A lawsuit was filed in a New Jersey federal district court yesterday by the Chabad Jewish Center of Toms River, New Jersey and Rabbi Moshe Gourarie. The suit claims that the town violated plaintiffs' free exercise and equal protection rights by refusing permission for the Chabad Center, which usually attracts fewer than 15 people, to operate out of a large home and garage on 8 acres on Church Road purchased by Gourarie in 2011. As reported by
NJ Advance Media:
The town changed the zoning of that section of Church Road in 2009 to ban churches from operating there and since then, the township has engaged in a systematic practice of discrimination against ultra-Orthodox Jews and are seeking to have them contained in neighboring Lakewood where there is a large population of Orthodox Jews, the complaint contends....
In claiming discrimination, the suit notes that the zone permits activities at the adjacent American Legion, a church, Ocean County College, the county fire academy and other sites that are not residential uses.
(See
prior related posting.)
[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
