Two small Orthodox Jewish congregations have won the latest round in a years-long battle to worship in a rented space above a Surfside bank.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Surfside violated the religious liberties of congregations Midrash Sephardi and Young Israel of Bal Harbour by prohibiting them from holding prayer services within the town's two-block business district.
The congregations had argued that not only would a forced move be discriminatory, it would burden elderly or ill members with having to walk an additional distance to services.
Orthodox Jews are forbidden from using cars or other types of transportation on the Sabbath and other holy days.
The congregations' ongoing feud drew the interest -- and the backing -- of the Justice Department's leading civil rights official, who hailed the decision.
`STRONG MESSAGE'
''Today, the court sent a strong message that the right to worship is a civil right, and that zoning laws cannot be used to discriminate against churches, synagogues and other houses of worship,'' said Assistant Attorney General Alexander Acosta, who argued the case.
Wednesday's decision marks the first time a house of worship has won a federal appeals based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, passed by Congress in 2000.
The law is intended to protect churches, synagogues and other places of worship against discriminatory and unjustifiably burdensome zoning regulations.
BUSINESS DISTRICT
But Surfside Mayor Timothy Will said the town's reluctance to allow the two congregations to hold services on the second floor of the AmTrust building on 96th Street and Harding Avenue ``has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with business. It's a business district.''
Lawyers for Surfside argued the zoning code protects the tax base generated by businesses in the district -- houses of worship are exempt from taxes -- and argued that the two congregations were free to relocate in an appropriately zoned section of town two blocks away.
The recently elected Will, who campaigned against over-development and a feared proliferation of high rises, said the town's adamant stance was significant: 'Surfside has to defend its zoning code no matter if it's against someone who wants to build more than 12 stories or another special interest that says `This is best for us.' ''
The three-judge appellate panel reversed a lower court's dismissal of the congregations' 1999 lawsuit, and said Surfside had run afoul of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Central to the Atlanta-based court's decision: Surfside's zoning code, while prohibitting religious institutions in its business district, allows other forms of assembly spaces, such as fraternal orders and clubs, to operate.
`EQUAL TERMS'
While no secular clubs or orders have set up shop in the business district, the appellate court ruled the Surfside zoning code violates the federal law's ''equal terms'' provision.
LONGER WALK
Lawyers for Midrash Sephardi and Young Israel had also argued that relocating two blocks south would put a significant burden on congregants, who number about 100.
Although the three-judge panel stated that ''we certainly sympathize with those congregants who endure Floridian heat and humidity to walk to services, the burden of walking a few extra blocks'''' would not have violated federal law.
The court also rejected Surfside's claim that the law exceeded Congress' authority and that its aim violated the separation of church and state.
`NOVEL STATUTE'
The decision was ''very important and very interesting because [the law] is an unusual and relatively new, novel statute,'' said attorney Bruce Rogow, who represented Surfside in the appellate case and is also a professor of constitutional law at Nova Southeastern University. But he added: ``Of course, I would have rather been on the winning side.''
Said Nathan Lewin, a lawyer for Young Israel: ``I hope this authoritative court decision puts an end to this really irrational effort by the town to prevent a fledgling congregation from meeting at a location that harms no one.''
But that doesn't seem likely.
Will said he will be meeting with Surfside's attorneys to discuss a new approach, one that could include removing the portion of the zoning code that allows fraternal orders and secular clubs inside the business district.
Said Rogow: ``While I don't agree that a church or synagogue is the same thing as a fraternal order or other type of assembly place, we may just have to erase that difference.''