Washington – Steven Chasin is the first to admit he isn’t the world’s most observant Jew.
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Tattoos, a Jewish taboo, cover his burly body, while his shaved head goes bare. He doesn’t go to synagogue every Shabbat or keep all the laws of kashrut.
He doesn’t even hold what he calls a “Jewish type of job,” like being a doctor or a lawyer.
“I’m not the perfect Jew,” is how Chasin, a 40-year-old Fire Department paramedic from Virginia, puts it. But he has always strongly identified as one, and used outward symbols to reinforce the point, including the Star of David pendant that hangs around his neck and the full, brown beard that has graced his face for the past two decades.
“The beard is my way of celebrating and practicing,” he explains. “The beard is making up for some of the stuff I don’t do.”
So when Chasin was told that he would have to remove it to comply with fire department regulations, he didn’t take it well.
“It’s frustrating. It’s depressing also, because it doesn’t impact my job,” he says.
But that’s not how the Washington DC Fire Department sees it. It considers the regulation necessary for safety reasons, and threatens those who don’t comply with dismissal.
So Chasin, along with six Muslims and Nazarene Christians, filed suit, charging that they should be accommodated on grounds of religious freedom.
The District of Columbia District Court has sided with them, but the city is appealing. A hearing is scheduled for October 7.
The fire department argues that a beard can interfere with certain gas and oxygen masks that need an airtight seal with one’s face to work. The department doesn’t want to have firefighters and emergency medical technicians sent into harm’s way if there are concerns about the effectiveness of the seals.
But the court found that it would take exceptional circumstances for the department to need to send men into range of dangerous gases with only the type of mask at issue; in most cases, other masks work, and even in the first unlikely scenario, those emergency workers could handle other parts of the rescue operation.
But the department continues to insist it’s a safety hazard.
“You cannot have facial hair and expect to have a quality seal on your facemask,” says DC Fire and EMS Department spokesman Alan Etter. “We’re certainly not trying to suppress anyone’s right to express themselves religiously. We have to keep people safe.”
He also rejected the allegation that the shaving requirement was a “grooming issue,” implemented to instill order and uniformity, though Chasin believes that consideration is behind the regulation, since it wasn’t always on the books.
Chasin’s lawyer, Art Spitzer of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington office, says freedom of religion statutes mean fire department and other workplaces must make “reasonable accommodation” of religious beliefs.
In this case, he says there was no question about the sincerity of those religious beliefs on the part of any of the plaintiffs, and that “the real issue isn’t the sincerity of the belief, but whether the belief can be accommodated.”
In this case, so far, the court has said it can.
Continuing to work with a beard while the matter is pending has had its ups and downs, according to Chasin, with some co-workers being supportive and some looking askance.
But the bottom line, he says, is that “standing up for our beliefs is what it came down to. It doesn’t matter – being Jewish, being Muslim, being Nazarene – we stood up for what we believe is right and didn’t let them bully us.”
I heard that at Kiryas Yoel the firefighters there have special masks from Israel to accommodate their beards – why cant they do the same thing in DC?
I’m a frum person who doesnt have a beard and in no way am I trying to be bias heck most of my family have beards.
but this pethetic person wears a beard hes not even an observant jew goes to shul only on yum kippur
the only reason why he has a beard is cause his double chin wont stick out as much comon I have a double chin and would def look better with a beard
he is using religion all of a suddon chutzpah
Hey, McCain-Palin 08 . . . We should have some understanding for any Jew who is actively struggling with his Jewish identity . . . too many these days have none. We act as if we live in a frum house, while in reality most of the house is frei and burning down around us. Get out of Brooklyn once in a while and look at the Jewish world today . . . it’s sad. . . . and grow that beard. A beard is a Yiddishe thing
McCain-Palin 08 Says:
I’m a frum person who doesnt have a beard and in no way am I trying to be bias heck most of my family have beards.
but this pethetic person wears a beard hes not even an observant jew goes to shul only on yum kippur
the only reason why he has a beard is cause his double chin wont stick out as much comon I have a double chin and would def look better with a beard
he is using religion all of a suddon chutzpah
09-20-2008 – 10:11 PM
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i see . so u mean to tell us that you never used religion to benefit yourself? not everyone is on your HOLIER THEN THOU madrayga . If you have nothing good to say then close your trap.
So tell me, if a guy keeps Kosher, but nothing else, he should stop? Your comments are ridiculous. As we go to stay Selichos tonight, we all Daven to Hashem that despite our lack of merit he give us another year; what’s the difference if you have a little more or a little less? A little Ahavas Yisrael and a little less Sinas Chinam would go a long way in this case.
please, give me a break its a style today to have a trimmed beard just like an afro is a style.
get your priority’s straight this guy found one hell of an excuse
He should not be fighting for religion, for the beard. I think he’s just looking for a law suit. We all know the beard is the last religious thing we worry about. This was only strict in the chasidishe world.
Oy, this poor neshama’s pintele Yid is crying out, and all we do is condemn his motives.
how many times were u willing to safe a person’s life in a burning building…i say, let him keep the beard and we should hope and pray he comes out always alive
I am a firefighter and it is osha regulation that any employee who’s job may require the person to wear a airtight facepiece must be clean shaven no matter what everyfireman must do it and k.j. Is a joke the have to call a real department half the time but I know neighboring countys do require EVERY fireman to be clean shaven and fit tested
hey mcain-palin 08, even if what you say is true, that he is just using it as a good excuse, we should thank him for that, maybe that ruling will set a precedent, and EMS personnel in nyc will be able to get a job with fdny which has the same policy as DC. on a side note, why do you only see the negative?
money hungry, your comments just dont make any sense at all, go see what the Chazon Ish zt”l and ybl”ch Harav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita said about having a beard. a gut voch un a k’siva vachasima tovah to ALL of k’lal yisroel.
nyc law is the same no FDNY EMS with beards escape hoods are good for firefighers but not for EMS personal they need to be able to do things with ears like BP so I don’t understand the whole fuss
To all Shtrimel guys who recently took to shaving or mowing their beards, take an example from this guy. Be proud of who you are.
they removed all frum jews that have beards from riding the busess with FDNY maybe we should be complaining
why is it such a big deal. we should pass a law that says men with beards dont have to pay taxes and then believe me that every government civil service job will allow beards.
The Trim Beard look is Very Stylish…..
I think The President should have a Beard, He would be more Respected….
Whats wrong with a Shtreimel guy who wants to Trim His Beard???
Only you Chabad Guys dont Trim…..
Lets Help this Guy to Fight for Beards!!!!!
Lock & Load
“only you chabad guys dont trim beards” thats an unecssasry attack their not the only ones that dont trim their beards in fact they will stand up for this paramedic and help him out as best as they can.
“Lets Help this Guy to Fight for Beards!!!!!”
yes i agree with u on this!!!!!!
I’m not Chabad & have issues with Lubavitch . . . but Brother hit man Neil . . . your comment is an irreligious and ignorant cheap shot . . . A full beard is a normative “thing” for a Yid . . . and by being machpid on beards Chabad is has the Mesorah on their side.
yonason my comments were about lock and loaded on chabad, hence the quotation marks. i agree with you 100%
Only religious workers like rabbis need beards. If the FD forbids beards,get a differnt job. You do not HAVE to be a firefighter.Each job has its special uniform and requirements.
Chofetz Chaim writes in Tiferes ha’adom perek bays that a yid that shaves his beard is worse than a eating treif. The person goes bikomo zikufo that he is proudly mevatel a tzivuy Hashem. He does not say the person is oiver a lav, but he is mevatel a tzivuy Hashem. ayin shum.
From a professional standpoint firefighters have always had the oxygen mask regulation. Eyeglasses were also a problem, many FD personnel use military style glasses designed to fit under a gas mask. Pilots also must be clean shaven because FAA regulation require pilots to be able to wear full face gas masks. Thats one reason you don’t see too many chasidishe airline pilots or fighter pilots.
I can join the fire department! Yippee! I don’t have a beard, so I qualify! But can I please wear my skirt & my long sheitel?