would show us some ahavas yisrael!!!
not everthing is about kavod and money……..
take off teh boots bec. we r not in russia now…..we dont drive horse and buggy and ask mechila!!!
di velt is nisht hefker in di himmel is nisht a boidem!!!!
yesh din v’yesh dayin- doesnt matter how much yiches you have!!!! mind you i have tons of yichus and it means nothing if i dont live up to my ancestors standards…
this is NOT what the baal shemtov had in mind!!!!
Dear Mr. St. Lawrence,
In the current days following a brutal and hanis burning of a New Square man by his fellow community member, there is substantial concern that the very community of New Square will come together to back the accused individual despite the strong potential of his guilt. I ask that you, as our town supervisor, not act in this case they way you do regarding zoning, multi-family housing and other larger community projects, where you act without decency and concern for ethics but rather for votes. I ask that you please not intervene to help the accused in exchange for votes in the New Square community the way politicians have been doing for years. I ask that you please allow justice to play itself out and allow for the acquittal or conviction of this man in accordance with American judicial system. It is precisely the purchasing of votes and other questionable favors that has led to this act which was caused by a community believing that it is above basic standards.
I do not believe the Rebbeh was obvious to the situation, the policies of harassment, intimidation, financial sanctions (in form of not allowing anyone to purchase a house), physical assult and outright murder came from the highest order.
Nothing happens in new square without the rebbes blessing.
sounds like a community on Kool-Aid
I hope it has a Badatz hecsher
next time we get somebody collecting for New Square,remember this incident
I do not believe that they deserve any support
The spin coming out of NS will be either :
1)The boy was mentally disturbed and had a long history of mental illness.
2) We are all victims, and have been victimized by this boy who ‘at random’ chose a family and indiscriminately set them ablaze.
3) Some combination of the two
4) Just remember you heard it here first.
finally
This crime needs to be dealt with. It must not be allowed to be swept under the carpet. Rottenberg wanted out of New Square and New Square likely wanted him out as well. So why wasn’t he allowed to sell his home at fair value? What is this!!! This is the second time New Square is involved in a chilul Hashem of collosal proportions! I am still reeling from all the radio commentators and call ins in connection to the Clinton pardons. If New Square is not made to pay for this crime, there will surely be other massive chilul Hashem’s. If New Sqaure is not made accountable, I am afraid all American Jews will come to suffer for her actions. I encourage the Rottenberg family to seek justice and never give up!
WHO are the main yellers to bring in feds and try to destroy skver. Its the apikorsim THAT WHEN THINGS ARE QUIET they post pro atheistic articles on evolution. Whatever these anti frum devils have to say DO THE OPPOSITE. In the good old days a king had the right to destroy any opposition to maintain his rule. If someone is a threat to the tzibur we must expect something to happen. Some of these posters are anti Torah and are looking to destroy yiddishkeit. To my fellow brethren in skver,dont give up. There are individual people there, as everywhere else ,whos emunah is weak and are shaken by anything drastic. I want to be mechazik them and they should realize that the Rebbe of Skver is a very nice person. As far as this incident I can tell you that the boy did not seek to kill anyone but the problem was he was confronted by the homeowner who happened to be a plumber. Plumbers are strong so what happened was an out of control confrontation. The boy panicked and thats why both got hurt. SKVER HAS TO DIVIDE TO TWO AREAS AND ALLOW THE ELITE TO BE IN THE ORIGINAL SQUARETOWN. Everyone in Skver should unite against the forces of evil ,the apikorsim and the evolutionist.
B’yh, this tragedy will be the catalyst to cleanse the filth in New Square and restore some sense of moderation and respect for all views. Yes, they are entitled to their minhagim and hashgacha but not to the point of intimidation and assault that has resulted.
May I quote a story from the chumash and you can make your own application. Shimon and Levi went and killed the whole town of shchem because they had abducted a girl their sister. The reason the whole town was put to death was because no one had complained about it. Yaakov complained to them about the chillul hashem (or worse) since the goyim would not understand (which it later proved they didnt) and would wage war against him. They replied its still more important than letting our daughter be a harlot. In other words some actions even killings are more important than chillul hashem. They went on to attempt to kill yosef. We are talking about the holy shvotim, and of course cannot claim to understand their actions but we do know that Yaakov Ovinu did not accept them and did not bentch them but cursed them.
the new square leaders would’t condem the violance claiming that Mr. rotenberg went against the Takunas. according to the letter signed by the kehila and badetz of new square, they’ve always been against violance. why isn’t the bocher spitzer expelled for going against the takuna?
how could the rebbe still be silent about this? doesn’t he deliver a shiur or say torah to his chasidim where he can mention anything about this?
my guess is that on shabbos, when there’s no recording of his speech, he’ll vaguely throw in a word about violence and the chasidim will be able to say: look what a strong leader we have and how he condemns violence.
that’s not good enough, rebbe. we need an unequivocal statement from you that this behavior is unjustifiable by all means and will not be tolerated.
It’s a loose loose situation. If the Feds get involved and if they don’t. The best thing will be if it stays local and the locals get scared. Next time it might be federal.
This story is beyond horrific. I honestly feel that it is everyone’s achrayus to react to this. We are forever having Asifos for all kinds of causes – what will it take to gather an Asifa to protest this murderous act and say Tehillim for Reb Rottenberg, may he have a refuah sheleimah? I don’t think we have an option to stay quiet.
Am I the only one who has a growing sense that NS is rotten to its core? Of course there are plenty of good people there, but I’m talking about the community in general. I’d like to think otherwise, but all the news out of there points that way. And I probably don’t even know the half of what goes on there in terms of finances and government support. How very far “chassidus” has strayed from its founding principles. May Hashem have mercy upon them and bring them back to the ways of the Torah.
First of all the boy who did the crime did not act entirely on his own, so the people who incited him have to be found and dealt with accordingly. So maybe even though he did a terrible thing, he shouldn’t take the entire blame for this heinous act.
Second of all, bribery blinds judges, and since New Square votes as a bloc, the elected officials won’t do anything to upset that vote.
Perhaps its time to go back to daas torah when we consider appropriate punishment fo this crime….an “eye for an eye, a burn for a burn, etc. comes to mind as the torah-based response to this horror. Unfortunately, civil law does not provide for torah-based punishment.
once a rebbie has to resort to threats, intimidation to get his chassideim inline he has lost control and is not and did not do his job
a leader and more so a rebbie should lead by example and inspire people to be better people and if a few do a few things different against his will (as long as it is not against halacha) he should be the better man. when you inspire someone the person themselves becomes better because they want to as does better whether someone is watching or not.
when you rule by fear, the people follow because they are afraid and once no one is watching they do what they want.
Go back in memory to your yeshiva days.
there where two type of rebbies one inspired you to learn and was did it by fear .
the difference was as least in my class when the rebbie left
the class were the rebbie inspired we still keep on learning (and had some fun)
the class were the rebbie ruled with fear the second he left we went wild and did not learn word
The best joke I have heard. After not finding anyone who will talk to the FBI they gave gone to the fish store instead. (remember the talking fish).
For sure this bucher deserves real punishment and there’s no way to justify what he did. But mr. rottenberg is not so innocent either skver left the city and founded their own shtetl to live by their own standards and yes their tekunes and away from all of us who don’t like their standards And if you don’t like their standards don’t live there that’s one of the reasons I don’t live there. and anybody undermining a mura de’asra and a kehilla from within is a mechutzef and should be ready to take whatever is coming his way. and by no way do I justify what this bucher did but rottenberg definitely brought it upon himself. And its hard to believe that skver didn’t allow him to leave because if they have any common sense they should have paid him to leave since it would only benefit them bottom line he knew exactly what he’s going into by publicly defying the rebbe and the kehila while being there many people who didn’t like it found their way out and so could he have done. but by staying their and undermining the leadership is a disgrace and he deserves to be dealt with again I don’t give any right to the bucher on what he has done but I don’t really feel bad for mr. Rottenberg either
I, for one, will be very careful from now on, to not doven in the wrong shul.
To 69 and 71. All I said was that he got himself into that situation and yes by undermining a leadership from within is a major chutzpah. And I clearly said burning him is wrong and retzicha and whoever has done it deserves punishment to the fullest. but mr. Rottenberg is a mechitzef and deserves punishment as well and he knew he’ll get into trouble. I’m not from skver and I’m not here to defend them but the truth should no be missed here. Mr. rottenberg is a major mechitzef and he got himself into all this. skver was the ones who left the city to live their own way of life and if somebody doesn’t like it leave them alone don’t follow them. and again I’m not saying he deserved all this but he’s the one who started the machloike by breaking the tekunes. Tell me one place where you can come in and break the leadership and they will just turn the other way. Its low and chutzpah
What most likely happened is that they expected the house to be burned with or without the people in it. The fire department would have been paid off to say it was a tragic accident and that would have been the end of it. It just went wrong because the bochur was caught in the act. There have been fires there before and no one has ever been blamed.
This is America and we NOT a theocracy. You cannot tell someone how to pray and with whom they should pray. You cannot govern to whom you sell your house and at what price. NS is a New York State municipality in the United States and therefore the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights govern not taliban mentality.
I am rethinking my current affiliation with Square. I need answers to the following questions.
1. Was A. Rothenberg warned that night that his house will be burned down and he should evacuate?
2. Was the Square Hatzoloh called and refused to come?
3. Was Mr. Rothenberg prevented from selling his house for regular market price?
NEW SQUARE – Shaul Spitzer, 18, of New Square, remains in the hospital suffering from burns, but he is now in the custody of Rockland County Jail authorities. He was arraigned in his hospital room at Cornell Medical Center in New York City on charges of attempted murder, attempted arson in the first degree and assault in the first degree.
Spitzer allegedly tossed as gas drenched rag onto the back porch of a house owned by the Aron Rottenberg family, also of New Square. Rottenberg and Spitzer argued and fought on the porch when they both caught fire during the Sunday morning incident.
Rottenberg is also in the hospital, suffering from third degree burns over 50 percent of his body.
Meanwhile, his family has retained the services of civil rights attorney Michael Sussman of Goshen, who said Tuesday that Rottenberg and Spitzer had “no personal issue,” but rather, he said the incident “culminated months of increasingly violent and coordinated religiously-based attacks on Mr. Rottenberg triggered by the victim’s choice of synagogue and religious leader.”
I hope Mr. Sussman names Rabbi Twersky as an accomplice and takes him to the cleaners.
What I cannot get out of my mind is — what if he G-d forbid had succeeded??
wich skverer chusid is reporting evrey comment as inappropiate ??
looks like your problem is not what the teen did just the problem is that we all know about it !!
the wife and son speak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06_jZcNJD-c
Thanks for the helpful blog.