A Virginia group is representing a New Jersey rabbi who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Monmouth County township where he lives. Avraham Bernstein claims Freehold Township officials are conducting an illegal surveillance of his house and restricting his right to pray at his home.
At issue is whether Rabbi Bernstein who has a Chabad House, is allowed to have Minyonim at his single-family home on Shabbos. Town officials say Bernstein’s violating local zoning ordinances because he’s using his home as a house of worship.
(Source: Associated Press)
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16 Responses
The neighbors in non-Jewish neighborhoods alway feel threatened when frum Jews move in,just like rhey feel when illegals and schwartzes move in and invite others. But chassidic Jews always get picked on more than any others.
If he isn’t claiming his home to be tax exempt for the minyan, why should they care if he has one? That’s so mean! If he IS claiming tax exemption, then there might be zoning issues he will need to address – but even in that case, it would be the opposite, the government might be checking to make sure he DOES have a minyan, not that he doesn’t.
If a person isn’t allowed to daven in his own home, how can anyone call this country free??
HE IS most certainly allowed to daven in his home, though having over a minyan on a regular basis does seem, in some ways, “house-of-worship-type”, to me, though I do not feel it is necessarily a problem nor an issue that requires acting upon.
As well, this country provides many freedoms; we should be grateful that we are blessed by Hashem to enjoy those freedoms, including being able to daven in our homes and building batei knesiyos in our communities.
Its not an antisemitic issue;its a legal one. If the primary use of the home is as a residence and the prayer is a secondary use its permitted; no different than any party. However, if the prayers begin to appear as the primary use of the home then its only permitted if you satisfy the local land use ordinances for houses of worship.(A house of worship is usually a permitted use in a residential zone) Such ordinances usually include adequate off street parking, buffers and not being a nuisance.This is a complex issue that anyone contemplating “home Shuling” should consider before beginning operations. Unfortunately, all too often people make the mistake of upsetting the local township so that by the time they come to the realization that they should apply to the planning board they have very stiff opposition. My best wishes to this fellow in Freehold.
sharpestnail, unlike a Christian who almost always engages in group prayer only once a week, our religion mandates group prayer three times a day for men. A man can have a minyan in his home to daven three times a day and it doesn’t change the fact that it is primarily his home but he fulfills his religious obligations there by having the minyan come to him. He just has a more demanding religion than most people.
If a Christian in the same neighborhood would have 10 or 20 people over every Sunday morning to pray, do you think his home would be under surveillance? I don’t think so.
illini07 – The word “prejudice” means “pre-judging.” In other words, judging someone before you know the facts. The reason that prejudice is wrong is that even though MANY people who look a certain might do certain wrong things, NOT ALL of them do, so it’s not fair to judge them by their looks (or religion).
So, just because many blacks in Brooklyn engage in criminal activities, not all of them do, so it’s simply not fair to pre-judge a black person by the color of his skin. Likewise, it’s not fair of you or this man’s neighbors or anyone else to look at an Orthodox Jew and assume he’s a racist. It simply isn’t necessarily true.
When asked if I would consider marrying a black convert I said YES, I will consider marrying any person who is special and truly sincere in his Jewish faith. In the end I married a white man – I was never introduced me to a black convert at the time I was looking for a husband.
The only hesitations I had were that I feared my children might feel uncomfortable in a predominantly white community, and that I would prefer my children to look like myself. But these hesitations were not enough for me to say no. I was open to all possibilities and suggestions. Most white gentiles in America would not want to marry a black person, no matter how much they claim not to be prejudiced. So please don’t make assumptions. I’m Orthodox and less prejudiced than most white Americans.
All these so-called “open-minded” “equal-opportunity” Americans are quick to attack me as a Jew with statements which always begin “You people always…” and “Why do you people…” I am not a people. I am a person. Just as America is diverse, so are we.
I think there is a precedent case that will help him here. There was a case in a village near Monsey (forgot the name of it, it was not Spring Valley or Vihznitz) where there was a rov that wanted to build a shul. The township made him countless issues with getting a permit so he decided to have a minyan in his home. The police would sit out side on shabbos (during the week they drove to Monsey) and stop people from entering his house. He told them that he had the right to have friends over and what he did in his house was his own business. The cops let over a minimal amount of people. He ended up taking the case all the way up to the supreme court where they ruled in his favor. Incidentally he took the money from the law suit and built the new shul with it (I remember him showing me the drawings for the new building at the time).
what if he was a friendly guy and decided to invite 30 people over for lunch and dinner every day…would the town be watching him? this is anti-semitism at its finest. let’s call a spade a spade. esav sonei yaakov. end of story. but there’s no reason to allow them to bully us in this “free” country….
they’re building foot baths for arabs in colleges
(http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/07/america/muslims.php) and these guys are trying to destroy the country….what an insane world we live in….
mashiach, where are you?!
I know nothing about the situation in question but a few general remarks might be appropriate. It would seem that if Rabbi Bernstein had made a point of maintaining friendly relations with his neighbors and giving them the impression that he respected them as people for who they are, they would be more likely to tolerate his activities, even if they are different from what they (and the average American) are accustomed to.
Interesting, a google for “Berstein Freehold Township” brought a link to coverage of the story by “The American Muslim”, a site run by moderate, anti-terrorism Muslims (‘terrorism has no religion’), who probably feel that their interests in similar cases might be involved.
A further point: From news accounts it seems that large numbers of people gathering in a home in a residential-zoned area violates local zoning rules in Freehold Township. Rabbi Bernstein claims that the numbers who come to his house are within the allowed limit, the neighbors claim that they exceed the allowed limit. The township set up a camera to determine just how many people were coming and found the facts to be between the two claims. Now Rabbi Bernstein is claiming that the camera was a retaliatory action, and possibly also that such limits infringe on his right to freedom of worship. Please let’s daven that this situation results in a Kiddush Hashem.
actually, he’s inviting people (including the surveillors) into his home, giving them a bit to eat, and then asking them “brich moorei de hay pita” (rashi, parshat va’era)
actually, one of the main legal issues is — are churches allowed in freehold township? if so, why not our friend’s shul?
unfortunately, the tendency of the township is to “scare away” people from his home, by setting up this type of surveillance.
by the way, this is not freehold, but freehold township, a different municipality.
and remember, we dont want “those types” of people in our town.
We’ve had this situation in Monsey and in the neighboring vilages numerous times. Essentially, federal law allows one to congregate a group of people in his house for religious services – somewhere between 15 and 30 people. A village’s zoning law comes into play if more than that amount come on a regular basis. Also, the primary function of the house, namely it’s a residence, has to remain.
In these locations, to build a real shul requires 3 to 5 acres to accomodate parking and a lot of other structural and location requirements i.e. the shul has to be on a major thoroughfare so fire trucks can reach it from different directions. Some of the rules make sense but many are there just to keep the frum out. That’s why we get these lawsuits going to the federal courts where the frum have B”H won often.
you dont need a parking lot (unless you’re opening a conservative “shul”) or unless you’re opening a social hall. (reference to this — the new rochelle case)
as for the neighbors, one of the main chabad house tactics is to be nice to your neighbors, after all, they are (or will refer over) your “members” (except that chabad doesnt have members; everyone from a jewish mother is invited)
You need a parking lot because people don’t want to walk 10-15 min on Fri. nite especially in bad weather AND some of the villages have passed laws that you cannot park on the street overnite the entire year not just in the winter – passed just to make it harder to have a shul or even a house minyan!
the rule is in america, that an orthodox shul that has a parking lot MUST close it fri nite to sat nite. otherwise, its not an orthodox shul.
those non observant, are smart enough to park a block or two from the shul (except noah feldman, but he has a shabbos goy(ta) to drive for him)
Sounds like old fashioned Anti-Semitism to me. Have you ever heard of the Lakewood Improvement Association?
#7 airmont was the monsey neighborhood
these people sre often most concerned with the parking and loitering that goes along with having a public place – even a shteibel or Chabad House