Thursday, February 16, 2012

'Unorthodox' Author’s Claim Of Murder Cover-up Rebutted

'Unorthodox' Author’s Claim Of Murder Cover-up Rebutted

Coroner’s report lists 20-year-old’s death in Kiryas Joel as suicide.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Special to the Jewish Week

POSTED THURSDAY, FEB. 16, 4:30 P.M.
With allegations of communal cover-ups involving child sexual abuse dogging the haredi community over the past several years, it may not be much of a stretch for some readers to believe a gruesome story that appears in a new memoir about growing up in, and leaving, the Satmar community.
The story, recounted by Deborah Feldman in “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” (Simon and Schuster), involves the alleged mutilation and murder of a boy by his own father — supposedly for masturbating — and the subsequent cover-up of the crime by Hatzolah, the community’s volunteer ambulance service.
The only problem, however, is that based on information obtained by The Jewish Week, the story seems not be true.
Feldman claims she first learned of the grisly crime from her husband who had, in turn, heard about it from his brother, allegedly a member of Hatzolah at the time, who had been called to the blood-soaked scene. Apparently, the boy’s “penis was cut off with a jig saw and his throat was slit too,” Feldman writes.
Feldman recounts that her husband told her his brother “said the neighbors told him they heard loud arguing coming from the house. When he called the [volunteer ambulance] dispatch, they told him to go home and keep quiet about it, that they would take care of it. He said they buried him in thirty minutes and they didn’t even issue a death certificate.”
In a pre-publication interview with Julie Wiener in The Jewish Week, Feldman was questioned about the veracity of the story. Feldman not only insisted that she was not lying, but asserted that the father was known to be mentally ill and implied that he had escaped justice for his crime.
“I worry about his other children,” Feldman told Wiener, “and I worry about people thinking if he could get away with that, then they can get away with anything.”
This is not the first time Feldman has made this allegation. Indeed, in December of 2008 it appeared on her then anonymous blog, Hasidic-Feminist, where it was described as a “Class A secret.” In the blog post, Feldman recounted the story of a “thirteen year-old boy [who] had been castrated with a jig saw and bled to death.”
The incident, according to Feldman, took place “two years ago on an Erev Shabbos in [Kiryas Joel].” She goes on to elaborate that when Hatzolah arrived at the crime scene (a basement) and tried to question the father, “he refused to cooperate, saying only that his son deserved it and that he was a chazar, a pig, because he touched himself.” Feldman then notes that no police report was ever filed and the boy was “under ground” in 30 minutes. “People of KJ,” she warned, “a murderer walks in your midst.”
While some of the 31 comments on the blog post were credulous of Hasidic-Feminist’s claims, several expressed serious skepticism. At least one claimed knowledge that the death was in fact a suicide and that the young man (who, one commenter noted, was not 13 but 19) was well known to have been mentally ill.
“Our community would not have ignored a murder,” wrote a commenter with the screen name Product, “but anyone familiar with Hasidic culture knows that any mention of a familial disgrace such as suicide would be stifled. This explains why the story is so shrouded in mystery.”
A few commenters even chastised Feldman, in the guise of Hasidic-Feminist, for not reporting her knowledge to the police. “[No] one has gone to the police,” she responded to one of these charges, “because no one wants to be publicly outed as a musser — a tattletale. That’s a sin that merits ‘honor killing.’”
However, The Jewish Week confirmed that the state police do in fact have a record of the incident and its office provided the paper with the names of two of its investigators called to the scene, John Van Der Molen and Michael Colern. Calls to the two officers were not returned Thursday.
Further, a death certificate obtained by The Jewish Week indicates that the death — which it noted occurred in a “storeroom” on a Friday afternoon in Kiryas Joel around the approximate date Feldman’s blog alleged — was ruled a suicide by coroner Thomas A. Murray, and lists the cause of death as “partial decapitation, severed carotid arteries due to circular saw.” The deceased’s age was listed as 20.
Several e-mails to Feldman and her publisher, Simon and Schuster, seeking comment did not receive a response.
Privacy laws prevent Hatzolah from commenting on any case, but Moses Witriol, the director of public safety and chief constable for Kiryas Joel, told The Jewish Week that the story was patently false.
“When the first Hatzolah member showed up on the scene, he cordoned off the area and contacted the public safety office, which in turn immediately contacted the state police. Except for them and the coroner, no other people were in the room [where the boy was found]. The state police conducted a full and thorough investigation and interviewed every member of the family.
“If Mrs. Feldman knows about a crime in the village [of Kiryas Joel],” Witriol continued, “I invite her to come forward to law enforcement.”
Reached by phone, a relative of the deceased told The Jewish Week, “I cannot understand how a person could possibly find it within themselves to fabricate such a gruesome story and slander a completely innocent, grieving and tragedy-stricken family in such a horrific way. The facts are that the boy had a long history of mental illness, and his family and the community did a lot to try and help this individual. It was a very tragic end to a life full of suffering.”

7 comments:

  1. She is not the smartest cookie in the world, you don't go around blaming people of murder unless you have your facts right, and if you do, then you go to the authorities, obviously she is not that concerned with breaking the laws of the religion

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  2. If this is all you have, then bring it on! You are defending a life of oppression, and in many cases, stultifying misery for women, carried out by the man-made rules (and in this case, I emphasize 'man') of the Satmar community. I read Deborah's book, and her purpose is to show that she always wanted something different for her life, that she wanted more, and that she ultimately got it. Not once did I get the impression that she got a scholarship at Sarah Lawrence - only that she enrolled in adult education classes, and I have never seen any indication from her that she obtained a Bachelor's Degree. Kudos to her for writing a book when most Satmar women (or men) often don't have the education to write a decent sentence in English, let alone a book! Also, with regard to the suicide or death of the boy, her story recounts what her husband recounted to her. He got off the phone with his brother and told her what his brother had told him. Who knows what impresson his brother got at the scene of the death, and what incorrect information he in turn imparted to his brother? The bottom line is that the Satmars are notorious for keeping everything under wraps because they are terrified to be seen by the outside world as anything but perfect. They, like many other religious sects, cover up child molestation, sexual abuse, domestic violence, for fear of being seen as anything less. Any form of fanaticism is dangerous, and I think you are clearly missing the point of her book. Nevertheless, like I said, if that's all you have - bring it on! Trust me, she sounds like she could care less about criticism (read the last few lines of her book) and hopefully she's making some money to boot! And yes, she may look like a batmitzah girl tottering around on heels, but that's because she was too busy being prepared for a life of eternal servitude while she darn well SHOULD HAVE been experimenting with high heels like every other teenager!

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  3. Oh please, the police miss crimes all the damn time. Ever hear of Drew Peterson? Two wives dead, one of them drown in a dry bath tub, even though his dead wives are on record saying they feared he would kill them but there was not a damn thing they could do since he was a police officer. How about the kid that was on a major street, in front of Chicago police, was punched in the head by the mayor's nephews and died, the nephew ran away, on a major street with hundreds of people inculding officers, and was never charged. You are stupid or naive to not know what really goes on. Murder is committed every day and guess what, being the wife of a lawyer I know for a fact that the wheels of justice are not fair and not right always. Murderers go free every day. Get your head out of the sand...you embarrass yourself.

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  4. I am surprised by the ferocity of these comments. Feldman's book - whether entirely true or not - is a reflection of her perception of her community. It isn't an accurate reflection of the community and shouldn't be regarded as such. She is one person with a view.

    Meanwhile none if the Satmar children are bringing guns to school so I don't think those of us outside that community get an opinion about how they choose to live their lives.

    Feldman for one reason or another doesn't fit that community and chose to leave. End of story.

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  5. Feldman is very clear that the story she is telling is what her husband told her. And he was recounting a phone call from a relative who allegedly had been with the emergency medical service that had seen the boy's body. That's a story that is three steps removed from the actual event. She can hardly be held accountable for factual errors in the death scene and follow-up.

    The only story she can be held accountable for is the one her husband told her. Did he tell her that tale? If you don't know, stop criticizing her on this issue.

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