Israel's Cabinet Approves Regulation That Will Ease Conversions To Judaism

In a controversial move, Israel's cabinet today approved an administrative regulation that will permit municipal chief rabbis to create conversion courts.  The Jerusalem Post reports that the new regulation, which is strongly opposed by the Chief Rabbinate and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) political parties, will ease the way for conversion for many Russians  who emigrated to Israel under the Law of Return. The government's action came as the Knesset threatened to pass its own bill. Using the route the cabinet did makes it easier to repeal the decision in the future.

Israeli Rabbinate To Review Religious Conversions By Criminally-Charged D.C. Rabbi

Haaretz reported yesterday the the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is reviewing the validity of conversions to Judaism performed in recent years by Washington, D.C. Orthodox Rabbi Barry Freundel who was arrested last week and charged with secretly videoing women who were undressing in the synagogue's mikveh (ritual bath). (See prior posting.) The review comes even though the U.S.-based Rabbinical Council of America already ruled yesterday "as a matter of Jewish law that conversions performed by Rabbi Freundel prior to his arrest on October 14, 2014 remain halakhically valid and prior converts remain Jewish in all respects." There has been tension in recent years more generally over whether Israel's rabbinate will recognize conversions performed elsewhere.  Since the Chief Rabbinate has final legal authority on who will be considered Jewish for purposes of marriage in Israel, a negative ruling by them could affect the status of at least four women converted by Freundel who have moved to Israel to marry.

UPDATE: Haaretz reportsthat the Chief Rabbinate in a statement published Oct. 21 said that it will raise no questions regarding the validity of past conversions by Rabbi Fruendel. This comes after strong international criticism of the Rabbinate's initial decision to possibly question some of the past conversions.

Prominent D.C. Rabbi Arrested On Voyeurism Charges

The Forward reports that in Washington, DC yesterday, Rabbi Barry Freundel, head of Kesher Israel, one of the city's pre-eminent Modern Orthodox synagogues, was arrested on charges of electronic voyeurism. Apparently Freundel was caught installing a hidden camera above a shower at the synagogue's mikveh (ritual bath) so he could view women showering there. Kesher Israel's board immediately suspended Freundel without pay.  Prominent members of Kesher Israel have included Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman.

UPDATE: Here is the Criminal Complaint filed in the case.

Sukkah At High School Rejected After Other Jewish Students Raise Church-State Complaints

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Sunday on a new permutation in the battle over religious symbols in public schools. Last year, Jewish students at Glendale's Nicolet High School put up a temporary sukkah in the school's courtyard to mark the Jewish fall harvest festival of Sukkot.  This year the activity was moved to a private home nearby after other Jewish students, through the Milwaukee Jewish Community Relations Council, complained that the sukkah on school grounds would violate principles of church-state separation.

1999 E-Mail Urged Clinton To Invoke Talmudic Law As Lewinsky Defense

The New York Post  reported yesterday that among the final 10,000 documents released by the Clinton presidential library on Friday was a 1999 e-mail-- that eventually found its way to White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal-- urging Clinton to rely on the Jewish law definition of adultery in defending against charges growing out of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The e-mail that originated with a Long Island woman, who sent on an analysis of Talmudic law developed by Dartmouth Jewish Studies professor Susannah Heschel, read in part:

According to classical Jewish law, President Clinton did not commit adultery; adultery is defined as a married man having intercourse with a married woman, and Monica Lewinsky is single,

Lawsuit Seeks To Stop Use of Chickens In Pre-Yom Kippur Ceremony

BNC reported yesterday that a lawsuit has been filed in a New York state trial court seeking to enjoin to enjoin Brooklyn Jewish residents from organizing, conducting or participating in the pre-Yom Kippur ritual of kaporos using live chickens. The chickens are slaughtered after use in a ceremony seeking to atonemnet for one's sins.  The suit, filed by an organization known as Alliance to End Chickens As Kaporos, was prompted by concern that thousands of chickens are shipped into Brooklyn for the ceremony each year and many are left starving for days and found dead.  Many Jews use coins that are contributed to the poor in the ritual instead of chickens.

Jewish Vote In New York City Is Becoming Increasingly Orthodox and Hasidic

Th New York Times reports today that the profile of Jewish voters in New York City area is changing. Within a generation, a majority of New York City's Jews will likely be Orthodox, and a large percentage of those will be Hasidim who often have very large families.  The traditional liberal voting patterns of New York Jews is thus becoming more conservative.  Hasidim often vote in blocks for candidates favored for pragmatic reasons by their sect's grand rabbi. Hasidim often seek more aid for their system of yeshivas (religious schools). Already Hasidic groups have successfully resisted enforcement of the City's new informed consent requirement for circumcisions using the oral suction method, as well as requirements for various secular courses to be offered in their private schools. Top city and state officials are hiring Orthodox or Hasidic political advisers.

Internet Was Scrubbed of Sotloff's Jewish Connections In Try To Protect Him

JTA reported yesterday on the extensive efforts that were made after ISIS captured American journalist Steven Sotloff to scrub the Internet of any mention that he was Jewish or held dual Israeli citizenship. Sone 150 of his friends searched out any online mention of these facts to eliminate them. They also convinced journalists wrting about Sotloff to remove any mention of these facts as a way to lessen his danger.  The efforts were successful in keeping the information from ISIS, but not successful in preventing Sotloff's beheading earlier this week.

Settlement Reached In Synagogue's Suit Challenging Historic Site Designiation

The AP reports that a Florida, federal district court last week approved a settlement agreement in Temple B'nai Zion, Inc. v. City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, a case on remand from the 11th Circuit (see prior posting). In the case the synagogue claims that its designation as an historic site-- thereby preventing demolition and construction of a new building on the site-- violated its relgious freedom rights. The Temple was declared a landmark because of a 2004 meeting of Holocaust survivors there. Three of the city commission members involved in the decision were former members of the synagogue before it moved from embracing Conservative Judaism to becoming an Orthodox synagogue. The hearing on the synagogue's objections to the designation was filled with comments from individuals unhappy about actions of the synagogue's rabbi. Under the settlement, the historic landmark designation remains, but the Temple will be permitted to make certain structural changes. The city will also give the Temple a transferable development right elsewhere in the city.

Appeals Court Reverses Dismissal of Negligence Suit Against Hospital Chaplain

In Lefkowitz v. Skokie Hospital, (IL App., July 25, 2014), an Illinois appellate court reversed a trial court's dismissal of a suit by an Orthodox Jewish man, Moshe Lefkowitz, who alleges that Skokie Hospital's Jewish chaplain was negligent in failing to prevent his amputated leg from being incinerated. Orthodox Jewish beliefs require amputated body parts to be  preserved or buried so that they can eventually be buried with the individual from whom they came. The appeals court said that there was a question of whether the forms Lefkowitz signed consenting to the hospital's disposal of his amputated leg were effective since Lefkowitz was blind and did not read them. The Chicago Tribune, in an article appearing in tomorrow's edition, discusses the case and also points out that Lefkowitz is a defendant in an unrelated criminal case charging him, his father (a rabbi), and his brother with stealing $10,000 in donations from a North Shore synagogue.

Leonard Fine, 80, Dies

Leonard Fine, a giant in the field of religion, public policy and social justice, died today at the age of 80. The Forward, for whom he was a long-time columnist, reported on his death. Fine was a co-founder of Moment Magazine, founder of MAZON and of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy.

Suit Claims Rabbi Sexually Assaulted Students At His Israeli Schools For Girls

Courthouse News Service and JTA report on a class action lawsuit filed last Monday in federal district court in Illinois against Rabbi Elimelech Meisels, his four Orthodox Jewish seminaries in Israel, the U.S. fundraising arm of the schools, and other alleged co-conspirators.  The lawsuit, alleging racketeering, fraud, breach of contract, emotional distress, conspiracy and conversion, claims that Meisels induced parents in the U.S. to send their daughters to his high-tuition seminaries where he would sexually assault the girls after developing mentorship relations with them. It is alleged that he kept his victims quiet in part by threatening to ruin their reputations and their chances for an appropriate marriage candidate. A Chicago Jewish religious court that learned of the problems urged parents not to send their children to the schools. The complaint alleges that at that point Meisels engaged in a sham sale of the seminaries to try to retain students.

Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself On Charges That Jewish Charitable Activities Bias Him In Immigration Trial

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on a decision last week by Michigan federal district court judge Paul Borman in which he angrily refused to recuse himself in the trial of a Palestinian woman charged with hiding her terrorism-related past in coming to the U.S. and applying for U.S. citizenship. Defendant Rasmieh Odeh failed to disclose the fact that she had spent 10 years in prison in Israel after being convicted of taking part in two terrorist bombings in Jerusalem. Her lawyers claim that Judge Borman's long history of support and fund-raising for the Detroit Jewish Federation and his organizing trips to Israel bias him and likely gave him extra-judicial information relevant to defendant's claim that she was beaten and raped while in Israeli custody.  In United States v. Odeh, (ED MI, July 31, 2014), Judge Borman wrote:

My relationship to my faith and my heritage through my activity on behalf of the Detroit Jewish Federation, reads nothing like the innuendo and rank speculation that infects Defendant’s motion.

Suit Seeks Return of Valuable Hebrew Bible Manuscript

On Monday, a suit was filed in federal district court in New York by the heirs of  David C. Arakie to obtain the return of a "priceless, ancient, handwritten set of the Five Books of Moses."  The complaint (full text) in Samuels v. Greenberg,  (ED NY, filed 7/21/2014), alleges that the Hebrew manuscript at issue-- an important resource for Biblical scholars-- was loaned by David Arakie to Zalmen Gurewicz for the purpose of academic study.  Some years later, both Arakie and Gurewicz died with the manuscript never having been returned to Arakie.  The manuscript is presently in the possession of defendants, Gurewicz's daughter and son-in-law, who say they found it in Gurewicz's suitcase. New York Daily News reports on the filing of the lawsuit.

Connecticut Synagogue Files RLUIPA Challenge To Zoning Denial

In Greenwich, Connecticut the Greenwich Reform Synagogue has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals' refusal, on a 2-2- vote, to grant it a zoning exemption needed for final approval of its planned new building.  As reported by Greenwich Time, the suit, presumably invoking the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, alleges that the denial is burdensome and discriminatory, and treats the synagogue less favorably that the city has treated requests from churches and non-religious institutions.

Algeria Plans To Reopen Synagogues, Though Few Jews Left In Country

According to JTA, Algeria's Religious Affairs Minister last week said that the country is prepared to reopen synagogues. They were closed down in the 1990's for security reasons.  However security arrangements need to be set up before the step is taken. It is estimated that only a tiny number of Jews remain in Algeria.

Court Allows Eruv In Long Island Town

In Verizon New York, Inc. v. Village of Westhampton Beach, (ED NY, June 16, 2014), a New York federal magistrate judge gave at least a partial victory to the East End Eruv Association, a Jewish organization that is attempting to place an eruv in Suffolk County, New York. An eruv is a symbolic boundary, marked off with plastic strips (lechis) on telephone poles. Observant Jews may carry items within the eruv on the Sabbath without violating Jewish religious law.  In this case, Verizon and Long Island Lighting Co. granted the Association the right to use their poles for an eruv, but three municipalities objected.  The utilities sued for a declaration that they had the right to allow use of their poles for this purpose.  This opinion ultimately dealt with only one of the municipalities-- Westhampton Beach.  The court concluded that the utilities' franchise agreements do not limit their authority permit the eruv; the Transportation Corporations Law and the LIPA Act provide authority for the utilities to enter contracts for use of their poles; while Westhampton has authority to regulate utility poles owned by the utilities, it has not passed any regulations that prohibit attaching lechis to the poles.  27East and Jewish Week report  on the decision.

Jewish Ancestry of the Late Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor Discovered

The New York Times reported at length yesterday on the newly-discovered Jewish ancestry of the the late Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor.  O'Connor was Cardinal Archbishop of New York for 16 years. It now appears that O'Connor's maternal grandfather was a rabbi, and his mother, who converted to Catholicism in 1908, was born a Jew.  The Cardinal, who apparently never learned of his Jewish roots, was born in 1920 and died in 2000. (Biography.) As Cardinal, O'Connor was strongly supportive of the Jewish community and active in Catholic-Jewish relations.

Michigan Appeals Court: Ecclesiastical Proceedings Toll Statute of Limitations; Hierarchical Structure Poses Factual Question

In Chabad-Lubavitch of Michigan v. Schuchman, (MI App., May 22, 2014), a Michigan appellate court reversed a trial court's dismissal of a suit brought by Chabad-Lubavitch of Michigan in its property dispute with a local Chabad organization. Plaintiff claimed that property of Bais Chabad Torah Center of West Bloomfield should have been titled in the name of the Michigan parent entity rather than in the name of the local organization. The property claim was apparently first raised in a rabbinic panel proceeding as a counter-claim after the head of the West Bloomfield Chabad center filed complaints against the rabbi who heads the Michigan parent organization. The dispute has already been the subject of  five decisions by Jewish rabbinic panels, all of which ruled that title should be in the name of the parent group. However the West Bloomfield Chabad center refused to comply and the rabbinic court gave the parent body permission to file this civil suit.

The court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine would require it to defer to the decision of the Chabad rabbinic determinations if Chabad-Lubavitch is a hierarchical organization. The court concluded, however, that "there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Chabad-Lubavitch is hierarchical in regard to property matters, and thus, whether the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine applies in this case."

In the course or reaching this conclusion, the court made interesting rulings on defendants' statute of limitations defense. It held that "the applicable statutes of limitation were equitably tolled during the time that the parties were engaged in the mandatory ecclesiastical dispute resolution process."  It ruled that prior precedent refusing to toll statutes of limitation while parties are engaged in voluntary arbitration does not apply because the parties were involved in Chabad-Lubavitch's mandatory ecclesiastical procedure. But that left the question of when tolling ended:

[D]efendants dispute the date that the ecclesiastical dispute resolution process was concluded. Plaintiff maintains that the process was not complete until it received permission to bring a lawsuit in civil court.... Defendants maintain that plaintiff should have sought permission earlier so as to comply with the applicable statutes of limitations..... However, the parties’ dispute regarding when the internal procedure was final constitutes a factual question that is not appropriate for resolution by this Court on appeal. Moreover, resolution of the parties’ disagreement about when the internal dispute resolution process was final would require this Court to interpret religious doctrine or polity. Engaging in such an interpretation would be improper because the First Amendment “requires that civil courts defer to the resolution of issues of religious doctrine or polity by the highest court of a hierarchical church organization.” ... Accordingly, we are required to defer to plaintiff’s claim that the procedure was not final until it received permission to file a civil lawsuit.... Therefore, plaintiff’s complaint was timely filed.

Russian Court Imposes Sanctions On Library of Congress For Failure To Return 7 Religious Books On Loan

Last year, a D.C. federal district court held the Russian government and three of its agencies in civil contempt for not complying with a 2010 default judgement ordering them to return two expropriated collections of valuable Jewish religious books and manuscripts to Chasidei Chabad of United States.  The court  imposed civil sanctions of $50,000 per day until defendants comply with the court's order. (See prior posting.) In response, the Russian government filed suit in a Russian court to force the U.S. Library of Congress to return seven books from one of the two collections that were loaned to it. (See prior posting.) Now, according to The Forward, a Moscow arbitration court ruled yesterday that the Library of Congress must pay $50,000 in fines for every day the seven books are not returned. Russia claims that the books were loaned to the Library of Congress in 1991 for 60 days, but have never been sent back to Russia.