Lawsuit Filed Against Mystic Rabbi By Woman Who Paid $214,000 For Matrimony and Torahs

The New York Post reported  yesterday on a lawsuit filed against Rabbi Chaim Sharabi, a controversial mystic in the Orthodox Borough Park community, by a woman who claims she paid Sharabi $214,000 after he promised to find her a husband and to purchase three Torah scrolls in her name to be placed in synagogues in Brooklyn and in Israel.  Plaintiff Cecilia Lifschitz says that Sharai never performed on his promises.  Sharabi says he did match Lifschitz with a man, but that things did not work out between them, and that he did purchase the Torah scrolls.

Chabad Center Sues New Jersey Town Claiming Discrimination

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.]

In Israel, Western Wall Compromise May Be Unraveling

In Israel, the much-heralded compromise approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet at the end of January to construct a separate prayer space at the Western Wall for egalitarian prayer now seems to possibly be unraveling.  Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that opposition from the Chief Rabbinate and much of the Orthodox religious establishment is growing.  A meeting between the Prime Minister and Israel's two chief rabbis scheduled for yesterday was canceled as the Prime minister asked the chief rabbis along with the current Orthodox administrator of the Western Wall to submit proposals for changes in the agreement. The Orthodox establishment appears to be particularly opposed to the arrangement that would create a committee to regulate the proposed new prayer space, with the Reform and Conservative (Masorti) movements in Judaism given seats on the committee. Several Israeli Orthodox rabbis have made scathing attacks against the Reform movement in recent weeks. On Saturday, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Amar, referring to the Reform and Conservative movements, said:

It is not permitted in any way to give it [the Western Wall] over to disgrace and shame in the hands of those who purport to pray and act with immodesty and clownishness, which is a desecration of that which is holy, and the trampling of the inheritance of Israel throughout the generations in a brazen and cruel manner.

Cert Denied In Prisoner Free Exercise Case Over Alito's Dissenting Opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Ben-Levi v. Brown, (Docket No. 14-1086, cert. denied 2/29/2016) over a lengthy dissent to denial of review by Justice Alito (at pg. 39 of Order List). In the case, the lower courts (district court, 4th Cir.) upheld a rule of the North Carolina prison system which requires either a minyan (ten participants) or the presence of a qualified leader (such as a rabbi) in order for a Jewish Bible study group to meet.  Other religious groups were allowed to meet without a specified number of participants or an outside volunteer.  The prison system's rule for Jewish inmates was based on the prison system's understanding of Jewish religious doctrine. Dissenting from the denial of review, Justice Alito wrote:

In essence, respondent’s argument—which was accepted by the courts below—is that Ben-Levi’s religious exercise was not burdened because he misunderstands his own religion..... The argument that a plaintiff’s own interpretation of his or her religion must yield to the government’s interpretation is foreclosed by our precedents.... Even assuming that respondent accurately identified the requirements for a group Torah study under Jewish doctrine—and that is not at all clear—federal courts have no warrant to evaluate “‘the validity of [Ben-Levi’s] interpretations.’”

[Thanks to Marty Lederman via Religionlaw for the lead.] 

El Al Sued In Israel Over Gender-Based Reseating To Accommodate Religious Objections

A widely anticipated test case has been filed in court in Israel against El Al Airlines over its practice of accommodating Orthodox Jewish men who, for religious reasons, refuse to sit beside unrelated female passengers. New York Times reported Friday on the discrimination suit filed by the Israel Religious Action Center on behalf of 81-year old Renee Rabinowitz who was pressured by a flight attendant to change seats on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv.  Rabinowitz is described by the Times as "a sharp-witted retired lawyer with a Ph.D. in educational psychology, who escaped the Nazis in Europe as a child." Rabinowitz moved to Israel from the United States some ten years ago.  Both her second and first husbands were rabbis. The Religious Action Center had been looking for at test case where it was clear that flight attendants, as opposed to passengers alone, were involved in the seating change.

Airline Faces Religious Objection To In-Flight Movie

According to Haaretz, Israel's El Al Airlines yesterday faced an unruly passenger demand for religious accommodation.  On a flight from Warsaw, Poland to Tel Aviv, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish passenger objected that the in-flight movie being shown was immodest.  He began pushing and striking at the screens showing it, breaking two of them. The movie was "Truth," an "R" rated film starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford and Dennis Quaid.  El Al has faced at least one prior incident of passengers objecting to the in-flight movies, and a number of times has faced religious demands by passengers for sex-segregated seating assignments. (See prior related posting.)

Housing Crunch For Orthodox Jews In New Jersey Places Focus On Real Estate Practices [UPDATED]

AP reported yesterday on the influx of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the town of Lakewood, New Jersey and surrounding communities.  AP reports that the influx is of Hasidic Jews, but as a commenter on Twitter to an earlier version of this post points out, the Jews in Lakewood, and the yeshiva that attracts them are largely in the Orthodox Lithuanian Jewish ("Yeshivish") tradition, not Hasidic. Nevertheless here is AP's report:

A housing crunch in Lakewood, home to one of the nation’s largest populations of Hasidic Jews, has triggered what residents of neighboring communities say are overly aggressive, all-hours solicitations from agents looking to find homes for the rapidly growing Jewish community.

The complaints have prompted towns, including Toms River, to update their “no-knock” rules and related laws, adding real estate inquiries to measures that already limit when soliciting can occur and allow residents to bar solicitations.

But Jewish leaders and others say the no-knock laws unfairly target Orthodox Jews and those seeking to help them find houses. Many current residents came to the community to study at one of the largest yeshivas in the world and eventually settled down....

On the other hand, some of the solicitation activity is reminiscent of the kind of activity that led to the federal Fair Housing Act's ban on "blockbusting."  42 USC Sec. 3604(e) makes it illegal:

For profit, to induce or attempt to induce any person to sell or rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry or prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a particular race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

AP describes one homeowner's experience:

James Jackson didn’t want to sell his home but thanked the black-suited man for his interest anyway.

That’s when the man put his hand on Jackson’s shoulder and told him he might want to reconsider. Many of his neighbors in the New Jersey shore town of Toms River, the man said, already planned to sell to Jewish buyers like those he represented.

“He asked me why I would want to live in a Hasidic neighborhood if I wasn’t Hasidic,” Jackson recalled. “He asked if I would really be happy, if it would be in my family’s best interests.”

Suit Says Zoning Change To Permit Chabad Development Violated Establishment Clause

The South Florida Sun Sentinel  reported yesterday on an unusual lawsuit filed by two Christian residents of Boca Raton, Florida alleging secret arrangements between the city, a developer and Chabad of East Boca to allow Chabad to build a $10 million synagogue and museum on Boca Raton's barrier island. The complaint (full text) in Gagliardi v. City of Boca Raton, Florida, (SD FL, filed 2/8/2016), alleges that the arrangement, undertaken in response to public objections to Chabad's locating in a different area of the city, violated the Establishment Clause, the due process and equal protection clauses, and the state constitution. The complaint alleges that the change in the city code to permit Chabad to locate on the barrier island (followed by variances and other actions to further the project) was a "complete and and express violation of the prohibition of advancing, endorsing or promoting of religion as set forth in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Nevada Democratic Caucuses Pose Problems For Sabbath Observers

After this week's New Hampshire primaries, the presidential candidates move to Nevada and South Carolina.  As reported last week by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Democratic caucuses in Nevada are on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 11:00 a.m.  This means that observant Jews and Seventh Day Adventists may be unable to participate because doing so violates their Sabbath.  The Republican caucuses in Nevada will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 23, obviating the Sabbath observance problem.  The same concerns arose in 2008 and 2012 when both parties held their Nevada caucuses on Saturday.  In 2012, the Republicans held an additional evening caucus for those unable to participate earlier in the day for religious reasons.  In 2008, Democrats placed caucus sites near religious neighborhoods and synagogues so people could walk, and precinct captains were educated to write down information on behalf of observant Jews instead of asking them to sign-in and write themselves. (See prior posting.) It is unclear whether Democrats will be making similar accommodations this year.

South Carolina's primaries are on Saturdays for bot parties (Feb. 20 and 27).  However, unlike in caucuses, primary voters can cast absentee ballots in advance. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

U.S. Opposes Chabad Subpoenas Seeking To Enforce Court Sanctions Against Russia

As previously reported, in a long-running lawsuit by a Chabad group in the United States to recover two expropriated collections of religious books from the Russian government, a D.C. federal district court last year imposed $43.7 million in sanctions on various Russian government entities that have refused to comply with the court's order after a default judgment. Chabad is attempting to enforce the sanctions by locating Russian assets in the United States. It has subpoenaed five major financial institutions seeking information on accounts of the Russian government, and of individuals such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.  National Law Journal reported yesterday that the Justice Department this week filed a Statement of Interest of the United States (full text) in the case contending that Chabad's subpoenas:

are contrary to the goal of resolving this dispute and will harm not only further diplomatic efforts to do so but also the foreign policy interests of the United States.

The government argued that any Russian assets in the subpoenaed banks are immune from attachment anyway.  And it emphasized:

The United States has invested significant resources in diplomatic efforts over many years to resolve this dispute, and it continues to believe that out-of-court dialogue with Russia, rather than litigation, presents the best opportunity for ultimate resolution. 

Suit Over Chabad House In Historic District Survives Almost All Motions To Dismiss

Chabad Lubavitch of Litchfield County, Inc. v. Borough of Litchfield, Connecticut, (D CT, Jan. 27, 2016), a decision on remand from the 2nd Circuit, is the latest installment in the long-running attempt of the Hasidic Jewish organization, Chabad, to expand a building it purchased in Lichtfield, Connecticut's Historic District.  In a 61-page opinion in the suit filed under RLUIPA,  the court first examined whether all parts of the proposed expansion of the building into a Chabad House would be used for religious purposes. It concluded:

Construction of the proposed facilities is in large measure religious exercise and, as to the remaining use / facilities, there exist genuine issues of material fact regarding their status as places of religious exercise.

The court then moved to consider whether the Historic District Commission's denial of a Certificate of Appropriateness placed a substantial burden on Chabad’s religious exercise. It concluded that there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether or not it did, so that defendants' motion for summary judgment on this point was denied. The court also refused to dismiss plaintiffs' discrimination claim under RLUIPA, holding that there is sufficient evidence in the record for the fact finder to conclude that the Commission acted with an intent to discriminate on the basis of religion. The court went on to reject various defenses. Finally the court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the Chabad Rabbi as a plaintiff in the discrimination claim, but not as to the substantial burden claim.

Settlement In Voter Registration Suit Brought By Disenfranchised Hasidic Jews

The Forward and JTA reported yesterday that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed last year against the Sullivan County, New York, Board of Elections by 27 Hasidic Jews whose voter registrations were among 156 in the Village of Bloomingburg that the Board of Elections had taken steps to cancel.  The Election Board claimed that the voters were not really residents of the Village, which had a population of only 420 in the 2010 census. (See prior posting.)  Under the settlement agreement the names will remain on the voter rolls.  This is part of a larger dispute over the building of a high density 396-unit apartment development in Bloomingburg that will be marketed to members of the Satmar Hasidic community.

UPDATE: A Feb. 2 report by the New York Post says that the settlement, which the court has approved, includes the appointment of a monitor for 5 years to oversee the voting process (including review of the voter challenge questionnaire). Also voting materials and signs will be in both Yiddish and English. The county will pay damages of $25,000 and $550,000 in attorneys' fees.

Israeli Court Avoids Decision on Definition of Prayer on Temple Mount

In Israel on Monday, a Jerusalem district court reversed the order of a Magistrate's Court that had barred right-wing Jewish activist Yehuda Etzion from visiting the Temple Mount compound for 15 days. Haaretz and a press release from Honenu report on developments.  Etzion is founder of Hai VeKayam, a group that advocates allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount where Muslim holy sites are located. Agreements between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan call for maintaining the "status quo" at the Temple Mount site-- which means no Jewish prayer there.  On Dec. 22, authorities detained Etzion for walking on the Temple Mount with his arms raised, concluding that this violated the status quo.  On appeal, District Court judge Ram Vinograd said he did not need to definitively rule on the definition of an act of prayer since there was not fair warning to Etzion that police had changed their past interpretations to now ban raised arms.  During an earlier visit, police had not stopped Etzion from similar action. The judge commented on the problem of line drawing-- would merely lifting one's eyes upwards, or covering one's head, be enough to violate the prayer ban.

Etzion, obviously pushing the envelope, after the appeals court ruling described his action on the Temple Mount as follows:

With this act I sought to express a connection with the Temple Mount and the One who resides there, and I kept in my memory also the prayer of King Solomon, who spread his palms upwards. 

Suit Against Jewish Conversion Therapy Group Ends With Permanent Injunction and Settlement Instead of Appeal

As previously reported, in June a New Jersey state trial court jury awarded treble damages of $72,400 to a total of five plaintiffs who sued JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), its founder and a counselor under the state's consumer fraud law. JONAH provided "conversion therapy" that it falsely claimed could change an individual from gay to straight.  Instead of appealing the decision, defendants entered a confidential settlement agreement (Stipulation) under which defendants are to pay an undisclosed amount of damages and attorneys' fees of $3500.  In addition the parties agreed to the award of a permanent injunction requiring JONAH to cease operations and liquidate.  The Court issued a consent Order on Dec. 18 (full text) implementing this agreement, including permanently enjoining defendants from offering any kind of conversion therapy in the future. CBS News reports on these developments and points out that New Jersey's 2013 law banning licensed therapists from offering sexual orientation change therapy for minors was not involved in the case because the defendants were not licensed therapists. An attorney who represented JONAH said:

It is sad that so many are celebrating the government's power to stop willing clients from working with willing counselors to lead their lives on Biblical principles.

Attorneys for plaintiffs responded, however:

The practice of conversion therapy, at base, constitutes fraud. It is premised on the lie that homosexuality is a disease or disorder. This case proved it to be a lie.

Southern Poverty Law Center's case page has links to all the pleadings and court orders in the case.

U.N. Recognizes Yom Kippur As Holiday

According to the Times of Israel, the United Nations announced on Thursday that it was adding the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur to the list of officially recognized U.N. holidays on which no official meetings will be scheduled and staff will not be required to report to work. The U.N. already observes Christmas, Good Friday, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as holidays, along with six secular U.S. holidays. The U.N. move had important symbolic importance.  Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon (who along with U.S. Ambassador Samantha Powers) led the move to add Yom Kippur, said: "Today we finally have an official place for the Jewish religion in the World’s parliament."

New Jersey Synagogue Files Court Appeal of Zoning Decision

The Clifton Journal reported Friday that the Clifton, New Jersey Orthodox Jewish congregation, Shomrei Torah, has filed an appeal in state court of a zoning decision that severely limits the size of the synagogue that Shomrei Torah plans to build.  Plans to turn an existing house into a synagogue by building on an addition were rejected.  The city's planning board voted 7-0 to limit the size of the proposed synagogue to 7,000 square feet in area or 35 feet in height-- a 57% reduction in the originally proposed square footage in order to insure that the synagogue meets requirements for number of parking spaces and conform the building to the neighborhood.

Jonathan Pollard Claims Parole Conditions Violate His Rights Under RFRA

Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard who recently completed a 30-year federal prison term is now seeking to have a New York federal district judge ease three of the conditions imposed as part of his additional one-year of parole.  As reported by today's Jerusalem Post, Pollard objects to required monitoring of his home and work computers; tracking of his location by an electronic GPS ankle bracelet; and a 7 am to 7 pm curfew.  Part of Pollard's argument is that the ankle bracelet and curfew violate his rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The monitoring anklet's batteries will not last 25-hours, and thus Pollard will be required to charge the battery during the Sabbath, a violation of Jewish religious law.  Also the curfew interferes with his ability to attend synagogue services.  The U.S. Attorney's Office concedes that it can accommodate Pollard's concerns with the ankle bracelet by providing one with longer battery life. The court ordered the parole commission to furnish further information, in particular whether it believes Pollard has information that is still confidential.

Israel's Rabbinical High Court To Consider Retroactive Conversion Revocation Case

Times of Israel and Haaretz report on an appeal filed last week with Israel's Rabbinical High Court seeking reversal of a lower religious court's decision handed down in 2012 that retroactively invalidated a Christian woman's 1983 conversion to Judaism. The lower court's action was taken because the woman was not living the Orthodox Jewish life-style she had promised to lead at the time of her conversion. The appeal is being pursued by the woman's daughter because it calls into question her and her young daughter's religious status. It is expected that the High Court will reverse the invalidation because it usually refuses to retroactively invalidate conversions.

Suit Claims Four NY Yeshivas Deny Male Students Adequate Secular Education

The Lower Hudson Journal News reports that on Friday a class action lawsuit was filed in a New York federal district court by parents of students who attend various Orthodox Jewish schools in the East Ramapo school district and by former students of the schools claiming that the schools deny male students adequate secular coursework.  According to the report:

The claim contends that four Hasidic yeshivas in Monsey, Spring Valley and New Square do not teach English, "basic literacy, calculating, and verbal skills necessary to enable children to eventually function productively as civil participants."

The lawsuit also alleges that defendants have broken the law by:

• Failing to hire or train teachers and staff "capable" of teaching secular studies. 
• Discriminating against boys by providing girls with more robust secular studies.
• Failing to oversee or control yeshivas' use of tax money for their designated secular education purposes.
• Failing to properly equip students with English and other skills necessary to obtain employment, creating generations of people who are dependent on government assistance.

The suit asks the court to order and enforce a requirement of 3 hours per day of secular studies with competent teachers, and asks for remedial courses for prior graduates of the schools.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the complaint in Doe v. State of New York, (SD NY, filed 11/20/2015). [Thanks to Friendly Atheist for the link to the complaint.]

Mikveh OK In Area Zoned For Places of Worship

In Matter of Winterton Properties, LLC v Town of Mamakating Zoning Board of Appeals, (NY App., OCT. 22, 2015), a New York state appellate court held that the term "neighborhood places of worship"  in a town's zoning law includes a mikveh (Jewish ritual bath).  The proposed mikveh is located in an area zoned for neighborhood places of worship, but the city claimed that the term only includes places of communal worship. The appeals court concluded: "The terms of the ordinance do not support this requirement, nor do we find it to be either established or supported by the dictionary definition..." [Thanks to Steven H, Sholk for the lead.]