Haredi PR Hack Yossi Gestetner At It Again

Yossi Gestetner is at it again. The dishonest haredi PR hack notorious in these parts for his defenses of pedophiles and of the behavior of Skvere hasidic leadership leading up to and following the arson and attempted murder of the Rottenberg family in New Square (committed by the rebbe's personal haus bucher, house servant, no less) attacked a reporter for alegedly labeling accused child rapist Rabbi Nechemya Weberman a…rabbi. Yes, you read that correctly.

Yossi Gestetner

Yossi Gestetner is at it again.

The dishonest haredi PR hack notorious in these parts for his defenses of pedophiles and of the behavior of Skvere hasidic leadership leading up to and following the arson and attempted murder of the Rottenberg family in New Square (committed by the rebbe's personal haus bucher, house servant, no less) attacked Oren Yaniv of the NY Daily News on Twitter (please see below) over Yaniv's coverage of the Weberman child rape trial.

What was the sleazy, dishonest hasid bitching about?  "The NY Times calls Weberman a “prominent man” or “known counselor.” Thats accurate. Leader? Rabbi? Stop smearing us!," Gestetner shrieked at Yaniv, who responded by asking gestetner to cite where the Daily News had labeled Weberman a rabbi.

Gestetner was unable to do that because, well, the Daily News never did it.

But Gestetner wasn't simply mistaken or wrong – he was lying, and he was using that lie to try to intimidate the Yaniv and the Daily News.

Weberman is a rabbi and he is also a Williamsburg community leader. Here, for example, is how Weberman's own Williamsburg synagogue community refers to him:

"Moreynu HaRav Nechemya Tzvi Weberman," "Our Teacher/Guide The Rabbi Nechemya Tzvi Weberman."

The appellation ""Moreynu HaRav" connotes a great rabbi, and it is used for rabbis who lead congregations or who hold other positions of authority or respect and for significant rabbinic scholars.

So Gestetner is wrong, and almost certainly intentionally so.

Weberman is a rabbi.

Comments

[gopjew]

Would be nice if the title of rabbi is stripped from indicted and convicted individuals.

[dh]

there once was a boy named gestetner
who sucked all night on his side hair.
when shabbos came around
he went underground
and sucked on a photo
of a girl in a witness chair.

"mmmm, good," he said,
"and now off to bed"
where he quickly fled,
with rocks in his head.

all alone in bed
gripping his phone instead
he logged on to twitter
while he pondered a way
til the dawn of day
about what not to call a leader.

[Londoner]

On a personal note: I think the community deserves abusers whether albi-it Rabbonim or others, you all say we don’t want abusers in our community and when someone dos something about it, u curse them and hound them for it,

[bar nash]

As sick as this sounds, the title "Moreynu HaRav" when written as an acronym (as was the case in the poster about weberman) is used only for non-rabbi balabatish memebers of hassidic communities. Anybody who is even the least bit of a rabbi is titled at least "harav" (written out) or hrh"g (harav hagaon as an acronym), so the poster clearly shows that he is NOT any kind of rabbi. Please update this post to reflect the truth.

[Joe Bloe]

"So Gestetner is wrong, and almost certainly intentionally so."

Sorry, but you are 1000% wrong. As another poster pointed out, "the title "Moreynu HaRav" when written as an acronym (as was the case in the poster about weberman) is used only for non-rabbi balabatish memebers of hassidic communities. Anybody who is even the least bit of a rabbi is titled at least "harav" (written out) or hrh"g (harav hagaon as an acronym), so the poster clearly shows that he is NOT any kind of rabbi". This is a standerd title for a prominent member of the community, NOT A RABBI.

[Mike]

So is he a rabbi or not? Many haredim have beards but that does not mean that they are rabbis.

[Chaim Z]

I don't know about general chassidic conventions but at the shtiebl where I sometimes daven, they call everyone up for aliyas as moreinu harav. Kind of fits with the notion that it's not an honored titled to chassidim.

[cheers]

One must sympathize with poor Shamarya here. Here you have a guy desperately trying to make a living as a muckracker maligning hareidi Jews, while YG gets more press than he does! I'm sure Shamarya is just pulling his hair out over this.

[StrangeBedfellows]

One must sympathize with poor Shamarya here. Here you have a guy desperately trying to make a living as a muckracker maligning hareidi Jews, while YG gets more press than he does! I'm sure Shamarya is just pulling his hair out over this.

Posted by: cheers | December 01, 2012 at 05:59 PM

It is rather ironic that Shmarya's livelihood is dependent on the haredi community.

[Aay B]

For the record, I posted a comment seconding many other comment posters that Morynu Harav is a title being used for everyone including 17-17 year old kids who just got married...

For some reason Shmerya didn't like it (and I happen to know the reason)..

[spacedout BT]

The convoluted thought processes by which a community gives titles to its members is not a problem for the Daily News.If Yossi Gestation is trying to impose PC guilt upon Yaniv he fails miserably. If it (Weberman) walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck then by golly......... Wmsburg cannot bestow and yank titles when its convenient for them.

[Yaknahaz]

This filthy smutty gutter filled sewage web site should have been confined to the garbage can ages ago. Clearly there is an ethical vacuum pervading the journalism expoused here. What goes around comes around. Be careful what you buggers wish for, your kids may be molested next, or wives.

[spacedout BT]

There be trolls.

[bar nash]

spacedout BT, you are not making sense. If a community has a crazy custom to call everyone "rabbi" just as an empty title that doesn't make it true to say they are actually a rabbi. If a reporter was mistaken about this then he made a mistake.

[Harry]

Be careful what you buggers wish for, your kids may be molested next, or wives.

Posted by: Yaknahaz | December 01, 2012 at 06:30 PM

If you saw a picture of Shmarya you will understand why "wife" and "kids" would not be an issue for him. He will pass on an angry lonely man.

[steven k]

Shmarya,
you need to get to know the Hasidic Community a bit better.Weberman is most surely not a rabbi, and the moreinu honorific is used very liberally.Ask any of your sources and you"ll get an unanimous answer that he is not a rabbi

[H]

He did not get semicha nor any rabbinic ordination. Thus, he is not a rabbi.

[soso]

Well, intersting that they are not interested any more in supporting Weberman. that's some progress, at least...

[soso]

Well, being a child molester seems to be very helpful in becoming "moreinu harav" (Weberman) or even "harav ha gaon" (Weingarten).

I wonder what a Wilna Gaon or Saadya Gaon would say about gaonim like them...

[jancsibacsi]

soso-In the hassidishe world the more you can fool the world the bigger tzadik you are this is how it works with them,its all a mind game everything is a joke by them,they exist for the purpose of making a mockery of judaism.

[S.]

It's true that מוהרר is used liberally and doesn't really mean "rabbi." Yet it is not the job of the Daily News or the rest of the world to understand that when the community calls someone "Rabbi" they don't really mean that they're a rabbi. Not only that, when it comes to outsiders, the community is fine with the outsiders thinking that the prominent baalabatim are "Rabbis" because that means they get treated with a greater measure of respect and seriousness by outsiders. So no fair revoking this impression when it is no longer convenient. If you say what you mean and mean what you say in the first place then no one would ever have thought that Weberman was a rabbi. Well, the clothing is another story. But the point is, this is an impression that the community is not so upset about outsiders having when it works for them.

[Max]

But Gestetner wasn't simply mistaken or wrong – he was lying, and he was using that lie to try to intimidate the Yaniv and the Daily News.

Weberman is a rabbi and he is also a Williamsburg community leader. Here, for example, is how Weberman's own Williamsburg synagogue community refers to him:

"Moreynu HaRav Nechemya Tzvi Weberman," "Our Teacher/Guide The Rabbi Nechemya Tzvi Weberman."

The appellation ""Moreynu HaRav" connotes a great rabbi, and it is used for rabbis who lead congregations or who hold other positions of authority or respect and for significant rabbinic scholars.

So Gestetner is wrong, and almost certainly intentionally so.

Posted by: Shmarya

Actually, Shmarya is wrong, and he is misleading everyone, intentionally.

That makes Shmarya as evil as Gestetner.

Every idiot is called "Moreinu Harav" in gasidic circles. It doesn't make you a "rabbi".

And Shmarya knows it.

But he hides it.

Because he wants you to think that Gestetner is lying.

And Gestetner may be lying about the Daily News. But Shmarya is lying when he calls Weberman a liar.

So that makes Shmarya just as much a liar as Gestetner.

Gestetner is the Al Sharpton of the hasidics, and Shmarya is the Al Sharpton of the anti-semites.

And there is not a shred of difference betwen the two.

[Max]

*CORRECTION:

And Gestetner may be lying about the Daily News. But Shmarya is lying when he calls Weberman a *rabbi*.

[SkepticalYid]

On VIN they're claiming that since he's a chazan, he is a clergyman.

[spacedout BT]

Bar Nash - be real!-you and I know that to have proper smicha a talmid has to be baki in several mesechtas and be perusant in Yoreh Deah and Hosen Mishpat. However if this community persists in calling unqualified people "rabbis", then that's how the general public views them as what's happening here.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

If I may, the trolls on this post are a reminder of the important and role FM plays in the haredi community and the provocative influence this blog has.

So thinking of Chanukah: If you've got friends or family in the frum world, a donation to FM is a meaningful way to bring them the light of reality.

[J]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1bW0gvb7K0I/ULd9xEnH81I/AAAAAAAAKwo/LzzeFSZlpCM/s1600/Weberman+and+Farkas+NY+DN.jpg