Frum Man Assaulted for Using Smartphone

by TOTPI:

Monsey resident 29-year-old Refael Koenig was beaten for using his iPhone to record a Spring Valley chasenah he was attending last week, Channel 12 News reported.

He explained to the media they began beating him up so badly that “I began seeing black stars around my eyes”.

Koenig accuses a fellow guest at the chasenah of throwing him to the ground and then beating him during the chasenah held at Yeshiva Torah V’Yirah.

“This is the first time in my life I am coming out in public because I suffered so much in my life from these extremes,” adds Koenig.

The attacker was arrested on charges of robbery and assault and released without bail.

8 Comments

  • Why "released without bail"?

    Why was this thug “released without bail”? I bet if he cheated on his taxes he would still be behind bars. Our justice system makes no sense.

    • Get a life!

      It is no business of yours, or mine, if some random person has a filtered phone or not.

      If you really believe this guy was right to beat up another Yid because the latter had a smartphone, you are as insane as the assailant.

      Tell me how that fits in with Torah observance. What aveiras were committed? Start counting.

    • Richard Roe

      Same goes for using the Internet without a filter. We don’t know whether you have one, but we shall have to assume that you don’t, just as they assumed that this fellow didn’t have a filter on his phone. So when do we get to go all Pinchas on you? Or does that apply only to others?

  • Disturbed people

    The way of Torah is Darchei noam v’darchei sholam. Obviously this attacker is a disturbed individual who needs to be rehabilitated to the true ways of the Torah, and practical manners and ethics…

  • cher

    the guy with the smartphone & the attacker are both at fault.it,s not so much over weather the phone is filtered or not it,s that he was recording the chasuna & some people felt uncomfortable by it.the attacker probably told the guy with the smartphone to stop recording the guy with the smartphone didn,t listen & continued recording after being told to stop recording but that,s not a reason to assault him just because he was recording the chasuna.recording the chasuna without permission but that,s not a reason to assault him just because he was doing that.i think that both the attacker & the guy with the amartphone are at fault.

  • When in Rome....

    When visiting someone “on their turf,” out of respect you do not deliberately do something that is against their norms.Did the phone owner know what he was doing in using a smartphone in this community?

    That being said, however, the beating sounds 100% over the top, extreme, and abusive — certainly against Torah.

    But I am wondering whether there was a prelude to the beating that included asking the guest to leave and take his smartphone with him? (Not that a beating is any more justified, but it sometimes takes two to tango.)

    If so, he really should have left the simchah. If not, the reaction was out of line and the attacker sounds perhaps mentally unstable and dangerous.

  • Anonymous

    Using a phone without a filter is according to ALL Rabonim prohibited to the fullest extent. It is a shame that Rabunei Anash did not come out publicly banding smart phones. It is a shame that during davening in 770 smart phones are used and surfed.

    PLEASE PLEASE Rabbonim wake up