A yeshiva says in a new federal lawsuit that a recent city crackdown on weddings at the Jewish school is just not kosher.
Yeshiva Imrei Chaim Viznitz in Borough Park has been able to hold weddings at its assembly hall since the 1990s.
But two years ago, the Buildings Department decided that it needed to approve the more than 150 weddings held there annually on a case-by-case basis, according to the suit in Manhattan Federal Court.
And now, the city says the yeshiva should not be hosting commercial events at all in a residential area.
“We get inspectors there at least once a week interrupting religious services,” said the yeshiva’s lawyer, Stuart Klein. “We just can’t deal with this anymore. It’s starting to affect our business.”
The yeshiva, which has more than 600 students at its 53rd St. building, says that the city has allowed other religious institutions to maintain halls without all the inspections.
“We are being subjected to a different standard than everyone else,” Klein said.
City lawyers have yet to see the lawsuit, said a law department spokeswoman. The yeshiva lost a similar case in state court.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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17 Responses
there is no reason why there is a hall on a residental block. move somewhere else
They’re never going to win this. They already lost a similar case in state court, according to the article. They’re essentially complaining that they’re forced to comply with the law. Boohoo.
This is all due to two reasons:
1) A neighbor who is a 1st grade “mooser” and trouble-maker. He and his son, are the cause of thousands of yiddishe dollars to be spent on legal fees. He is not only trying to disrupt the chasuna hall – he wants to close down the cheder too. I can’t understand how Munkatch still lets them daven there – unless they too are afraid of this “mooser”.
2) All drivers are similarly responsible. Whether you are parked or double-parked on the block to pick up a wedding guest, and thereby causing other drivers to honk their horns, or the many drivers that have no “gedult” and keep on honking their horns at the thru traffic on the block. PLEASE STOP HONKING, you too are disturbing the neighbors, amybe even more than the hall! Not only on 53rd street, but throughout BP. The driver in front of you, also wants to move just as much as you – but no one needs your incessant and annoying nervous honking!
why is ateres chaya different.
Its a big problem: on one hand I feel bad for the hall, but you cannot forget about the residents either!
It would be a great loss for all of us if the city starts pursuing schools that run halls. Just to name a few, we’re talking about Ateres Chynka, Ateres Chaya and Tifereth Mordechai, just to name a few.
I must admit, I don’t envy the people who live across the street from Ateres Chaya. Folks, we have to stop honking when we’re picking people up (use your cellphone to call someone and let them know you’re outside), or the city will be all over the place with their “revenue suckers” aka tickets and violations.
This is absolutely DISGUSTING!!! The hall in the area is just wonderful, extremely clean and very respective of its neighbors. All this tzoros is from one very nasty neighbor, who will one day have to pay for all this aggravation caused to a wonderful mosed!
You missed out the main point of the story. The reason that they are subjected to this, is because some neighbors who are bored souls felt the need to snitch!
This is a serious threat to the financial health of ALL the Yeshivos. Renting Yeshiva facilities for weddings and simchas are now an important part of many Yeshiva budgets.
This is a test case. If we abandon Vishnitz, we shall all be very sorry.
Let’s not repeat the Rubashkin debacle, where we all woke up too late.
We should condemn the Yeshivos for violating the laws instead of blaming the neighbors for snitching.
If the yeshiva is running a wedding hall as a commercial business, the city may have a zoning argument, if they can argue that hosting simchas is unrelated to being a yeshiva. If hosting simchos is an inherent part of being a yeshiva, the yeshiva probably will win in Federal court since religious institutions are covered by special provisions requiring the government to have an unusually strong case to use zoning laws to mess with religious organizations. The case would be clearer if it was a shul, rather than a school, since it is clear that hosting weddings is an inherent function of a synagogue, but it isn’t so clear about a shul. The ruling on state law would have been based on zoning law, rather than the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, though the yeshiva should have raised the argument in the state court and then appealed to the US Supreme Court rather than starting a new lawsuit.
Also unless someone knows for a fact, one shouldn’t assume a neighbor complained. The traffic and trash of a wedding hall would attract attention from the police and sanitation authorities.
number 10
There is a shul there in the building. It is well known that a neighbor is working against them. He very often comes out to yell at the people participating in simchos at the hall.
#11 – that answers the question of what started the matter.
The legal issue will be based on what law the city says the yeshiva is violating. If it involves sanitation laws, the city will probably win. If it is a zoning dispute (running a wedding hall in a residential area), the yeshiva will have a strong case (and in any event, could transfer ownership of the “hall” to the “shul” to strengthen their case). The yeshiva might have hurt their case by night raising the federal issue immediately.
The professionals who are defending Viznitz don’t have their homes on that block and aren’t subjected to living under those conditions. I wonder if the administrators of Viznitz live there, or do their families need more peaceful surroundings?
I often ride from Flatbush to Boro Park via 53rd Street and my heart goes out to the residents of that block. And when they make a chupa outside, traffic can barely move.
Talk abut losing some hall rental income; it’s the residents who have lost $millions of their investments in their home values. Viznitz in fact is the new kid on the block.
It’s interesting that most Yeshivas rely on other funding sources that Hashem provides, rather than making neighbors and drivers miserable.
I ffind it very interesting that blame is being put on the guy on the block and no one is defending the yeshiva. It would seem then that the yeshiva is in the wrong. Why can’t we live under the laws already established, who do yidden feel the laws are optional and only apply when convienient?
I believe that Ateres Chynka when they built their school also had issues with neighbors and there were meetings and an understanding that the front of the school where it is used as a basketball field is no tused as a parkin glot at night and their hall is quite deep and does not have much noise coming out at all. Th eproblem with Vishniyz is that it is a block that is very heavily used to go through from Flatbush to Boro Park and it is a narrow street as well. The neighbor who is a MOOSER will get his day in the High court upstairs. A better system coul dbe made and have traffic diverted to 51st Street, but unfortunately it does not go through to 18th Ave, so you need cars to go to 55th Street and somehow move traffic more smoothly when there is a simcha there.
The Hall didn’t violate any laws. They are not at risk. They are just harassed by inspectors, who never find any basis to close them, but come back every week.
That same person who screams against viznitz for having their school in a residential area, he wouldn’t want his daughter to walk home at 12 o’clock at night from a wedding in belz, or in tiferes rivka, (on 13 n 38)! So be understandable and let there be halls in the area! I live near maimonidies hospital and there’s noise 24/7 arount the clock, but I know that its for the good sake of people, and I’m happy that I hav this noise here, so isn’t the safety of our children as important??? Use ur sechel!