שאק און שוידער: הב' שאול שפיצער פון סקווירא פאראורטיילט צו 7 יאר טורמע ל"ע!

An 18-year-old New Square man who severely burned a village dissident during an arson attack got sentenced to seven years in state prison on Tuesday after apologizing for trying to burn Aron Rottenberg’s family out of the Hasidic Jewish village.

The attack on Rottenberg and others for refusing to pray in the village synagogue and other activities raised how the Hasidic Jewish theocracy in New Square controls the lives of residents and deals, harshly at times, with those who choose not to follow the grand rabbi’s dictates.

Rottenberg, a plumber still recovering from body burns across his chest from May’s attack, has blamed the grand rebbe, David Twersky, for inciting the violence against him, including Shaul Spitzer’s arson attack to his Truman Avenue house at 4 a.m. May 22.

On Tuesday, Rottenberg said he was satisfied with the state prison sentence given to Spitzer and he plans on moving his family out of New Square. The community agreed to buy his Truman Avenue house as part of a $2.3 million payout that ended a civil rights lawsuit against Spitzer and Twersky.

“I think that justice has been served,” Rottenberg said outside the courtroom at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City. “We’re pleased. We hope to meet again under different circumstances.”

Rottenberg, 44, who wears a glove on his injured right hand, had sat in the front row of the packed courtroom with his wife and children.

They listened without emotion as Spitzer apologized for trying to set Rottenberg’s house on fire and then setting off an incendiary device that set himself and Rottenberg on fire after Rottenberg wrestled with him.

More than 60 supporters of Spitzer, including his parents and family, attended and some prayed for him as state Supreme Court Justice William A. Kelly oversaw the sentencing.

Spitzer’s explanation for trying to burn down the Rottenberg home was to try and scare Rottenberg into moving from New Square. Rottenberg became a target of community protests and vandalism when he refused to pray in Twersky’s synagogue, becoming a symbol of defiance against Skver Hasidim leadership, especially among younger residents chaffing under the strict social rule