A member of the Satmar Chassidishe community in New York and his wife have been exposed as impostors.
Identified as Yechiel Yisroel Bloyd, also known as Bartimaeus Black, he joined the community around five years ago. He claimed that respected rabbonim had overseen his geirus.
Over time, Bloyd integrated into the Chassidishe community in Williamsburg and formally became part of the Satmar kehillah.
“He participated in matzah baking the day before Pesach at the finest bakery, delivered drashos in shuls, and received extensive support for his family. Chassidim actively fundraised on his behalf,” said a member of the community.
Sources within the community revealed yesterday that, unbeknownst to them, the couple had been leading a completely secular lifestyle for the past five years, suggesting that they had been imposters from the very start.
After renouncing his religious commitment, Bloyd declared his intention to publish a book detailing his experiences in the Satmar community.
The community contends that this was his original plan: to infiltrate, assimilate, and subsequently disseminate the “findings” of his purported “research.”
Bloyd refutes these allegations, maintaining that he had adhered to halacha during his conversion. He claimed that the lifestyle of the Satmar community was no longer suitable for him.
{Matzav.com}
At least, the couple weren’t found to be secret Tziyoinim, chas veshulem.
That should be of some relief to the Satmar community.
Thank you for your utterly stupid comment.
Put your money where your mouth is and don’t take any advantage of their tremendous amount of chasodim.
Said it well!
If I remember correctly, something like this has happened 6 or 7 times over the past 40 years.
I’m a BT and i dont understand how anyone can infiltrate Satmar without knowing Yiddish/Yiddishkeit especially in just 5 years.
I don’t think he infiltrated. I think he said he was megayer and the changed his mind. Not that it makes it right….
There was always something very wrong with that man.
As a 21-year-old, he married a woman in her 50s. Now, he is wrote a book about Magic, of all things. Not, birthday-party magic. Actual magic.
To me it looks like a mitzva kinder advertisement.
Here we go again. Now every sincere ger and giyores is looking over their shoulders wondering who is suspecting the same of them.
We were shaken to our core in the scandal back around 2007-08. We cringed and wanted to hide under a rock after the Baltimore scandal.
We are already mistreated and taken advantage of but we keep on because those of us who are sincere converted for Hashem, not for any of you.
Only Hashem knows what is in the hearts of geirim, or anyone for that matter. I’m just asking readers to let Hashem sort it out and not take out your frustration out on us sincere geirim.
Maybe they’re not aware that once a yid there’s no turning back…. so every aveira he does……
Is he selling his strymel and levish?
Please contact me [email protected]
The Seattle community all knew this guy.
He tried to convert there. No Rabbi would have anything to do with him.
He got kicked out of shul more than once.
Had to leave town and go where no one knew him.
He was serious when he converted. He went OTD. He was frum until a few months ago. In Halachah he is no different than a born Jew who goes OTD and is a meshumad.
He was always a clown. Even when pretending to be Jewish. He was active on Facebook and social media all the time for the last 5+ years. His posts showed he was, to be diplomatic, a fool.
This is a rare occurrence in this particular community, but it has happened about once or twice a decade in the less insular frum communities.
This should be removed. There’s no proof or evidence that he is deceptive. A ger going off the derech doesn’t prove anything, as long as they were observant at the time of geirus. We should Daven that he does teshuva.
This guy must be a mad genius.
No. He’s a kofer beikar! He says he’s embraced jc yemach shimo.
This guy looks Jewish in my opinion. Check his yichus. There must be some Jewish background there somewhere.
What’s the point of this article?
Is there a lesson to be learned?
Are you certain it’s imposter and not TSS (The Sapachas Syndrome)?
Most importantly, is there currently a danger from him? If not, why give this attention.
Crowd Fund to pack them a sandwich? Shrimp? Ham? Dreck?
Sloppy payus. Dead giveaway. And the maydel resembles many Slovakian nuns I have known. Which of the Satmar filiates. They’re in BIG trouble.
No facial hair? No beard? Is he 6 years old? Something not adding up.
That is a reality for some people. It’s possible he was indeed razoring, but he there was no need to accuse him while he was trying to be a Chasidishe Yid.
Moral of the story: Do research and background checks on people that do 360’s. Many people are sincere, but if there is any question or doubt on validity of their conviction, continue to ask until certain. This applies to hiring for jobs and shidduchim.
Baruch ha Shem as I am part of the Syrian community that does not accept converts into our community. Avoiding such issues.