Trenton, USA - A rabbi who sued a New Jersey town because he claimed it was persecuting him over prayer services held at his house says the town is trying to further meddle with his religious freedom by defining his home as a place of worship.
Rabbi Avraham Bernstein amended his federal lawsuit against Freehold Township, saying a new law the township passed in late September defines his house as a place of worship, putting him in violation of area zoning laws.
Bernstein could face several hundred dollars in fines, said township attorney Duane Davison.
Bernstein argues in the amended lawsuit filed Monday that the new ordinance is too vague under federal religious protections law and is meant to empower the town to retaliate against him for holding prayer services at his house.
"This is a small group of Jews meeting in somebody's home," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based civil liberties group representing the rabbi. "If there are a hundred cars pulling up it might be some concern. But these people walk. It's their Sabbath. They can't drive."
At issue is whether Bernstein, a rabbi with the ultraorthodox Lubavitch Chabad, is allowed to host a minyon — the necessary 10 men to pray under orthodox Jewish law — at his home on Shabbat, which lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
The town claims it tried to work with the rabbi for years, but eventually had to respond to neighbors' complaints about meetings at his home involving large numbers of people, Davison said.
"As the activity got more intense at the house, we decided maybe the neighbors had something to talk about," he said.
Bernstein, whose home is across the street from the township municipal building, received a zoning violation in February after neighbors complained. He was given a summons in April. In May, Bernstein responded by suing in state court.
He sued in federal court in August, adding the claim that the town was retaliating against him because it "secretly set up a video camera" aimed at Bernstein's home.
Davison said the camera was needed to establish that about 35 to 50 people — not the smaller groups claimed by Bernstein — were visiting the home.
Last month, the Freehold Township Committee amended its zoning law to include a definition of a house of worship as "any structure of building that is used as the regular site for traditional services, meetings and/or gatherings of an organized religious body or community."
Davison said the definition includes an exception protecting small prayer groups like the ones Bernstein has claimed to be having.