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Palm Beach, FL - Jewish Services in Home Irk Neighbors |
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Palm Beach, FL - Every weekend, a group of well-dressed people walks from nearby subdivisions to the Indian Wells neighborhood west of Boynton Beach. The women wear hats, the men yarmulkes and prayer shawls.
As Indian Wells residents mow the grass and wash their boats, the Orthodox Jews enter a house much like the others in Indian Wells.
They hold their Shabbat services in the home. About two hours later, they walk home to their own neighborhoods.
These religious pedestrians are members of Anshei Chesed Congregation, which has been holding weekly services for about two years in Indian Wells.
They are required to walk during Shabbat, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
A group of Indian Wells neighbors has tried and failed to stop the services, which it considers inappropriate for a residential neighborhood.
After services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, the Anshei Chesed congregants and the neighbors exchange testy greetings, exhibiting a forced civility.
"This is not because it's a synagogue," said Frank Cuomo, the congregation's next-door neighbor and a spokesman for other Indian Wells residents. "If the pope wanted to do Mass there, I would have a problem. We don't want religious services."
In neighborhoods with high concentrations of Orthodox Jews, such as the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in New York City, it is common for a small congregation to meet in a private home.
In the Florida suburbs, where sprawl is an indicator of opulence and debilitating heat is a year-round concern, finding a place within walking distance is tricky.
Ursula Cuomo worried that the large number of people - she counted from 20 to 70 - in the house during services could be a safety hazard.
She took her concerns to county commissioners, zoning officials and state representatives, who warned her she would have a tough fight against a religious organization.
She asked a rabbi of a nearby Orthodox congregation, but he told her he could not get involved.
"The fire department won't do anything; they have to be invited in," she said. "The sheriff can't go in unless they're doing something illegal. They say, 'We're not doing anything different from a Super Bowl party.' Well, we're not having a Super Bowl party every Friday at sundown."
In 2006, a house in Indian Wells sold for $360,000. The buyer, Marvin Parsoff, does not live in the house.
The Indian Wells neighbors won one victory, but even that is now unraveling.
In a judgment from a mediator, a $250-a-day fine was levied on Aug. 1, 2007, because at the time the house was unoccupied.
Since then, a tenant has moved in, said the congregants' attorney, Sonja Dickens, who hopes to negotiate a reduction of the fine.
Congregants leaving a Saturday morning service said they did not wish to talk to a reporter.
The Cuomos have noted that from Monday to Thursday, there is no activity at the house. A car appears in the driveway on Friday and leaves Sunday. To them, that is observing the letter of the law but not its spirit.
"It's so frustrating," Frank Cuomo said.
Since 2001, religious organizations have had a powerful tool, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
The act, which has been used in many cases around the country, prohibits government agencies from using zoning laws in a punitive way against religious groups.
The Indian Wells case touches all the hot buttons represented by the phrase "not in my back yard," said an attorney who has worked on such cases.
"The feeling you get in these cases is that they do not want to have those people in their neighborhood," said Eric Rassbach, national litigation director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "Well, tough. You have to have those people in your neighborhood. It's the American way."
Frank and Ursula Cuomo feel outmaneuvered.
"They found the loopholes," Frank Cuomo said. "They can afford quality representation."
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Read Comments (14) — Post Yours »
1
Aug 23, 2008 at 09:15 PM Anonymous Says:
If it was an Amway meeting, a drinking party, a Weds. night Bible study, a political meeting or ANYTHING BUT a group of Jews praying, no one would mind.
2
Aug 23, 2008 at 10:04 PM Avrohom Abba Says:
So big deal! If they can't handle a few Jews walking by once week, maybe they should look in the mirror and ask themselves if their lives are being deeply disturbed by that. How hard was it to complain as a group? THey probably had meetings and group calls and emails. With all that organization, how many of them are protesting against bombers and illegal alien criminals? How are they using their group to protest true issues which bother Americans?
Maybe they are not against Jews, but why does this particular issue rise above all others?
3
Aug 23, 2008 at 10:17 PM ananymous Says:
There are a couple of issues here:
1) We are in Galut;
2) Because we are in Galut, we need to be respectful of the world around us.
Having said that, this is an abuse of the neighborhood - assuming no action was taken by the shul beforehand. Because I don't know, I'm just speculating here. Am I against building shuls? No. But the article implies that this was done incorrectly because they shoved a shul down the neighborhood's throat.
This shul would have an eaiser time if someone actually lived there 7 days a week. Chabad does this a lot, and I believe they were successful in Hollywood, FL when the community tried to shut them down.
Also many neighborhoods in Florida have a homeowners association (HOA). People pay dues to this, and, depending on your HOA, a lot of services are pooled together (cable, lawncare, etc.). If HOA's can mandate what color and style your fence can be or what color your roof can be, don't you think they would have enough clout to ban a shul or church?
While I don't know what happened with this situation, I would have gotten in touch with the HOA if I were in their shoes. Perhaps they could have worked things out. Or, I would find a home near the edge of the subdivision - that is find something that would impact the least amount of people by not having to walk by so many homes.
Also this probably isn't the only shul in Boynton Beach. So was there a problem with the other shul(s), or did the community expand?
4
Aug 23, 2008 at 10:22 PM Anonymous Says:
Maybe if they were davening during the week and causing a commotion with cars I can understand, but only on Shabbos, with frum people? None of the neighbors' business.
5
Aug 23, 2008 at 10:48 PM murray Says:
There is an actual Orthodox shul in Boynton Beach, I believe some of the members broke off from this one, for what reason I am Not sure, but this happens a lot.
6
Aug 23, 2008 at 11:23 PM Anonymous Says:
she counted from 20 to 70 - in the house during services could be a safety hazard.
Sounds like someone is peering through windows and just looking for something illegal to be going on. If they were driving and making loud noise then I would understand but if they arent making any loud noise and there is no external damage to the neighborhood then I see NO PROBLEM. It is the residents personal business what they decide to do with their private property.
7
Aug 24, 2008 at 12:13 AM bigwheeel Says:
Anon. 10:17PM. You are Wronggggg...... I didn't read any further than the Third paragraph. I didn't have to. You have [exactly] a way of thinking in "The Devil's Advocate" way. Yes, it's a good thing to have introspection. But even a blind person can see in this case that it's pure intolerance [if not something stronger] on the part of the Cuomos. What could there be harmful or disturbing to anyone with people congregating one day of the week peacefully! (a/o to rowdy and wild parties going on)!!!
8
Aug 24, 2008 at 12:40 AM murray Says:
The Cuomos should move to Portland Maine!
(they can be annoyed there, too)
9
Aug 24, 2008 at 02:31 AM yankel not from KJ Says:
The Cuomos are worried about a fire hazard. Sure! Who do they think they're fooling?
10
Aug 24, 2008 at 12:41 PM Anonymous Says:
A friend of mine told me she once visited this congregation in Boynton Beach, and on her way into the house on shabbat morning she had an altercation with the next door neighbor, who I can only assume was Mr. Cuomo. She said the neighbor across the street was pulling his pickup truck out from his driveway, and stopped so that my friend could pass through the street. Mr. Cuomo, sitting in his driveway, screamed out to the truck driver from across the street, "you should have kept going and ran her over!" You be the judge: Does this sound like someone who is merely worried about a fire hazard?
11
Aug 25, 2008 at 01:45 AM Matzahlocal101 Says:
All the places in Europe that were worried about fire hazards eventually deported their Jewish inhabitants to Auschwitz. Likewise every government that passed a law restricting or prohibiting milah or metzitzah because "they were concerned about the health of little Jewish babies", had no problem deporting those babies and their mothers to Auschwitz. I get nervous when goyim tell me they're only concerned about my well being.
12
Aug 25, 2008 at 08:46 AM Anonymous Says:
Why don't they buy these sonei Yisroel out? Or sue them for harrassment? Incitement to racial hatred? Do something! The days of meekly waiting to lose are OVER! Bring back the JDL.
13
Aug 26, 2008 at 12:17 PM Embarrassed Says:
Someone does live in the house 7 days a week. The shul is completely legal, much to the dismay of the anti-semitic few neighbors and, more sadly, to the local Chabad which has done everything in its power to try use political connections to shut the shul down. We used to support the local Chabad, but our money is now going to Anshei Chesed. They are building their shul the right way, based on true Torah values. The same can't be said about any other orthodox venue in the area.
14
Aug 26, 2008 at 11:15 PM murray Says:
You shouldn't try to build your shul up by knocking the other one, which is well established. I don't know anything about the politics here- I have only been at that shul once, on Purim.