A student of the Ponevez Yeshiva in Bnei Brak pleaded guilty today in
Jerusalem District Court of beating Nati Grossman, the editor-in-chief
of the rebel haredi newspaper HaPeles.
Nati Grossman after the attack
Haredi Yeshiva Student Pleads Guilty To Attack On Haredi Newspaper Editor
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A student of the Ponevez Yeshiva in Bnei Brak pleaded guilty today in Jerusalem District Court to beating Nati Grossman, the editor-in-chief of the rebel haredi newspaper HaPeles, the Jerusalem Posted reported.
The 21-year-old attacked Grossman as part of the acrimonious split in the Ashkenazi non-hasidic haredi world after the death of previous haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv last year.
99-year-old Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman became the non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi leader when the then 101-year-old Elyashiv became too ill to function. He passed away several months later at 102.
But a minority of non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredim – Grossman among them – chose to follow the slightly more conservative 82-year-old Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach.
As a result, Grossman was booted out of his job as editor-and-chief at the non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi daily house organ, Yated Neeman.
Grossman and his allies then started their own daily newspaper, HaPeles, with the blessings and support of Auerbach
Haim Perelstein, the 21-year old yeshiva student, is a follower Shteinman. Perelstein and an unnamed haredi man wearing a mask attacked Grossman outside his Jerusalem home late at night December 21. Grossman’s face was cut and bruised in the attack and several of his fingers were broken.
Perelstein has not yet been sentenced.
Related Post: Haredi Infighting Allegedly Behind Assault Against Haredi Newspaper Editor.