Full Story Here
You might say I got to know Chaim Aron Rottenberg after the attempt made on his life and his subsequent move out of New Square. It started with a chance encounter out of town and continued after that for some time. Most people that went through his ordeal, and you can see this probably is a lifetime of some pain and discomfort for him, not just a period of recovery after the incident, would have had smoke coming out of their ears when speaking of their attackers. This is not the case when it comes to CAR. He's very calm, cool and collected when speaking of his adversaries, you might even get a smile out of him. But he still carries the pain with him and wants what he sees as justice to be served. So I'm not here to judge anybody. The fact that Rottenberg wants Spitzer to serve out his term is his prerogative. Seven years isn't much for what he attempted to do, in Rottenberg's eyes, that is, and at least he should serve what he sees as a light sentence. We don't know what kind of emotional pain and scars he lives with. Even the physical pain is hard for us to imagine. And we surely don't know how we would react if it c"v happened to us. So when we attack CAR and tell him to let bygones be bygones we're being a bit hard on him, since we don't know what we would do if it was c"v our pain and suffering. You might say that he's trying to get back at the leadership of Skver. OK, I hear that point, but still.
As far as our Skverrer brothers are concerned; That's another story. You all heard what the pundits have to say, so there's no need for me to repeat it here. Unless you missed going to shul all week... It's no secret that they lack in the PR department. Yes, they're happy that their friend was released, but somebody should have realized that these days everything gets out immediately and that they'll seem like accessories to attempted murder all over again. So don't give out free coffee and keep the dancing and the Kiddush to a bare minimum. And even then stop and frisk any guy that joins any celebration; so that no video clips make their way to Lohud and the internets. Because they now have to deal with disgruntled MO and Charedi-light people who once again are upset at Skver, even if they were the recipients of good-ol'fashioned Skverrer hospitality, whether in NS or at a local hospital. This is old news by now, so time to move on.
And don't start with the Lubavitch didan notzach analogies, please.