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The letter sent to attorney Michael Sussman of withdrawing plaintiffs Congregation TA of KJ, Inc. and Congregation TA’s president Samuel Eisenberg.

Orange County, NY - The lawsuit that attorney Michael Sussman filed on June 13 against the village of Kiryas Joel on behalf of some dissidents may be unraveling.

Some of the named plaintiffs have announced that they are withdrawing from the lawsuit which alleges unequal treatment in law enforcement, tax exemptions, elections, and other areas.

A similar case was brought in 1997 to try to get the village of Kiryas Joel dissolved. A federal judge threw out that lawsuit. The dismissal was later affirmed by an appeals panel.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ judges wrote in its decision that the claims didn’t “establish the sort of pervasive and otherwise irremediable
entanglement between church and state that would justify a drastic remedy like the dissolution of the village.” But they added: “All this is not to say that a series of future actions evincing an enduring and all-encompassing domination of the Village government by the Congregation could not at some point suffice to create a new cause of action for the dissolution of the village.”

This gave an opening to bring a new lawsuit last week. However, a few short days after filing this lawsuit with great fanfare, two of the plaintiffs formally announced that they are withdrawing their claims. The two withdrawing plaintiffs are Congregation TA of KJ, Inc. and Congregation TA’s president Samuel Eisenberg.

Congregation TA is a Toldos Aharon affiliated religious corporation, which operates a shteibel in Kiryas Joel. When the Toldos Aharon Rebbe learned that a congregation associated with his movement had unwittingly joined a lawsuit against Kiryas Joel, the Rebbe was adamant that it withdraw from the suit forthwith.

Rav Aharon Samet, one of the Toldos Aharon Rebbe’s aides told Ami: “The Rebbe is a pious, peace loving person who would never violate a single ruling of the Shulchan Aruch. It disturbed him to no end that in violation of halacha one of his shtieblech somehow got entangled in a federal lawsuit against a Chassidic village. The Rebbe made it known that under no circumstances will he ever allow one of his congregations to be a named plaintiff in the KJ lawsuit. ‘If anyone has any grievances,’ the Rebbe said, ‘then they should seek to resolve them in a din Torah.’

When someone suggested to the Rebbe that he merely issue a statement dissociating his own name from the litigation, the Rebbe rejected that proposal entirely. He made it unequivocally clear that the claims should be withdrawn without any delay. A day later they were.”

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