ISRAEL — The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Elhanan Buzaglo to four years in prison on Sunday, after finding him guilty of aggravated assault, extortion, aiding an extortion and intimidation. He was also ordered to pay the complainant against him NIS 10,000 (about $2,400) in damages.
Member of ‘Tznius Squad’ Gets 4 Years in Prison
ISRAEL — The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Elhanan Buzaglo to four years in prison on Sunday, after finding him guilty of aggravated assault, extortion, aiding an extortion and intimidation. He was also ordered to pay the complainant against him NIS 10,000 (about $2,400) in damages.
Buzaglo, a known member of the Jerusalem haredi neighborhoods’ “Chastity Squad,” pled guilty as part of a plea bargain struck with the State Prosecutor’s Office.
The “chastity squad” is a notorious group operating within the haredi community in the capital with the sole objective of fighting what it deems “female immodesty,” and using methods of violence and intimidation to obtain its goal, if need be.
According to the prosecution, Buzaglo was hired to assault and intimidate a 31-year-old divorcee, who the “Chastity Squad” believed had “defaulted” on the proper haredi lifestyle, and pressure her into leaving her current place of residence.
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The State alleged that Buzaglo, along with four accomplices, forced their way into the woman’s home, gagged her, beat her and warned her that if she did not move she would be killed.
‘Vile, despicable act’
The prosecution sought a lengthy prison sentences, citing Buzaglo committed “a vile, despicable act for money.”
The defense claimed that community service was in order, since “the ‘chastity squad’ is ideologically motivated, and harsh punishment will not deter its members.” Buzaglo, added the defense, was nothing but a “small bolt” in the machine.
“The defendant’s actions are grave,” noted Judge Noam Sohlberg, presiding over the hearing, in his ruling. “He is a mercenary, known to be prone to violence and he means to beat and injure, threaten and intimidate.
”Nevertheless, it is possible that he himself was a victim of this organization’s violence, which is why he saw fit to join its ranks,” concluded Judge Sohlberg, adding that his assumption led to court to exercise leniency.
The Irony is Killing Me!
Ironic huh,how a member of the ‘tznius squad’ has no problem touching a strange woman to gag and tie her and beat her… no issues I take it with Shomer negiah???
Hate to say it on another Jew, but these monsters deserve whatever they get.Maybe they will rethink it before they hit another human being again.But I don’t think thats likely ,knowing how crazy they tend to be.
Simcha
Any man who picks up his hand to harm a woman for any reason ought to first be beaten to an inch of his life and then forced to pay her a sum of money for the rest of her life, for the pain, humilation, and damage he has inflicted on her body and mind. Then he needs to be locked up.
Violence isn’t the way to reach women or children.
Our religious community neglects the women and children that suffer and ask for help publicly or silently, they are encouraged to go back to husbands that beat them and the husbands are not held responsible for their actions. Many of them up and leave and then don’t take care of their financial responsibilties to make sure that their children are not hungry, without medical care and their basic needs taken care of. Many such men exist in our kehillas and are not taken to task for their neglect which is also abuse.
One has to wonder while they are busy writing out tzedaka checks to needy organizations, if they even spare a thought to whether or not their children go to bed with an empty stomach or pains in their teeth.
Its time Rabbis and community leaders take responsibility for chastising and showing these misguided and abusive men that :IT ISN’T OKAY.
Tznius Patrol
What he did isn’t right, or politically correct, but the fact is that the women in that community are more tznius than the women in most Jewish communities.
Shocking!
This is absolutely shocking!
How despicable!
If this was in the time of the Bais Hamikdash that man could probably have been killed for his terrible IMMODEST behavior!
to simcha
to Simcha- u know u can go for help u dont have to rely on this web site to let our ur frusturation
fellow women
To Tznius Patrol
i’m sorry i as a women am very happy that they took him to jail we dont know what abuse these people let go on b/c of the torah
we can and should learn from the rebbe how he encourged people we have whom to look emulate
Sam
Simcha wrote:
“Any man who picks up his hand to harm a woman for any reason ought to first be beaten to an inch of his life and then forced to pay her a sum of money for the rest of her life, for the pain, humilation, and damage he has inflicted on her body and mind. Then he needs to be locked up.”
This sounds like something out of a medieval troubadour’s book of poems on chivalry. It’s only a problem to beat up on women? Pounding a man who is weaker than you isn’t a problem? Maybe it’s okay to beat a man if you have a good reason, I guess. Then why not a woman, too?
We don’t know the facts here. This is what it looks like to me: a women got divorced for some reason and perhaps as a result, she decided to fry out a little bit. But instead of moving to Tel Aviv and taking her protzus there, she insisted on walking through the streets of Meah Shearim flaunting a skirt a little to short, showing a bit too much cleavage. Wait a minute – sounds like Crown Heights – right? All they wanted was for her to move away and stop polluting the neighborhood, that’s all – they weren’t trying to force her to become frum again.
Would you walk through a black neighborhood in white robes with a cross? Would you walk in Mecca without a veil? Have some repect – don’t walk through ultra orthodox neighborhoods in immodest clothing.
As for Crown Heights, let’s not beat people up – but maybe some protest would help.
To Tznius Patrol
Do us all a favor and move to their community, okay?
To Sam
I love how you compare the community in question to those of violent blacks and fascist Muslims. Very apt.
Sam
To all the reflexively defensive Beis Shmuel style Lubavitchers out there:
Instead of reacting (with high falsetto) “oh my g-d, how could he touch her … what about shomer negiah” and (yep – put on the falsetto again) “oh my g-d, thank g-d we don’t live in that community of barbarians” etc etc, try to see the bigger message here – the problem with Tznius in this community.
Hey – I like looking just as much as you do, but do it in Manhattan or something, not here in Crown Heights. In the streets where the Rebbe walked, we should try to be a more careful – or else we are all living a lie and a joke. If we keep Crown Heights holy, at least we have a kernel of inspiration and holiness from which to rebuild our suffering chassidishkeit. But once we throw Crown Heights to the dogs, we might as well drop everything else with it.
Kop
Many parts of Torah are not politically correct. When there is an Ir HaNidachas, the entire city is burned to the ground due to avoda zara. Maybe we don’t like an “Avoda Zara Patrol” – but the Torah does.
This woman was inticing men to sin – Giluy Aroyas. She would violate the holiness of a neighbourhood with znus and pritzus. Talking and begging did not deter her. The little beating she got? She got less than she deserved.
All you bleeding hearts out there – if she inticed YOUR husband or son to sin, wouldn’t you personally scratch her eyes out?! If she caused a few divorces in your neighbourhood – would you simply enter into dialogue with her?! Get real! It ain’t pretty, but that’s life.
worry about yourself
To sam and company: You think the ground in C.H is holy?Actually Eretz Yisroel is holy- not Brooklyn ,NY.Your entire sense of holiness comes from whether or not a skirt is a bit too short etc? How absolutely pathetic.How strange some of you think and believe.Try worrying about urself;how you handle your fellow beings-be they male or female.Don’t worry about the skirts so much.Worry about what mitzvos you need to be doing. as for holiness-make sure you keep youself holy and not the streets of brooklyn.
USA
Any woman has the right to dress how she wants to and wherever she wants to bec this is the USA,whether we like it or not.You do not make the laws in Brooklyn or anywhere else and therefore it’s rediculous to come up with special Crown Heights dress codes. You don’t like it, is another matter.You don’t have to and can vent up and down.But she can dress which however way she chooses.DO YOU GET IT?this is the USA and not Saudi Arabia.
just wondering..
say? how would this go down in crown heights?
Mr. Lubavich
To Sam:
just realxxxxx, take a chill pill,, no need to vent ur anger here,, lets keep this discussion nice and easy… CH is beautifull!!!
yudi
To USA, it’s Hashem’s world wherever you are, and HE makes the laws. And this didn’t happen in the USA, it happened in Yerusholayim Ir Hakodesh, in Meah Sheorim, where people dress more decently. The only problem I see is that they seem to have been acting for pay, not at the orders of the community’s rabbonim. That makes them just another mafia, and it means we can’t believe that she was really doing anything so bad.
Flabbergasted!
Are some of you actually advocating violence towards women? Do you really think it is o.k. for a mob of men to go to a woman’s home when she is alone and beat her up? Would you feel differently if this woman was your sister/daughter? Would you encourage the same for male members of the community who violate Halacha? There is no excuse for what these men did. I hope they throw away the key.
To Sam
You wrote: ”Hey – I like looking just as much as you do, but do it in Manhattan or something, not here in Crown Heights. In the streets where the Rebbe walked, we should try to be a more careful – or else we are all living a lie and a joke.”
I don’t get it, you don’t think that living like that is a lie? Pretending to have one standard in CH, and another in Manhattan???? At least be real, have one standard and keep to it. Two standards? That’s living a lie.
Ydei Esav
BS”D
I would like to give Mr Bouzaglo a second bris with a dull screwdriver, and I won’t cry if some toughs in prison use a tin can lid instead.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR SUCH VIOLENT BEHAVIOR!
Fine – get her out of the neighborhood by making her feel uncomfortable, pay her to get out, whatever – but hayadayim ydei Esav!
And no, the Bouzaglo Brigade is not the solution to the tznius problem in Lubavitch. An educational vaad hatznius is needed to encourage proper behavior but in a spirit of caring and ahavas Yisroel that makes those who are lacking want to raise their level for their own sakes and their own avoidas Hashem.
BAIS SHMULEE
Any woman has the right to dress how she wants to and wherever she wants to bec this is the USA,whether we like it or not.You do not make the laws in Brooklyn or anywhere else and therefore it’s rediculous to come up with special Crown Heights dress codes. You don’t like it, is another matter.You don’t have to and can vent up and down.But she can dress which however way she chooses.DO YOU GET IT?this is the USA and not Saudi Arabia.
AMEN
i was thier
good thank g- those retarded meah shearim “HOLY” tznius ppl when i was thier they beat each other up and cursed at me in english wow i was pretty turned off!!!
Sorella
To Kop u need to go and get yourself serious help.
Violence is not an answer, I personally saw a story first hand of where an only girls non frum birth right group visited me’ah shearim.. they were chased, cursed and had they not run fast enough they wud have been badly physically hurt. Some of those girls were interested in yiddish kite before that day, i dont think i have to state how much they felt differently after that.
No body is denying that Chabad has a tznius problem, but negativity and violence is NEVER an answer. If you think that violence is an answer in life then you can join the Arab lifestyle because thats they way they believe in, raisin their children from very young to be violent. Jews dont work that way, i would like you to think what the Rebbe would prob do if he were, maybe a campaighn? maybe extra mivtzoim? but violence? i dont think so.
simcha
to : “to simcha wrote”
I don’t need the help, but there are many that do and many rabbanim and others that turn a deaf ear and a blind eye, and as for not venting my frustration,well
this is an open forum and I can express my views like anyone else. There are weaknessess in our communities and
Burying your head in the sand doesn’t address a problem and speaking about it is why many of the organizations have come about to begin with.
Its the attitude of people in charge and those that have the means to lead and set an example and change things if they are brave enough and want to make a difference for families that are suffering.
Indifference is something that can be changed.
F R
An here I was naively thinking, that surely in our community no one would agree with what this guy did. Yet, unbelievably, there are some people here that think that violence can be the answer. Now, I wonder where they picked up this train of thought, because we all know it definately wasn’t from the Rebbe.
It’s pretty scary actually, to think that even amongst us, in our protected bubble-wrapped community, there seems to be a path for extremists.
wow
if you believe voilence is the way you people need alot of help
anon
isnt vehavto leracha komoicha
a mitzvah which transcends all other mitzvos
it is a real shame that we dont have capital punishment in this day and age
that guy ought to be cuffed, gagged, beaten, and ultimately tortured for what he did
the torah doesnt have rachmnos on such ppl
his just reward would be sending him to the psyche ward where he will be infused with medication strong enough to sedate animals, and he would live with ppl who have no mercy and beat him
Tortured
I don’t agree with violence, especually against
women or weaklings; however,
you un-tznius women out there are SADISTS!
That’s right, professional sadists. I mean, what
can be worse than torture of the mind?…