On Sunday, YWN reported that a Mishmeres HaTznius agent, 29-year-old Elchanan Buzaglo was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for assaulting a woman who left the frum path, deciding to live a secular lifestyle. YWN has learned that he was sentenced to 4 years in prison and a NIS 10,000 fine. Following are additional details surrounding the case.
The attack occurred a number of months ago, in the Maalot Daphne area of Yerushalayim. According to a report in the daily Haaretz, “flaws in the investigation” prevented the prosecution from moving ahead with criminal indictments against those who dispatched Buzaglo.
Buzaglo received $2,000 for his actions, working as a Mishmeres mercenary to scare Michal into leaving the frum neighborhood. She was beaten to the point that she required medical intervention. Michal told the court that after divorcing her husband, she stopped living a shomer Shabbos lifestyle and Buzaglo threatened if she does not move out of the area, the next beating would be more severe.
“I grew up chareidi, but I realized I do not wish to continue this fanatic traditional lifestyle,” explains Michal, whose parents feared she would abandon the frum derech, marrying her off at age 16 to a 28-year-old man. She explains that at the time, they told her he was only 23.
“The thought it would tame me, keep me frum, but they were mistaken,” explains Michal.
At age 22, she was a mother of three, explaining “I wanted to run away”. At age 25, she had decided she can no longer continue the “masquerade”, deciding to leave her home and family.
After the divorce, their three children, ages 6, 10, and 11, remained with their father who reportedly fled to America. She initially moved to Bnei Brak, and then to Yerushalayim, where she works combing sheitels.
Michal explains that one day, she received a telephone call from someone who pleaded with her to arrange her sheitel urgently, stressing she must have it done immediately. She told authorities she was not afraid since a woman was on the other end of the phone. At 10:00pm, there was a knock at the door, which she stated did indeed scare her. A chareidi man was standing there, and a moment later, “two thugs passed him, entered the room, and they knocked me to the floor. One placed his foot on my head and the second stuffed a rag in my mouth. They began beating me all over my body, shouting curses and insults. After I managed to yell ‘stop, I have three children’ they seemed to back off a bit, all three were involved”.
After that incident, she received phone threats for months, threatening to kill her if she does not move out of the area. She decided to break away from the norm and turn to police, explaining usually, women targeted by the Mishmeres HaTznius know not to turn to police.
Buzaglo, who is married and the father of three expressed remorse for his actions, calling on the court for mercy, explaining he too has a family, adding that in the past, he was also chareidi and he too was victimized by the Mishmeres Tznius.
Michal added she was pleased by the court’s decision “to finally send one of them to prison,” but added since the attack, her life has been ruined.
[Original YWN story from Sunday cane be viewed by clicking HERE.]
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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27 Responses
Mishmeres HaTznius? Are they normal???
Hashem Yirachem. Nebach, this whole world desperately needs Hashems Rachmanus.
wish they came here to brooklyn and give them a taste of their own medicine
i was in eretz yisorel.. and some vad hatzinis who shouldnt be looking at woman started harrasing my wife as soon as i cam over.. he ran away.. lucky for him.. my wife was dressed tzinuis but not to this guys liking!!
What on earth?????!!! OMG is the “VAAD” frum????
B”H the Vaad L’Mishmeres Tzniyus is finally beginning to pay for their crimes. Let’s hope this is this will spell the downfall of these reshaim-disguised-as-yerei’im and those who sponsor their hefkerus and achzoriyus.
I don’t believe the story, as presented. I still recall the libel against that father who was accused of killing his baby by shaking him violently. It was a total fabrication.
We need to be very careful before accepting accusations against Hareidim from the secular press. Anti-hareidi propaganda is quite common there.
Did Mishmeres Hatzenius have a statement?
While I can’t condone his actions, I feel that YW has portrayed this woman’s actions of leaving the proper derech of yiddishkeit in a positive light, and sort of sympathized with her having been “forced” to live a frum lifestyle.
I don’t think that is proper for a frum site which follows Da’as Torah.
I’ll assume that’s a rhetorical question.
What a Chillul Hashem. Maybe some time in prison will give this guy some time to reflect.
Was the YWN source the rabbanim who allegedly ordered this? What did they say? Were they interviewed? Do they exist? “Flaws in indictments” are the most readily fixed thing in the criminal justice system, especially if the prosecutor is not known for being a friend of the person getting indicted. The whole case sounds incredibly “fishy”.
First: the women has a civil claim against the rabbanim – why has she not brought it (either in the government courts or before a Beis Din). Based on YWN’s account, it is inevitable she would bring a civil claim, long before any criminal case was filed. The “Vaad”‘s members are unlikely to be judgment-proof, and since the standard of evidence in criminal cases is stricter, if the story is true winning a civil case would be “a piece of cake”.
Second: she still works in a frum business – dubious for someone “fleeing” the frum community
Third: the big issue seems to be a custody dispute
rather than a self-righteous zealot concerned about halachic observances – this would hardly be the first time that one side in a divorce used violence to intimidate an ex-spouse (it happens frequently, among all cultures).
Fourth: Nothing would give the Israeli police more happiness than to raid a frum organization and round up the staff for aiding a criminal, and seize all its assets. If that hasn’t happened, it is perhaps because the evidence doesn’t support the account of a “Vaad” hiring a “mercenary.”
Based on the facts YWN presented, a more reasonable conclusion is that the defendant is a psychopath and/or was hired in a custody dispute, and plea bargained by claiming some “Vaad” hired him (without giving names of rabbanim).
Mercy? He didn’t seem to care about her family when he threatened her life.
He already got mercy – it’s people like him who are too dangerous to let roam in society. He’s lucky he didn’t get sent away for a lot longer.
These people are the antithesis of Judaism, and are engaged in the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
to “boruchhashem” [7],
Yes, I could also see a lot of positive in some of these poor teen-maid-wives getting a life and finding out for themselves what Bechira is all about. Vkm”l.
Another angle that smells bad: the Mishmeres apparently had something on this guy so sent him to do the job? Sounds like the way the Arabs work with their suicide bombers, especially the women. I truly hope this will go one of two ways: either it just fades into oblivion news-wise on the say-so of true daas-Torah, or the reporters do a follow-up that answers all our questions.
akuperma is naive
“buzaglo…adding that in the past, he was also chareidi and he too was victimized by the Mishmeres Tznius?? please explain i think the plea bargin theory makes the most sense and this fight was a completly unrelated matter & the secular press is dying for such storries no need to check for accuracy (maybe some one should make a shiduch betwean them both excharadi divorced with 3 kids)
Akuperma says: “…the big issue seems to be a custody dispute…”
BINGO–NOW IT BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE!
There is no way a serious Hareidi organization, like Mishmeres hatzenius, is going to do something like this.
NOTE: the Police didn’t indict them in the courts, where there are standards of evidence. Instead, they they indicted them in the media, where there are no standards, especially when Harfeidim are demonized.
“adding that in the past, he was also chareidi and he too was victimized by the Mishmeres Tznius.”
Another very suspect line. This guy is not a chareidi presently.
Who sent him?
Whom does he represent?
We will never know because the secularists like the appearance of this whole thing.
As usual
#18 – the article said the father of the children (the “ex” of the victim) fled the country with the children — one normally doesn’t flee from Eretz Yisrael for the fun of seeing the world — Is the article suggesting he fled Eretz Yisrael because his “ex” was off the derekh (more likely she wanted the kids)
and the woman can’t stand frum Jews so she gets a job in the heart of the frum community doing a job that only involves frum Jews (hilonim who wear wigs tend to choose different types and shop in different places – they don’t want to look frum).
and the police don’t have evidence linking the assailant to anyone else – in a country whose rules of evidence are very dubious — IF a frum man, for whatever reason, was caught assaulting a woman, what sort of excuse could he make???? An American court would have ordered him to testify and hold him in civil contempt indefinitely, before starting his criminal sentence.
The only reason I’m not making a joke about having a bridge to sell you, is that the mayor is thinking aboutg selling the real one (but that’s a different story)
And of course touching (let alone beating) a woman is the height of tznius, right?
I have a question for the woman who is the center of this story.
Is she, as a mature woman and mother, able to look at herself as the sixteen year old in a family trying to raise their children in the ways of Torah? Did the other members of the family also not have rights?
Can she not have compassion on her parents who did the best they could do for their daughter?
Is it just about her, still, as it was when she was sixteen?
What happened is not right but we shape our own futures when we go against the stream.
Don’t pay too much attemtion to torahis1. For him to attack chareidim is more than just a knee jerk reaction. He searches it out. Just google “torahis1” on this site and on the entire internet and you will see nothing but attacks on chareidim and how he very consistently views everything about them in the worst possible light even when it is most probable otherwise. Here too he did the same. He has found guilty even those who weren’t prosecuted. Of course this is only with very careful analysis of all of the evidence.
#22:
Marrying a 16 year old off to a 28 year old in order to try to pressure her to stay “on the derech” was the best they could do? I won’t even go into the fact that you can’t pressure someone to believe in something they don’t want to – nor should you try to. She was 16! He was 28! Can you even legally consummate the marriage in Israel at 16 without going to jail? (I don’t know Israel’s age of consent).
Her parents didn’t do the best they could do – they panicked and did the easy thing rather than really trying to help her grown on her own accord.
nice way for the shmad-media to portra tznius – what if some choloni who was thinking about becoming tznius read this; this may be part of their cavana, to make tznius look like violent, arab-esque fanaticism. the fact that she calls it fanaticism, i.e., her being an apikores(apikorsa?), makesher chayav misah. Give her heck, the way I see it – moridin velo maalin does not apply, lifi the chazon ish, since we cannot show people that torah is 100% emes anymore(or at least not the way we used to be able to do so), making the crime not capital in the sense of being able to indirectly killthem(which is what moridin velo maalin is). She, and those like her, are laitzanim, who have no chelek in olam haba, have been mafkir themselves (asin aPIKORes), and are the antithesis of creation, a total abomination of the world, and a threat to the universe. They are also dangerous – being an apikores is worse than being dead, since spiritual death is worse than physical, and we know that when an apikores strikes another jew’s emunah, he’s done something worse than murder – even if these men beat her, we have no idea if it was worse than say, makas mardus, which beis din used to do, and for all we know, she could have been a danger, and they were trying to stop her from shmadding her children(a very real threat which in the old days, before the din of the chazon ish, would have probably warranted death).
I have no idea why YWN posted this story in such a biased, anti-torah manner – contrary to secular society, people being hurt or suffering is not always a bad thing. She was causing untold grief to her husbad and family, and is this not less than being knocked to the ground? I think it’s worse – pritzus kills people, can you honestly say they have a right(dont tayna the first amendment shtusim, it has nothing to do with us or daas torah, or emes) to parade around killing souls in their states of undress?
YWN is obviously siding with her for some weird reason.
You’d think she was just doing borer in her house on Shabbos…the real story is much, much worse as other papers report.
Why did she live in a frum neighborhood if she wanted to be frei?
I’m not condoning violence, but we don’t know the whole story. This is the classic “Jew beats man” news story.
Wow, rebshalom, I never knew that – thanks for enlightening.
And I agree that this story was presented very objectively and fairly, and I don’t think it particularly favors either side. The author did a very good job.
It all makes me want to cry.
Is it true that Rav Shternbuch, shlit”a, made a statement and asked to be publicized as widely as possible, including the internet? If so, is YWN aware of this, or were they contacted?