Rabbi Says Synagogue Fired Him For Welcoming Nonwhite Members
The rabbi of a Modern Orthodox synagogue in the New York suburb of Yonkers is filing an anti-discrimination complaint against his own synagogue board, alleging that they punished him for welcoming nonwhite families to the synagogue.
Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel Vinas filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Lincoln Park Jewish Center, the synagogue he joined in 2003. “Racist members employed subterfuge and sabotage against not only Rabbi Vinas but new Latino and African American members,” the complaint read. “They have attacked any biracial or nonwhite member as ‘not really Jewish.’”
Vinas, who is a Sephardic Jew of Cuban descent,claims that a synagogue board member told him “Wouldn’t it be terrible if the darkies took over the synagogue?” and that others spread rumors that he was trying to turn the congregation “Spanish.”
He also claims that the synagogue board cut his salary, docked his pay and forced him to sell his residence in retaliation for his efforts at racial diversity.
The suit was first reported by the New York Post. The synagogue did not return a comment request from the newspaper.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter, @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
