A frum man who was arrested in Flatbush on Wednesday following reports of him attempting to kidnap a young child from a shul, was released with nearly all charges dropped after the full picture of what occurred came to light.
Highly credible sources tell YWN that the man says he had been learning in the shul’s bais medrash (on East 7th Street between Kings Highway and Avenue R) for over an hour and when he was done, he attempted to leave, but found the lobby filled with women. As per halacha, he didn’t want to walk directly through a crowd of women and so he asked a young boy to hold his hand so he could get through without being meikel.
Security footage reviewed by YWN confirms the man’s version of the events that transpired.
The mother, seeing her child apparently being led away by a stranger, stopped him and asked who the man was, to which the child replied that he had no idea. Understandably, the mother grew very concerned and immediately called Flatbush Shomrim, who appropriately took the incident very seriously.
YWN published the story – though without any identifying details about the man – as the NYPD put out a bulletin warning that this man was wanted for an attempted abduction of a child, and such issues of serious concern to the community at large.
The family has not pressed charges, and most of the charges against the man have been dropped. Both the boy and his family are relieved that this was no more than a matter of miscommunication.
YWN has spoken to Flatbush Shomrim Executive Coordinator Bob Moskovitz about their response.
“When Flatbush Shomrim receives a phone call from a mother saying a man just attempted to abduct her young child, we respond and take the matter seriously. This is our responsibility to the community we work 24/7 to keep safe,” he says.
“When we arrived and interviewed the mother and a crying child, we instructed the mother to call the NYPD,” he explained. “The police responded and, after speaking to the mother and child, determined that this was a serious incident. They proceeded to locate the suspect, interviewed him, and placed him under arrest.”
“We would respond the same exact way if we were to receive such a call on any day – no matter the identity of the alleged perpetrator. We have a responsibility to the community, and we will continue to work to keep the community safe from crime of any nature.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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58 Responses
If wanting to be so holy & frum.
He could’ve gently said to the group of women while shielding his “holy eyes” “excuse me please may I go through”.
So not a kidnapper. Just a chasid shoteh. Good of the police and shomrim to give him the education he needed.
I have not seen anywhere that he was released. How did the yeshiva word learn about this update
This is the correct version. Take a look at the security cameras. It is clearly evident that this is what took place. And confirmed by somebody that did the same exact thing a moment earlier the only reason the mother got nervous was because they did not know who that man was, and she only saw this accused fellow, holding her sons hand not the other guy. Please before anybody says that this man is guilty, and this version of the story is wrong. Please know that you are all wrong. The video footage clearly proves this point of you the man is totally innocent.
I know firsthand he has the families apologies for what took place. I heard from the person that went with him to the houses last night.
Something here doesn’t add up.
Now where does he go to get his reputation back? Will the NY Post & the other news sites that identified the man post a big article about the REAL story?
doesnt add up, do we remember the levi aron case he was also “concerned”.
If this is true then they should release a public letter to the non Jewish media to apologies as this was reported all over the non Jewish media and it generated a tremendous chilul hashem and will engender allot of unnecessary anti semites as reflected on all the negative comments on the NY post website and many other websites.
If this is true then they should release a public letter to the non Jewish media to apologies as this was reported all over the non Jewish media and it generated a tremendous chilul hashem and will engender allot of unnecessary anti semites as reflected on all the negative comments on the NY post website and many other websites. I hope they will rectify this.
Whats the halacha of holding a young boys hand? Can someone please direct me to a source? Thanks.
The poskim write that if one needs to walk between two women, or if a woman is walking between two men, one should carry an item in his hand and that negates the issue. If one does not have an item to carry he should grab his peyos. (Rishfei Eish 334) Having said that, the man was wrong asking the boy to hold his hand and should have known better. You don’t touch a child that is not your own!
Israellakewood they should send letters. Correct.
Obviously this man was never taught not to touch another persons child without both the parents and the childs permission.
You guys are all idiots. There is a halacha not to walk between two women, but if its 2 men at a time its muttar.
Anyone who makes fun of this guy for keeping the halacha is either non – jewish (understandable) or a hypocrite (well, i guess understandable as well, unfortunately).
Besides, the story never made much sense. Some indicators were the fact that the “abduction” occured in front of everyone, in a packed hall, where he is a stand-out (visibly yeshivish, not the average sefardi from flatbush). He “admitted” to the crime immediately, which also indicates that… perhaps it wasnt a crime.
In the end, the only people who did something wrong are the Mother and shomrim, who because of their overreaction caused an innocent man a lot of shame, and shamed the community at large. Echad Shogeg, v’echad meizid ….
But the worst is those idiots who comment here, whos lust for “justice” cloud their logic, as they wipe their chops at another “farfrumteh” getting his “dues”. Those of you on that bandwagon, have a lot of teshuvah to do.
I was able to see from the pictures of the arrest how innocent he was. True Tzadik!
This fellow with some absurd חומרא of his, has caused an unspeakable amount of wasted tax money & other funds, for a ridiculous far fetched fad of his.
He needs to restore every penny wasted by the police & Shomrim, even if if every pay check of his needs to be garnished for the rest of his life
oops
@chash perhaps the man in question also bears some responsibility for the confusion that occured?
Adults- don’t ask children to do things like this for you. It desensitizes them to unusual adult behavior, placing them at risk for danger!
Why weren’t ALL charges dropped? The police want to save face about them again jumping to conclusions?
just like he’s being machmir on Halacha, she’s being machmir on her sons life which is even more called for. he has no business holding someone else’s childs hand especially as a stranger, it definitely looks bad, im not accusing him of anything, but it doesn’t look right at all, this is not the right place to be a tzaddik, he should be a tzaddik on his own cheshbon not someone elses. the only idiot here is you if you cannot understand this.
No “Chasid Shoteh”, but yeah, these days it’s very easy to scare people. Maybe he should’ve sent the kid to ask his mother first? Either way what he was trying to accomplish certainly wasn’t unnecessary according to Halachah.
Long Island Goy #1: What this tzadik did is the normal default way to work around the Halachic prohibition of walking between two women. Asking 15 women to move aside in crowded hall full of women is impractical.
There’s nothing wrong whatsoever with holding a boy’s hand in a crowded hallway. Only someone with a sick mind could think there’s anything wrong with such a thing.
chash, if you truly believe this is what god wants, we pray to different gods.
@Chash, Kol Hakavod. I was about to comment exactly what you said. Glad to see that not everyone is this forum is a medieval-mob-mentality-self-righteous- vigilante “justice” seeker. Shame on all of them, particularly @long island yid. כל הפוסל במומו הוא פוסל״
Oh man. I needed a good laugh. Thanks for the story. I hope everyone turned out ok.
Moody is 100% correct
It is lchatchila to have another person but taking a kid w/o the parents permission makes it that he should have done it bdieved and held something instead
Heavy mesunim badin, we were all too eager to roast a fellow yid , we paskened dinei nefashos with the click of a mouse ..and some even compared holding a kids hand to a murder years ago., years ago I took rav yitzchok sheiner zatzl to speak in bya..and when we got there the whole hs was sitting on both sides of the gym with a big center aisle to get to the shtender..there was no way around so rav steiner grabbed my arm and ran thru..later in the day he told me u need to be more careful make sure it doesn’t happen tomm at you, a yid at 90 yrs old
In our day and age with personal safety awareness being taught to children, teachers and parents, adults should be more cautious doing such things with children. Questions will be asked.
Fully agree with chash. All the points well made. (Except for the idiots part.)
BiggBoy, if the other person had done the same thing literally just a moment earlier, they could have just gone together and saved themselves the trouble. But I assume you meant that it was shortly earlier, but long enough that the second one wasn’t ready to leave when the first one did.
Mordy, what you write is just stupid. Since when is it a problem to hold a child’s hand? This is just the paranoia that has seized people, because the news industry has convinced them that the world has become a dangerous place. In fact the world is a lot SAFER than when we were children, and we would go everywhere ourselves and play outside. Only people are more frightened and paranoid.
Well said, Chush.
Could have there another way out? Like holding ones’ tzitzis or keys? Yes.
He made an error.
But the rabbi who was interviewed yesterday, and was quick to say that, “there are sick individuals and don’t be fooled by their garb” while true – generally speaking – had ZERO right to say that before asking the accused for his version…
@chash
Calm down
I called him and asked him to Daven for a certain person.
For shame to all these bloggers that refuse to accept that this yungerman did what he did al pi Torah.
Perhaps he should have not asked the child to help him and instead tried to walk alongside the wall holding either his peyos or tzitzis (and maybe that was not a possibility at that time) but we should proud of a yungerman that just finished learning for an hour after davening and then behaving k’kahalacha. Kol Hakovod to him. K’moso yirbu b’Yisrael.
And to those bloggers that are uncomfortable with our Torah and halachos or ignorant of these halachos – please learn halacha and internalize it – that will help us with our many needed yeshuos and Moshiach’s coming
The mother of this boy clearly overreacted on this story. He was no way grabbing this boy forcefully as to what it was reported in the news.l she claimed to the police. Furthermore if she really thought this guy was forcefully pulling her son why didn’t she ask him or make a confrontation as he was walking by? From the video she seems very calm until after the man actually leaves the shul. Had she had a true concern about this man touching her child she could’ve in one second gotten the try answer that he’s was simply needing to hold someone’s hand according to Halacha.
To all those Jewish Bloggers who besmirched a Tzadik and published his name without verifying any details they will all burn in hell.
המלבין פני חברו ברבים… – אין לו חלק לעולם הבא
Joseph,
Touching someone else’s child without permission for any reason short of protecting their life and health is every bit as “impractical” and wrong. Is the fact that you don’t understand this simple reality related to your always defending child molesters or is it just a sick coincidence?
It’s amazing to see the comments. I’ll leave my opinions about the ordeal to myself as I haven’t spoken to either party or reviewed any footage. I will however say that this is a typical story of “Mendy Sendy Candy”. The individuals involved shall not be judged regardless of a reader’s personal opinions, feeling, way of life, etc…
@147: You’re disgusting.
Stupid Chassid Shoite. When you think you’re a tzadik but in reality you’re a stupid looser.
I have never been so absolutely disgusted before in my life from reading the sickening comments here, and believe me, I’ve seen PLENTY idiotic, disgusting comments here. The GodolSicko and other haters of religion, and plain old idiots. But then comes this section of comments and I literally am so nauseated from this lot of backlogged, overflowing, toilets.
Let’s just repeat the facts: A man has to get past a crowded room full of women. Based on religious concerns–whether required, optional, commended, dreamt up am haratzus, I haven’t the faintest idea. But he at least thought it was commendable at the very least–so he holds a boy’s hand.
Maybe illogically, maybe not (very hard to pass judgement, especially when you haven’t actually seen the scene) the mother calls police and this poor man gets arrested.
The matter is cleared up, and? “Sorry we accused you!” “Oh, poor thing.” “Phew”. Maybe the cold will at least say “LOL”.
Right?
No.
“chasid shoteh” (again, I’m not commenting on if it the comment is true or not. Just that this is hardly the time to write that.)
“obviously, this man was never taught you don’t touch a child’s hand without…permission.”
“Stupid Chassid Shoite. When you think you’re a tzadik but in reality you’re a stupid looser.”
and the all-time idiot 147 who instead of bashing out the evil police–who must be arrested every single day for the rest of their lives, and anything else is a travesty of justice–once it’s about someone’s “frumkeit” is charging the victim for getting arrested. I mean, if it would have President Donald Trump shlita instead of this frum man….
The crazy mother should get on her hands and knees in front of this tzadik she falsely accused and beg him for mechilla in order to save herself from a very long stint in gehenim.
Joseph,
No, she doesn’t and she’s not crazy, you are. Unfortunately, someone crossed the line by touching her child without permission. Once upon a time parents felt children could be safe in their own community but that’s no longer the case. The inescapable reality is that there are frum-looking molesters like Walder and sickos who always cover-up for them like you do. Blame yourself.
Mordy and several others insist “You don’t touch a child that is not your own”. Certainly you don’t touch them in the wrong way. But if an elderly man asks a child to hold his hand while he crosses the street, he first needs to ask permission from the mother or risks being arrested? Chaval that society has reached this point. We should all tear k’riyah, sit on the floor, and beseech Hashem for Mechilah.
@gadfly1 yes. Why in the world would an elderly man need to hold a child’s hand?? The child should know to say no, since the man is a stranger.
The guy was wrong to do what he did. He is a stranger who asked a child to go with him. The child told his mother, who did what any mother would do. Getting arrested was the natural consequence of his actions.
Remember Leiby Kletzky?
We can never let our guards down. Even for the “frummest” person.
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.
They should name the guy.
Ridiculous. He should have asked the ladies to step aside or go another way out not take someone child.
Chash is correct.
The mother has to be blamed. Where is her heart.
Sara Rifka,
The mother’s heart is precisely where it should be, focused on the safety of the child that Hashem entrusted to her. Based on your bitter, vile, hateful posts everyone knows how heartless you are. I hope you don’t have children.
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.
Sara Rifka: Exactly right. She’s not only missing a heart but missing a brain, too.
Just to clarify one point. I wrote the mother and Shomrim are at fault for overreacting, Those who are coming down hard on the mother would do well to realize that SHE DID APOLOGIZE. So cut the denigration, we all make mistakes, sometimes terrible ones, but to beat a dead horse is pretty bad.
Those who are calling this guy a chosid shoteh…
No, it wasnt chassidus, its simple halacha. There were “other eitzos”? Well those eitzos are when theres no alternative, but he saw a reasonable alternative!
And those who say “you don’t touch a child’s hand without permission” are just being ridiculous. He asked the kid, who seems about 13-14, and the kid apparently said ok. So really? He needs the mothers permission? Your anxiety and lack of careful consideration, (if not outright giving into the triumph of slander…) doesnt make what this person did wrong.
chash: Excellent points and comments. Since the mother did apologize and mechilla for this terrible thing done to this innocent tzadik, whose name was publicly and falsely besmirched throughout across the entire world, we should assume he was mochel her completely.
But what about all the other dozens or more imbeciles commenting on many websites, some still besmirching this heilige yid? They will still have a long stint in gehenim to pay (embarrassing someone is equivalent to retzicha) Acher Meah V’Esrim Shana, unless they visit this holy Jew on their hands and knees crying to him to forgive them.
A blind or infirm man has the right to ask for a boy’s hand to help him walk. But in this case, it is not appropriate. And I make no imputations of sordid intentions on the man’s part, but it is not appropriate.
Further, a gentleman does not ask a crowd of women to part the way so that his holy person may go through without being defiled by them. He finds another exit or waits until they leave. Or perhaps he can behave as did the Rav zt”l did when he delivered Gemara shiurim at Stern College and not worry about the issue.