The following article appears on the Sun Sentinel website:
Florida – Victoria Park residents are upset about a Jewish sect whose very popular, elderly leader has moved into the neighborhood, attracting people to the 7,000 square foot home.
Residents complained in emails to Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom that scores of people have religious meetings at the home that involve stomping and noise. They say a Hasidic Jewish Sect, The Tosh, from Montreal, Canada, has moved there.
“There is no doubt in our minds that the Rabbi is a very spiritual man,’’ resident Larry Eskesen wrote to his commissioner, “ … but does he have to be spiritual so noisily?’’
The city is taking a cautious approach to this, citing what happened to Hollywood in 2005, City Attorney Harry Stewart said Wednesday.
“We see it as not too dissimilar from the altercation that Hollywood got into with the Chabad,” Stewart said. “The Chabad is still there and Hollywood got tagged for $2 million.’’
Federal law dictates that cities treat religious groups as they treat any other group. For example, if the Boy Scouts can meet in Victoria Park, then so can members of a religious organization. Houses of worship aren’t allowed in the Victoria Park neighborhood, but a residential home where religious meetings occasionally occur would be OK, Stewart said. The city looked into allegations of parking and garbage code violations, and found none, he said.
Hollywood tangled with Chabad Lubavitch, which wanted to operate a synagogue in two homes in Hollywood Hills. The synagogue received $2 million in a 2006 settlement with the city.
Rodstrom advised the neighborhood president, Ted Fling, in an email Tuesday that the city “welcomes the diversity of all of our residents and guests” and had found no evidence of code violations at the house at 417 11th Ave.
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5 Responses
b’h our orthodox jewish community is on a growth path that many cannot tolerate. the religious jews should, and for most part they do,take into consideration the greater communities they move into.unfortunately , for most part it is their irreligious brothers and sisters that cannot assume proper tolerance for their very own that create ambiguous complaints.let them read and learn the american declaration of independace and constitution that gives all citizens the right to practice as they wish.
I was there this winter and I have to say that the place was very clean outside and inside. There were takeh some more cars parked outside (it was the Tu B’Shvat Seuda) than by the neighbors, but then the Tosh people provided valet parking and took the cars away from the driveway. The seuda was over by 10pm and everybody left pretty quietly. I am sure when there is a party in someones house in the neighborhood that the people make more noise (they are usually ungetrinken) when they leave and even more noise coming from inside the house all thru the night (music and all).
Other nights when there is nothing special going on by the Rebbe, I am sure there are hardly any cars. So stam to complain (probably a yisishe kishke anyways) abi…..
As Yidden, we need to have a higher standard.
Just like the story of I forgot who, when his wife came back from the Rov with a psak that the chicken was kosher, the husband said to give to a poor person. Even though it was kosher, he did not want to have anything in his house that had a shailoh.
So to our behavior should be “without a shailoh.”
(Just my humble opinion.)
Loshen Horah
Gee ras18 – Are you saying that the very act of complaing defines the complainer as baseless and suspect in his motivations? I love simcha as much as anyone, but I’d tone down a lot in a suburban tract home with stam neighbors, wouldn’t you? The inyan of darkei shalom has a role to play in this, no?