It is with great dismay that we greet the news of U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb’s (Western District of Wisconsin) ruling that declares the “parsonage exemption” to be unconstitutional. It is a stunning reversal of long-standing practice and good public policy.
In our opinion, Judge Crabb erred in her decision, as we firmly believe that the housing allowance for members of the clergy falls squarely within acceptable First Amendment parameters.
It is our expectation that the Administration will appeal this decision and, if so, we urge it to defend the “parsonage exemption” with vigor. Agudath Israel intends to closely monitor developments in this important case and to let our views be known in court and on Capitol Hill.
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6 Responses
This is an important and essential deduction for Rabbonim and Mechanchim.
1. This is very important for members of ALL religions!
If the Supreme Court grants cert, its likely that the decision will be reversed. There are 4 clear votes in favor of granting the allowance and a good chance they can get either Kennedy or Breyer to go along with the reversal
While it may be helpful for many people, it is unquestionable that it isn’t constitutional under the current interpretation of the 1st Amendment.
The only reason it has not been overturned until now is only because no one was able to show grounds to have standing to sue. The Plaintiffs in this case were able to cleverly get standing, thus the court made the right decision.
Is it Agudah’s position that Jewish women, somehow, be able to benefit from the parsonage exemption? Since they cannot be clergy, they cannot (within Orthodoxy) receive the exemption. We had this issue come up when I was treasurer for an Orthodox Jewish day school. The principal, a woman, could not take the exemption, but the assistant principal, a male rabbi, could. The principal’s husband was a rabbi, so ultimately I don’t think it mattered. But the question came up. Perhaps we could work with Agudah, OU, and other religious organizations to shape the parsonage exemption so that our orthodox female teachers (who do the same job as rebbis but are not ordained) can also receive the exemption.
It might be important for them, but for people who have worked in keli kodesh and who are female the law was unfair!