Synagogue Sues In Challenge To Florida's Restrictive Abortion Law

Suit was filed last week in a Florida state trial court by a Palm Beach County synagogue challenging Florida's recently enacted 15-week abortion ban. The complaint (full text) in Generation to Generation, Inc. v. Florida, (FL Cir. Ct., filed 6/10/2022) contends that the law violates the free exercise, establishment, right to privacy, due process and equal protection provisions of the Florida Constitution.  The complaint alleges in part:

40. Some women, such as the members, congregants, supporters of Plaintiff L’Dor Va-Dor and their families have an abortion because it is required by their religious faith.  For Jews, all life is precious and thus the decision to bring new life into the world is not taken lightly or determined by state fiat.  In Jewish law, abortion is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman, or for many other reasons not permitted under the Act.  As such, the Act prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and thus violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.....

71. The Jewish people have often borne the brunt of the horrors that occur when the power of Christianity has merged with the power of the state.  The result has been Inquisitions, Crusades, ghettoes and pogroms for the Jews and the eventual loss of freedom for everyone else.... 

72.  The architects of the Act have taken a first step towards the dismantling of that wall and returning the state of Florida and our nation back to a time when the merger of Christianity and government produced genocide, slavery, misogyny, and the denial of equal rights and in many cases, any rights at all to those who did not share the gender, race or religion of those in power.

Jews for a Secular Democracy issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

2nd Circuit: Rabbinical College's Zoning Challenge Is Not Ripe For Review

In Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov, Inc. v. Village of Pomona, New York, (2d Cir., May 27, 2022), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a suit challenging two Village zoning laws that prevent plaintiffs from building a rabbinical college on its 100-acre property.  The court held that the challenge to the laws fails on ripeness grounds. It concluded that the Village Board of Trustees' refusal to consider plaintiffs' petition to repeal completely the two laws cannot be considered to be the Board's final decision on the particular building plans, since the petition did not set out any details of the plans. It also concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco did not change the ripeness rules for challenging a zoning denial. (See prior related posting.) Rockland/Westchester Journal News reports on the 2nd Circuit's decision.

Three Chabad Rabbis Are On Russia's List Of Those Banned From Travel To Russia

As reported by Axios, Russia last Saturday released a list of 963 Americans who are banned from traveling to Russia in retaliation for American sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. JTA reports that included in the list are three rabbis who are leaders of Agudas Chassidei Chabad which has been attempting for years to force Russia to return to it in the U.S. two expropriated collections of valuable Jewish religious books and manuscripts:

Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, a founder of the Washington office of the movement, American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), that has led lobbying for U.S. pressure on Russia;

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the umbrella group’s secretary, who heads the educational and social arms of Chabad-Lubavitch; and

Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, a West Coast leader of the movement who is prominent in the branch of the movement seeking the return of the texts.

It has been suggested recently that Chabad now has a better chance of getting at assets to satisfy fines imposed on Russia by an American court for Russia's refusal to return the books.

In Israel, Jewish Group Sues Haredi News Site Over Policy On Photos Of Women

Times of Israel reported yesterday that the Israel Religious Action Center, a branch of the Judaism's Reform movement, is suing an ultra-Orthodox Jewish news website in Israel for $100,000(US) in damages because of its policy of digitally blurring faces of females in news photos it posts. Last year, the news site B'hadrei Haredim blurred the faces of female leaders of Jewish movements in a photo of their meeting with Israel's President Isaac Herzog. A number of Orthodox news sites follow this policy in order to observe religious doctrines regarding modesty.

U.S. Sanctions On Russia May Lead To Chabad Recovering Assets In Suit Over Return Of Jewish Library Collection

As previously reported, in 2013 the 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 it to return two expropriated collections of valuable Jewish religious books and manuscripts to Chasidei Chabad of United States.  Despite objections by the United States government, the court imposed civil sanctions of $50,000 per day until defendants comply with the court's order. Chabad ever since has been seeking Russian assets to satisfy the continually accruing civil sanctions. 

This week, JTA published an interesting analysis suggesting that Ukraine-related U.S. sanctions on Russia may set the stage for Chabad to recover assets:

By late 2021, two entities had emerged as Chabad’s primary targets: Russia’s main development bank, VEB, and Tenex, a subsidiary of a Russian state-run company called Rosatom that sells uranium to nuclear power plants in the United States.

The United States announced sanctions on VEB on Feb. 22 in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, freezing the bank’s U.S. assets. Its determination that VEB is effectively state wealth has given [Steven] Lieberman [Chabad's attorney] confidence that Chabad can eventually convince the U.S. Treasury Department to turn over VEB assets....

If VEB’s U.S. assets are all tied up in sanctions, Tenex remains entirely unrestricted. That’s because when the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy industry on March 8, it exempted nuclear power, allowing the continued import of Russian uranium. 

“If we’re allowed to seize the assets of Tenex, Chabad will be the only religious organization in the world that has its own nuclear power supply,” Lieberman said, half-jokingly.

President Declares May "Jewish American Heritage Month"

President Biden today issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring May 2022 as Jewish American Heritage Month. The Proclamation reads in part:

The Jewish American story, and the story of our Nation as a whole, is fueled by faith, resilience, and hope.  It is a story defined by a firm belief in possibilities, the resolve to make real the promise of America for all Americans, and a commitment to perfecting our Union, heeding the timeless words of Rabbi Tarfon, the first-century scholar who taught “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”

An interesting sidelight: Typically Presidential Proclamations end with the date of the Proclamation. The year is routinely set out, for example, as: "in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-sixth." The Jewish American Heritage Month Proclamation omits the phrase "in the year of our Lord, recognizing the Christian nature of that reference.

Lev Tahor Leaders Sentenced To Prison

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced last Thursday that two leaders of extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor have been sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for child sexual exploitation offenses and kidnapping.  According to the announcement:

In or about 2017, [NACHMAN] HELBRANS arranged for his then-12-year-old niece, Minor-1, to be “married” to a then-18-year-old man.  Though they were never legally married, they were religiously “married” the following year, when Minor-1 was 13 and her “husband” was 19.  Lev Tahor leadership, including HELBRANS and [MAYER] ROSNER, required young brides ... to have sex with their husbands, to tell people outside Lev Tahor that they were not married, and to lie about their ages....

After [Minor-1's] mother fled and settled in New York with her children, HELBRANS and ROSNER devised a plan to kidnap Minor-1, then 14 years old, to return her to Guatemala and to her then-20-year-old “husband.”  In December 2018, they kidnapped Minor-1 and her brother in the middle of the night from a home in upstate New York and transported them through various states and, eventually, to Mexico.... At the time of the kidnapping, Lev Tahor leadership was seeking asylum for the entire Lev Tahor community in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Times of Israel reports on the sentencing.

No Title VII Violation In Denying Hospital Employee 7 Days Off For Jewish Holiday Observance

In Wagner v. Saint Joseph's/ Candler Health Systems, Inc., (SD GA, March 28, 2022), a Georgia federal district court held that a hospital did not violate Title VII when it fired an Orthodox Jewish admissions notification specialist for taking off four days, in addition to the three days that were approved, to observe the Fall Jewish holidays. The court said in part:

The evidence shows that, due to the unique nature of Wagner’s job, accommodating her request would have required her supervisors and fellow employees ... to perform Wagner’s job for seven days over a seventeen-workday period. The parties agree that Wagner’s job was “time-sensitive” and that there were financial ramifications for the Hospital if Wagner (or whoever was performing her job) failed to notify insurance companies of inpatient stays involving one of their insureds within twenty-four hours.... Wagner also concedes that if the Hospital were to have granted her seven days off to observe the October High Holidays, [fellow employees] ... would have had to bear an additional workload, which would have taken them away from their own jobs....

This evidence suggests that the Hospital would have—and ultimately did— endure more than a de minimis cost in order to accommodate Wagner’s request to miss seven days of work to observe the October High Holidays.

New York Releases New Proposed Curriculum Rules For Nonpublic Schools

On March 10, the New York Education Department announced the release of the third version of Proposed Regulations (full text) to assure substantially equivalent instruction for non-public school students. According to Hamodia:

These regulations, like the those previously proposed, require periodic reviews of every nonpublic school by their LSA (local school district or authority).

Where they differ is that they offer a few paths for a nonpublic school to avoid those reviews, at least initially. One such path is “registration” — which is the technical term for a high school that administers the Regents examinations. Another is “accreditation” by an agency that is approved by the State Education Department....

Our analysis is that all of the non-Jewish private schools will be exempt from LSA reviews while a majority of yeshivos will not be exempt. As a result, these regulations governing the substantial equivalency reviews by LSAs will be applied exclusively at yeshivos.

Israel's Chief Rabbi Proposes Special Court To Aid Ukrainian Refugees In Proving Religious Status

Jewish Press and Israel Hayom yesterday reported that Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau in a letter to Israel's attorney general has proposed setting up a special religious court (Beit Din) to assist the expected 30,000 or more refugees from Ukraine in proving their Jewish status, thus entitling them to Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.  The refugees are now entering the country with tourist visas.  Lau pointed out that many Ukrainians fled their homes without documentation of their religious status. Lau plans to appoint three retired religious court judges with experience in this area to the special Beit Din.

Sanctions On Russian Financial Firm Leads Counsel To End Representation In Litigation Over Recovery Of Jewish Books From Russia

As previously reported, for nearly two decades Agudas Chasidei Chabad has been attempting to recover from the Russian government two expropriated collections of valuable Jewish religious books and manuscripts. In 2013, the D.C. federal district court held the Russian government and three of its agencies in civil contempt, and imposed sanctions of $50,000 per day, for not complying with a 2010 default judgement ordering it to return the materials.  Plaintiffs have been attempting to find Russian assets to satisfy the sanctions by issuing subpoenas to various entities. In Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russia Federation, (DC Cir., Dec. 3, 2021), the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to quash subpoenas directed at several Russian entities, including State Development Corp VEB.RF. (Background).  At the same time that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was being planned, Russia began aggressive moves toward Ukraine. This led the U.S. to impose sanctions on VEB.RF. (Department of Treasury Press Release, Feb. 22, 2022). Now, as reported by Reuters, VEB.RF's lawyers in the litigation with Chabad, the global firm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, announced on Monday that it is ending its representation of VEB.RF. On Monday, the law firm filed a Motion (full text) with the D.C. Circuit seeking a stay of proceedings until VEB has obtained substitute counsel.

Suit By Jewish And Catholic Plaintiffs Challenge "Key To NYC" Vaccination Requirement

A suit raising 1st and 14th Amendment claims was filed this week in a New York federal district court by five Orthodox Jews (including a rabbi and a yeshiva teacher), and by a Catholic  man, challenging New York City's "Key To NYC" program.  Key To NYC requires individuals to be vaccinated for COVID in order to enter restaurants, entertainment venues and fitness facilities. Plaintiffs contend that they have religious objections to the COVID vaccine.  Their religious objections are set out at length in the complaint (full text) in Jane Doe 1 v. Adams, (ED NY, filed 2/7/2022).  Some of the religious objections are similar to those raised in many other cases, i.e. objections to vaccines developed with the the use of fetal cell lines originating from abortions.  However, the religious objections cited by the Jewish plaintiffs include contentions that have not commonly been raised in past litigation. Here are two examples of the cited beliefs:

Submitting to a government dictate that conditions freedom on vaccination is a form of slavery and subjugation. This violates numerous commandments in the Torah that require one to remember and internalize the great Exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt....

Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, better known as the Chasam Sofer (1762 to 1839), an ancestor of John Doe 1’s wife and the leading Orthodox Rabbi in opposition to the Reform Judaism movement, stated the famous aphorism Chadash Assur Min Hatorah: That which is new is prohibited by the Torah. This was specifically aimed at the attempts to overhaul and change ancient traditions and customs, by the followers of Reform Judaism. The notion that healthy people should be viewed as sick until they can prove their innocence by vaccination in order to be part of society is a new concept that is being forced on humanity as part of the “New Normal” and “Great Reset.” This newfangled posture in human relations that is being imposed by force, has no basis in the Torah....

Thomas More Society issued a press release announcing the lawsuit.

 

Cert. Filed In Synagogue Picketing Case While Plaintiffs Are Ordered To Pay $158K Attorneys' Fees Of Picketers

A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed recently in Brysk v. Herskovitz, (Sup. Ct., filed Jan. 19, 2022). In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a suit by synagogue members against anti-Israel pickets who have picketed services at the Beth Israel Synagogue in Ann Arbor, Michigan every week since 2003.  A majority held that the picketers were protected by the First Amendment. (See prior posting.)

Meanwhile, a Michigan federal district court ordered plaintiffs in the case to pay defendants' attorneys' fees of $158,721.75. Gerber v. Herskovitz, (ED MI, Jan. 25, 2022). The court said in part:

The Court is aware that awarding attorney fees to defendants under §1988 may have a chilling effect on the willingness to bring legitimate civil rights claims, and it acknowledges that “awarding attorney fees against a nonprevailing plaintiff in a civil rights action is ‘an extreme sanction, and must be limited to truly egregious cases of misconduct.’” ... However, this is that rare case where such an award is appropriate and warranted. Plaintiffs failed to allege a basic element for each of their claims; their claims were groundless from the outset. As Judge Clay observed, it is “clear that [Plaintiffs brought] this suit to ‘silence a speaker with whom [they] disagree,’” which the First Amendment does not permit....

MLive and JTA report on the decision.

Transit System's Rejection Of Religious Ads Violates Synagogue's Free Speech Rights

In Young Israel of Tampa, Inc. v. Hillsborough Regional Transit Authority, (MD FL, Jan. 20, 2022), a Florida federal district court held that the free speech rights of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue were violated when the local transit system (HART) refused to accept its display ad promoting its "Chanukah on Ice" event. HART refused the ad under its rule against advertisements that primarily promote a religious faith or religious organization. The court said in part:

Here, HART’s Advertising Policy constitutes viewpoint discrimination.... HART allowed advertisements for a secular holiday event with ice skating and seasonal food ..., but it disallowed an ice skating event with seasonal food that was in celebration of Chanukah. Thus, HART’s ban ... targets the “specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker.”

The court added that even if HART's policy were viewpoint neutral, it does not have objective, workable standards for applying it.

Jewish Couple Challenge Denial Of Services By Christian Foster Care Placement Agency

Suit was filed yesterday in a Tennessee state trial court challenging the state's contracting with a Christian child placement agency that refuses to provide foster parent training to those who do not share its Christian beliefs.  A Jewish couple who were denied services sued, along with several other plaintiffs.  A Tennessee statute enacted in 2020 specifically allows faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to refuse to provide services that violate their religious convictions. The complaint (full text) in Rutan-Ram v. Tennessee Department of Children's Services, (TN Chanc. Ct., filed 1/19/2022), alleges that this religious discrimination violates several provisions of the Tennessee state constitution.  Americans United issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Poway Synagogue Rabbi Sentenced To 14 Months In Custody For Fraud

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced that yesterday a California federal district judge sentenced Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein -- rabbi of Chabad of Poway during a much-publicized shooting in 2019-- to 14 months in custody for his part in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.  Goldstein plead guilty to fraud charges in 2019. (See prior posting.) He was also ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution.  According to the U.S. Attorney's Office:

[W]hile Rabbi Goldstein was director of the Poway synagogue, he received at least $6.2 million in phony contributions to the Chabad and affiliated charities and secretly refunded up to 90 percent of the donations to the “donors.” After Rabbi Goldstein provided these donors with fake receipts, they illegally claimed huge tax deductions for these nonexistent donations, and the rabbi kept about 10 percent ... for himself....

Rabbi Goldstein also admitted that he defrauded three different Fortune 500 companies by tricking them into matching supposed charitable donations of their employees....

Rabbi Goldstein ... also helped his brother ... conceal approximately $700,000 in income by allowing him to use Chabad bank accounts to deposit his income, thereby hiding it from the IRS.  As his cut, Rabbi Goldstein kept 10 percent.... 

... Goldstein and another defendant ... used false information and fabricated invoices and other records to pretend to be eligible for emergency funds, grants or donations, and private loans [from FEMA and the state of California].

According to The Forward's report on the sentencing, prosecutors had recommended a much more lenient sentence-- 8 months of home confinement and 4 years probation.

NY Governor Vetoes Bill Aimed At Preventing Hasidic Jews Moving Into Neighboring Town

Last week (Dec. 22), New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed Senate Bill 1811 which would have authorized the Town of Blooming Grove to create community preservation funds that could acquire property needed to preserve the character of the community. (Full text of bill.)  According to JNS, the Governor's Veto Memorandum read in part:

There have been well-documented tensions in Orange County between local elected officials and members of the Hasidic community. Similar tensions in the nearby Town of Chester resulted in litigation. It would be inappropriate to sign this legislation at this juncture, while facts are still being gathered about the situation. Therefore, I am constrained to veto this bill.

JNS reports further:

Blooming Grove is less than 10 miles north of the Chassidic enclave of Kiryas Joel, which has a population of some 30,000 people, nearly all of them chassidim. In recent years, members of the Orthodox community have been moving to nearby towns, including Chester and Blooming Grove. Restrictions on home building and land development are seen by some as an attempt to limit the growth of the Orthodox community in the region.

According to the Agudath Israel of America, which had been lobbying against the legislation for several months, “the real purpose of the bill is to buy up open lands in order to keep Chassidic Jews from purchasing this land and building homes in Blooming Grove … .”

District Court Affirms Bankruptcy Court's Ruling On Property Dispute Between Two Rabbis

In Zaks v. Mosdos Chofetz Chaim Inc., (SD NY, Dec. 7, 2021), a New York federal district court affirmed a bankruptcy court's decision in a dispute between two rabbis, who are brothers, over the transfer of real property in Spring Valley, New York under the Plan of Reorganization of Mosdos Chofetz Chaim. Among other things, the court rejected appellant's argument that by applying the "common corporate structure" test, the Bankruptcy Court violated the First Amendment right of Mosdos to have its ecclesiastical leadership control all facets of its governance in compliance with its religious obligations.

Jewish Airline Passenger Sues After He Was Forced Off Plane For Refusing To Place Tallit Bag On Floor

The New York Post reports on a lawsuit filed by an elderly Jewish couple who were forced off their American Airlines flight from Miami to New York after an argument with a flight attendant who insisted that Roberto Birman's tallit (prayer shawl) bag be removed from the overhead compartment and placed on the floor beneath his seat. Birman objected saying that his religious beliefs precluded him from placing the tallit on the floor. The Post reports:

As soon as they were ushered out, the crew member allegedly told his coworkers, “Close the gate!”...

They were left without Roberto’s diabetes medications, which were in the checked luggage, got no help from the airline for securing food or a place to stay that night, and were forced to take a taxi to a friend’s home as a hurricane swept in.

Synagogue Can Move Ahead With Damage Claim for Zoning Denial

In Khal Anshei Tallymawr, Inc. v. Township of Toms River, New Jersey, (D NJ, Dec. 3, 2021), a New Jersey federal district court allowed an Orthodox Jewish congregation to move ahead with its free exercise, RLUIPA, equal protection and state law claims for damages growing out of the zoning denial of a permit to construct a synagogue in an area zoned rural residential. However, since subsequently the challenged regulations have been amended to permit houses of worship as conditional uses in residential zones, the court denied prospective relief while plaintiff determines whether the zoning board will now permit the construction. The zoning amendments were enacted pursuant to the settlement of a RLUIPA lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice. (See prior posting.)