Here in NYC, when Hasidim attack, the violence is usually reduced to running goy cyclists off the road or fisticuffs over Satmar schisms. But up in Rockland County, it's all HDP (Hasids Don't Play). An orthodox Jewish father of four is currently hospitalized with third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body after another orthodox Jew allegedly tried to burn his house down—because he started taking his family to a different synagogue.
Aron Rottenberg's family has been subjected to violence ever since they left the village’s main synagogue to worship elsewhere. Six months ago their car windows were smashed, and then earlier this month someone broke windows in their house. For security, they installed surveillance cameras, which is how Rottenberg discovered 18-year-old Shaul Spitzer allegedly pouring flammable liquid around his house, at approximately 4 a.m. Sunday morning.
Rottenberg confronted Spitzer in his backyard, and in the ensuing tussle, a long, improvised fuse in Spitzer's hand sparked flames. Spitzer wound up in a burn unit in NYC, while Rottenberg was taken to Westchester Medical Center, where his family is now gathered because they are terrified to go home. "Doing your own thing, that is not something they can take,” Rottenberg's son-in-law tells CBS 2. “They don’t like that, because it’s showing people can do what they want to do." Reached for comment, former Rockland County resident Katie Sokoler was surprised by the news, and says, "I remember the good old days when they used to just stone you for doing something wrong." (To be fair, Sokoler has been known to dress immodestly.)
