|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: September 27, 2006 |
| |
The U.S. government accused a village of religious discrimination for denying a zoning variance to a residence used by Orthodox Jews so they can visit a hospital on the Sabbath without breaking religious laws.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the government said that in denying the variance for a Shabbos house, the village of Suffern violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. It requested an injunction against enforcement of any village laws that would burden the group's religious practices.
A village attorney, Terry Rice, said that while he had not seen the lawsuit, the agency that requested the variance "did not claim it was a religious use."
"The zoning board applied New York state law and had no choice but to deny" the variance, he said.
Bikur Cholim Inc., an Orthodox Jewish service agency, provides meals and lodging for Orthodox Jews in a Shabbos house so they can visit patients at nearby Good Samaritan Hospital on Saturdays without violating restrictions on driving and other activities on the Sabbath or other holy days.
The house, about 40 miles north of midtown Manhattan, had been on the hospital grounds, but when Good Samaritan expanded in 2004, the service agency took over a newly built house in an area zoned for single-family homes across the street.
The village denied a building permit and a zoning variance that would have allowed use of the house by up to 14 people, the lawsuit says. The house continues to operate pending court decisions.
Rice said it has not been established that such a "hotel-type" use is a religious use, but Paul Savad, a lawyer representing Bikur Cholim in its own lawsuit against Suffern, said visiting the sick is a strongly held religious practice for Orthodox Jews and prayers and services are conducted on the Sabbath at the residence.
The government has invoked the Religious Land Use act in at least two other lawsuits in the region, supporting a Jewish school's new building and a Hasidic boarding school. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
