As the Orthodox Jewish population grows and expands to different neighborhoods, it frequently finds itself in need of shuls being built. Sometimes, existing zoning laws make it difficult to do so. In 2005, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) to address precisely this issue.
As the issue becomes increasingly important for communities like ours, the United States Justice Department has undertaken a campaign to educate the public about the nuances of the law.
Fulfilling a promise made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on June 13th, the first community outreach event designed to promote RLUIPA awareness was held in New Jersey, drawing several dozen community and faith leaders, advocacy groups, members of the legal profession and Department of Justice representatives.
The June 25th gathering at Seton Hall University in Newark was the first to be held under the Place to Worship Initiative announced earlier this month to protect the constitutionally guaranteed right to worship and was designed to educate municipal officials and religious groups about RLUIPA, while also offering training and resources to federal prosecutors.
The outreach event was extremely productive, said Rabbi Avi Schnall, New Jersey director of Agudath Israel of America, who noted that the Agudah was instrumental in the creation of the original RLUIPA legislation, which was unanimously passed in 2000 by Congress. In the recent past, RLUIPA, which helps safeguard religious institutions from discriminatory zoning regulations, has made headlines multiple times, particularly in the Garden State which has seen a higher than average number of cases.
“New Jersey has been a hotbed of activity for RLUIPA, having seen cases in Mahwah, Jackson, Toms River, Clifton and, most recently, Woodcliff Lake,” said Rabbi Schnall. “The Agudah is grateful to the Trump administration and the Department of Justice for its strong support of religious freedom.”
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6 Responses
While it is legal to build shuls, it is also incumbent on shuls to somehow respect the wishes of neighbors. Parking for shul events may cause friction. Other problems might arise with kaparos, loud music at simchas beis hashoeva, lag b’omer or other events. On a group I am on (nextdoor.com), non-Jewish residents were complaining about loud music , as well as a bonfire, that occurred on lag b’omer. Perhaps, meetings could be conducted with neighbors to inform of Jewish practices, although some friction and animosity will probably still exist. Also, permits might need to be obtained for some events.
If the Agudah is so grateful towards the Trump administration, why did they side with the liberals by making a statement criticizing his immigration policy???
New Jersey sounds bizarre, they have one of the weakest eminent domain laws in the country (meaning they are #1 in doing it), and yet there’s issues in building shuls?
Why not do what the Muslims do. Put up a coming soon sign for a fake named building that has nothing to do with its actual purpose, and then when it is clear it’s actually a mosque, boom, it’s too late. Read about it, and even seen it done. And I guarantee the parking situation is worse than at any small shul.
Let’s be honest, Until a few years ago a shul was a place for davening and for some learning. The biggest outdoor event was kiddush levana. Most people lived around the shul and even if someone had to drive there was plenty of parking. The same was true for yeshivos. a yeshiva was a place for children to come to learn. Perhaps bus parking was an issue even then, but again there weren’t so many cars. Today everyone has two cars and if the shul is more then two blocks away you drive. Today our yeshivos and shuls double as entertainment centers. Instead of a handful of cars coming only to daven we have a hundred cars looking for that elusive spot. The NOISE is a major issue no matter how hard you try to be quiet when you have 100 people shmoozing outside at 11:00 it’s noisy, no matter how hard you try to keep it quiet. When I was younger how much garbage did my shul have? With all the simchos Ka”h in the shuls there’s a lot more garbage. Our non jewish neighbors see this and they don’t want to have to deal with the mess.
Jdf007 says:
Why not do what the Muslims do. Put up a coming soon sign for a fake named building that has nothing to do with its actual purpose, and then when it is clear it’s actually a mosque, boom, it’s too late. Read about it, and even seen it done. And I guarantee the parking situation is worse than at any small shul.
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A git murgin!
It has already been tried and guess what happened?
People went to jail from doing that!
And by law the local ordenance can force you to undo what you build and/ or knock down the structure.
And this happened in Staten island. So dont be aza oiber chuchem
There should be a significant difference between proper shuls and shteibels /minyan factories