In what has become a pile-on of criticism, many people and Jewish websites are pointing fingers at YWN for supposedly besmirching a Jewish man and falsely accusing him of kidnapping a child from a shul in Flatbush on Wednesday.
The criticism isn’t a big deal, but we do believe that a little context and a timeline of the events would do much to clear the air about what did – and didn’t – happen in the context of YWN’s reporting.
First, let’s take a look at the timeline:
- A child inside a shul tells his mother that a stranger took his hand and led him towards the door
- The child’s frightened mother calls Flatbush Shomrim and police. The mother gives police a full statement of the incident to police officers (recorded on bodycam footage later reviewed by YWN)
- YWN is notified by the NYPD that an attempted abduction of a child has taken place in the heart of Flatbush
- YWN publishes its initial story, reporting that an unknown man attempted to abduct a child from a shul and just hundreds of feet from a yeshiva with hundreds more children inside. Obviously, if a predator is walking around Flatbush, it is YWN’s duty to warn the public.
- Police locate and interview the man, ultimately determining that the incident warranted his arrest. A NY Post photographer is already at the scene snapping pictures.
- YWN posts a follow-up article stating that the suspect in the previously reported attempted kidnapping has been arrested. YWN did not publish his name, face, or even his religion.
- The NY Post publishes an article about the story, followed by many other NYC News outlets.
- At midnight, the mother of the child drops all charges against the man
- At 11 AM Thursday morning, YWN receives security camera footage that completely clears the man.
- Minutes later, YWN posts an updated story saying that the supposed kidnapping was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
Since then, it’s become popular for other outlets to attack YWN, accusing it of besmirching a Jewish man without having investigated. Except, as can be seen in the timeline, that’s not what happened.
YWN didn’t tip off the NY Post – they were at the scene before YWN posted anything about what happened. Additionally, news outlets like the Post don’t need YWN to be “tipped off” about the story. They got the same bulletin from the NYPD about an attempted abduction as YWN did.
YWN didn’t besmirch anyone; we never posted his name or picture, nor did we even say he was Jewish. His identity got around because the NY Post published it and then people made their own decision to send it around.
YWN never called the man a “creep,” as many have been claiming. Those accusing YWN of that have been spending too much time reading the NY Post story, which did refer to him as that.
While many did immediately move to besmirch the man and destroy him and his reputation, YWN never did so. We reported of a possible danger in the community, and then that an arrest was made in the incident. Nothing more.
To those news outlets who are accusing of us of besmirching a man’s name, look in the mirror. You are besmirching YWN by making an accusation about us that never actually happened. Pot, meet kettle.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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45 Responses
K
I’m glad the true story came out as I have found out that he’s a huge Tzadik and bal middos. Would never say even one a mean word to a person in his life.
I’m glad the true story came out as I have found out that he’s a huge Tzadik and bal middos. Would never say even one mean word to a person in his life.
YWN besmirches itself by adding infantile headlines to stories with a political aspect.
Chareidi amiti is right
There’s no need to sensationalize a headline by saying shocking
alright YWN. That turned out good for you, next.
I am positive you won’t publish my comment! Because of all that you wrote and didn’t write, the HEILIGEH CHOFETZ CHAIM wrote his Sefer Shmiras Halososhon.
YWN, why do you think frum people were looking for more info about this story & found it at the Post? Because you reported it without all the details. If hadn’t reported it, or had waited to get more information from Chaveirim, I would have known anything about it. Don’t pass the blame onto the the NY Post. You need to do some real soul searching.
I watched the video over and over and over and just feel terrible for the accused fellow. You clearly see nothing at all happened. Ordinary life things that happen on a normal basis you could just cry for the guy thank you for clearing things up on your end. (I really hope it clears things up)
YWN-you want to clear the air???
Please find out from your connections with the NYPD and especially with Shomrim why
#9 on you list – “At 11 AM Thursday morning, YWN receives security camera footage that completely clears the man” wasn’t done at the moment they were called and were investigating the ALLEGED crime.
Shouldn’t that have been #1???
You clearly write that the camera footage completely clears the man, so shouldn’t Shomrim have immediately check the camera’s right away and shouldn’t the NYPD have done the same for such a serious alleged crime at that moment, before arresting this innocent person!?!?
If they did, this never would have even begun.
There needs to be more responsibility and diligence by all!
I’m sure you would agree if it were you that were arrested and suffered all the humiliation and suffering!
Sorry, YWN is still a news source and therefore there will always be the need to make their headlines and stories interesting, enticing, juicy etc.
The above “#10” is actually not 100% accurate. This morning YWN said the “nearly” all charges were dropped. Why couldn’t they just write “all”? YWN is a news source, although much, much cleaner than all others.
So basically you’re writing excuses for accidental rtzicha. Maybe be mchaper for yourself with golus.
I cannot attest as to this man’s tzidkus, but he certainly displayed complete ignorance of societal norms, and was sorely lacking basic common sense and kovod habrios. It is unacceptable, in this this day and age, to touch a child that is not your own unless it is pikuach nefesh. Certainly not to compel him to come with you. He sorely needs hadracha from his rav or rosh yeshiva.
Hold on, just because rabbis pressured the family to Protect men who act inappropriately to young boys, does not mean it was all cleared up. No man should touch in any way, even take by the hand, any young boy in shul. Nor tell the boy to leave Shul with him. So we have not even heard what the real story is! Why have people jumped to protect them man? We need to protect children.
Yeshiva World, you explained yourself very clearly and with accuracy .
Thank you
Good Shabbos to everyone
The YWN is another fake news looking for “dramatizing” to make news.
Whoever besmirched the name of this innocent tzadik who was falsely accused, whether by making negative comments online or offline regarding him, should probably visit him and get on their knees to beg him mechilla, in order to save themselves from 11 months in gehenim, otherwise.
I love that someone just posted an article with some information and no facts or proofs checked.
The prt of the saga that disturbs me deeply has nothing to do with what YWN wrote, both in the initial article (and I noticed that they were careful to leave details ambiguous ), or in the follow up clarification .
What bothers me to NO END is the overwhelming majority of over-the-top comments on the clarification article.
How much hatred? So many ridiculous claims or assumptions! What has happened to us? What has happened to measured, eidel, reasonable responses? What have we become?!?
People call for horrible punishments, make all sorts of wild accusations , emphatically state opinions based on nothing at all.
It’s disheartening. We are supposed to be an Am Chacham Vinavon… Rachmana Litzlan
YWN did the right thing – to report the news and not second guess it.
The man DID do sojething wrong (andxwe can learn from it):
Soneone else’s kid is not yours to use.
You wouldn’t dream of using someone else’s car without the owner’s permission if you needed to get through a group of women – because it would be geneiva.
That’s why you can’t use someone else’s kid without the parental permission. A kid is more valuable than someone’s car.
We iften use other’s kids (we ask them to do something for us etc), but without parental permission we are doing a wrong.
In this case, it lead to an arrest. Let’s learn the lesson.
YWN keep reporting the news and don’t second guess it.
can somebody give me his number for a Brucha
YWN did the right thing – to report the news and not second guess it.
The man DID do something wrong (and we can learn from it):
Soneone else’s kid is not yours to use!!
You wouldn’t dream of using someone else’s car without the owner’s permission even if you needed to get through a group of women – because it would be geneiva.
That’s why you can’t use someone else’s kid without the parental permission. A kid is more valuable than someone’s car.
We often use other’s kids (we ask them to do something for us etc), but without parental permission, we are doing a wrong. No less than geneiva.
In this case, it lead to an arrest. Let’s learn the lesson and not be repeat offenders.
YWN keep reporting the news and don’t ever second guess it.
There is NOTHING new that actually clears this up. There is no new information saying anything that clears him from doing something to a child at Shul. Even so much as touching or pulling a boy by the arm or a hand is not appropriate. There are just Rabbis immediately jumping to protect the man, which is done too often. Time to protect children!!
I’m a grown man and when someone grabbed me and shlepped me in order to do a krias yam suf, I felt a bit peeved.
What was the “misunderstanding”? Why is there no reporting to say what this misunderstanding is? Why is this so vague? If he is cleared of all wrongdoing, then why is there no reporting of what happened? Dropping charges only could mean the family was pressured to do so. It does not mean he was cleared of all wrongdoing unless it is said what exactly happened
Children are הקדש. No one can be מועיל בקודש. Using someone else’s child without parental permission is מעילה. In this case, he got arrested for מעילה. That’s the lesson – for him and for us!
(Read 3 x – ג’ פעמים)
Hindsight is 2020
Dear Rebitzin goldpickle… and lealeh
I’m sorry for the trauma you must have experienced but he didn’t use the child or endanger the child in anyway if you’d be shlepping something heavy into a building and there’s a child there is it called using someone’s child to ask him to please hold the door open for you?! The only thing looking back that I’m sure he would have changed was putting his hand on the child’s shoulder but it was clearly not malicious and that’s not using or abusing the child in any way we have become extremely paranoid about this topic and perhaps rightfully so but that doesn’t give us a heter to bashmutz rabbonim and innocent people! You didn’t service anyone by your comments!!
And one more thing we should take out of this story is that woman especially in a shul foyer/hallway etc for a simcha in which men need to pass through should try stay to one side as to let the men to go through in a halachacly correct manner.
Now that would be a good hanhaga in any public place not block entrances to office buildings, stores etc but especially a shul which a Kadosh and is mainly used by men, vhaya machanecha kadosh!! May we see the good in each other and may we merit the geulah!!
I need to clear something up
In Shemiras Hanefesh 74 in name of Sefer Hazichron; Siach Hasadeh [Gra”ch Kaznievsky] Sefer Hazichron p. 12; See Ein Lamo Michshal 7:358… What is one to do if he cannot avoid walking between two men or women?
One is to hold something in his hand, such as his phone, wallet, or bag, and have in mind that it separate between them. If one does not have anything in his hand, he should hold his Peiyos or beard.
Just be normal, stop grabbing kids, this wierdo needs basic social skills!! Halacha will never dictate that one should act like a moron.
Our Mashgiach used to say, the main avoida in life is to be normal. This is the exact meaning of Derech Eretz kodmo latorah. Sometimes u need to act like a normal person and find another solution rather then grabbing a kid. No one is asking him to break halacha. Rant over.
I just saw the security camera footage (available online.) The Yeshiva man was waiting stuck unable Al Pi Halacha to get through since the women spread themselves out on both sides of the Shul hallway, preventing men from walking through the Shul hallway. The falsely accused tzadik, after being stuck, saw this 11 or 12 year old boy walking out of the shul through the hallway and stopped him for half a minute asking him a question (obviously whether he could walk though the hallway side by side with him.) The boy must have said yes (there’s no audio) and the tzadik put one hand on the back of this boy’s shoulder, on his shirt, as they walked from one end of the hallway to the other — approximately 40 feet in length, which took about 30 seconds of walking through in the crowded hallway. As soon as he was on the other side of the crowded hallway the Yeshiva man promptly walked out of the door while the boy stayed inside.
He didn’t even ever hold the boys hand (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with doing so anyways.) He asked permission. All he did was walk side by side though a packed hallways with one hand lightly on back of the boy’s shirt so that they remained side by side through the 30 second walk.
It never looked anything remotely like an attempted kidnapping. Nothing close. This mother needs help with her sick imagination. Anyone who assisted her in this false claim is equally culpable in Dinei Shamayim. Neither she nor her enablers nor those that publicly disparaged this innocent tzadik will have a pretty future Acher Meah V’Esrim Shana. No one will envy their end.
“…. we have become extremely paranoid about this topic and perhaps rightfully so but that doesn’t give us a heter to bashmutz rabbonim and innocent people…”
After reading all these comments, I’m still a bit skeptical that after all the warnings about NEVER touching someone else’s child, this guy is some “huge tzaddik” whatever his motivation. Also, not clear who was “bashmutzing” rabbonim in this episode. If you don’t want to be “bashmutzed” keep your hands off someone else’s kid.
The man who took the child whom he did not know and did know him–did he really think this was a smart thing to do? No common sense.
The lynch mob is insane, just look at some comment such as leahleh
I think part of the problem is that abuse has been covered up for so long, that many don’t want to give a perpetrator the benefit of the doubt.
So when this story broke and some were trying to protect the guy, well everyone just assumed, here we go again. Protecting the perpetrator just like Walder, Webberman, etc.
Everyone did the right thing in this story besides the media for making a fuss.
The yungerman, mother, shomrim and police.
Reminders me of the story with the Beis Haleivy reprimanding the ones getting involved in machlokes, and the moshol of Hashem being wrong in Chad gadyo or the incident of the guy who was faulsly accused for taking a kids gold coin and killing his reputation.
Spreading the news kills
Yasher Koach to YWN for protecting the community. Unfortunately we need to have a zero tolerance policy for touching a child who is not your own. And unfortunately this yid wasn’t aware of it. There is now no longer an excuse after the media coverage. The sakana to those innocent children who are at risk of being abused out weighs all other concerns. It is the responsibility of the adults to be socially aware and not but themselves in a compromised situation.
Just another sign of the times. There is so much noise, coming in from all directions, that we lose the ability to differentiate between all the noise and it becomes one. YWM, NY Post, other outlets, things get copied and pasted, forwarded, screen shot, sometimes no attribution, sometimes with added commentary, and before you know it, YWN is a NY Post columnist calling all avreichim creeps.
The worst part of this saga are the arm chair quarterback “comments”. IMHO, this feature should be shut down.
We need to organize a Go Fund Me. To pay all his legal bills?
It’s time for a new news’s blog for the yeshiva olam.
The cover up is inexcusable and hollow.
YWN does everthing leshem shamayim. It has nothing to do with sensational headlines trying to garner as many clicks as possible to show their advertisers how busy their web site is. Everything they do, all their news headlines, comments they approve are all approved by gedolei yisroel and never have any form of loshon horah or moitze shem rah in any of them. Their entire mission is only to protect am yisroel and create sholom between all of us.
A good story to wake up all of us hibernating until Pesach
I would just like to quote from the original article 2 sentences.
“The suspect was eventually found by Flatbush Shomrim hiding in a nearby Yeshiva. It has been confirmed to YWN that the suspect has absolutely no connection to the Yeshiva.”
“Sources further tell YWN that the suspect immediately admitted what he did to NYPD detectives and was taken into custody without further incident.”
Why don’t you address these 2 points in this article?
So YWN is the real victim here.
NYPD notified immediately the no. 1 investigation unit YWN about the series danger
YWN fulfilled his duty to report & warn the public.
I don’t understand why YWN is being besmirched by the public They have never done so for any yid kehila or community
So trying to fix the story & drop any guilt but then you wrote YWN has confirmed You also wrote the man has no connection to the yeshiva
I think you should go to this yids door asking for mechila at least on your public platform
All I can say about this boy He has a terrible mother IDK what she’s watching on her phone But took her till midnight to drop the charges from morning & thank you Flatbush Shomrim for beating up a follow Jew 2 years ago we haven’t forgotten