NY Jewish leaders asked governor to release Hasidic abuser, records show
Rabbis from Haredi communities appealed to commute sentence of Nechemya Weberman, imprisoned for abusing an adolescent in 2013, arguing that his sentence was disproportionate
NEW YORK — Jewish leaders in New York appealed to the governor for the release of a Hasidic community counselor imprisoned for sexual abuse, arguing that his sentence was disproportionate, according to court documents that surfaced this month.
Nechemya Weberman, 67, an unlicensed religious counselor in the Satmar Hasidic movement, was sentenced to 103 years in prison in 2013, in a major case for the New York Jewish community.
He was convicted of 59 counts, including sustained sexual abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse!
Weberman’s sentence was reduced to 50 years later in 2013. He is incarcerated in the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
The case resurfaced this month when Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez backed a move to issue a new sentence for Weberman. Weberman is scheduled to appear in court next month.
As the case reemerged, court filings obtained by The Times of Israel showed that last December, an array of Jewish leaders signed a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeking a commutation for Weberman’s immediate release. The previously unreported letter was submitted to the court as a reference for resentencing in June, along with other letters of support from Weberman’s family and supporters.
The letter called Weberman’s sentence “absorbently excessive,” saying he had not incurred any infractions during his 12 years in prison and that his sentence was “much greater by comparison to others held guilty of a similar crime.”
“While we strongly condemn the nature of this crime, we do believe Mr. Weberman’s excessive sentence was placed upon him to set an example to the Orthodox Jewish community,” the letter said. “Using him because he is an Orthodox Jew as a scapegoat is unjust.”
As the case reemerged, court filings obtained by The Times of Israel showed that last December, an array of Jewish leaders signed a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeking a commutation for Weberman’s immediate release. The previously unreported letter was submitted to the court as a reference for resentencing in June, along with other letters of support from Weberman’s family and supporters.
The letter called Weberman’s sentence “absorbently excessive,” saying he had not incurred any infractions during his 12 years in prison and that his sentence was “much greater by comparison to others held guilty of a similar crime.”
The letter was signed by 13 prominent IMMORAL/CORRUPT rabbis representing an array of
Hasidic groups in New York City and a representative of Yeshiva
University. The university did not reply to a request for comment. Here They Are: https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/www/uploads/2025/11/Binder1.p
The letter said that, due to Weberman’s health problems, his imprisonment amounts to a life sentence. A doctor also submitted a letter attesting to Weberman’s “deteriorating health.”
The New York State constitution grants the governor the ability to commute prison sentences.
Gonzalez also asked then-governor Andrew Cuomo to consider a commutation of Weberman’s sentence in 2021, saying Weberman had been “singled out for an unusually harsh punishment,” according to court filings.
Cuomo and Hochul did not publicly respond to the requests.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office said on Tuesday, “This was a horrific case, but fairness compels us to look critically at sentences like this one that fall wildly outside the range for other defendants convicted of the same crimes.”
No Mercy for Monsters: When Rabbis Plead for the Unforgivable
It is an obscenity that in our time, when Jewish children are still healing from wounds inflicted in the dark corners of their own communities, we see rabbis—men who claim to bear the Torah’s moral authority—signing letters begging for leniency for sexual abusers and consumers of child pornography. What Torah are they reading? What G-d are they serving? Certainly not the G-d of justice, nor the Torah of truth....
READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/no-mercy-for-monsters-when-rabbis-plead-for-the-unforgivable/
No comments:
Post a Comment