JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
(JTA) — An eruv, or symbolic boundary for Sabbath-observant Jews, was removed from a neighborhood on Staten Island. The eruv had been put up on utility poles around the neighborhood by a group of Hasidic Orthodox Jewish residents. They removed it after other residents put up lawn signs expressing opposition to an influx or religious…
(JTA) — A New Jersey township has agreed to repeal an ordinance prohibiting the construction of an eruv, that state officials said discriminated against Orthodox Jews. The announcement this week resolved a lawsuit the state attorney general’s office filed against Mahwah last October. The ordinance said the affixing of PVC pipes on utility poles to demarcate…
(JTA) — A local man was arrested a day after the Sharon Massachusetts Police Department posted on Facebook that the community’s eruv had been repeatedly vandalized. Sharon Police on Friday in a Facebook post reported that the eruv “has been the subject of extensive vandalism over the last few weeks.” The post included photos of downed…
(JTA) — A New Jersey township has settled a lawsuit with an Orthodox Jewish group that alleged city ordinances illegally targeted Jews. The Mahwah Township Council, which had proposed an ordinance prohibiting the construction of some materials necessary for the construction of an eruv, approved the settlement with the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association in a 5-2…
A New Jersey town accused of passing laws meant to keep Hasidic Jews from living there has rescinded a controversial ordinance allegedly aimed at targeting observant Jews, JTA reported. Mahwah, New Jersey, was sued by the state’s Attorney General in October for passing discriminatory ordinances to prevent the “infiltration” of Hasidic Jews into the township….
(JTA) — A New Jersey township has rescinded a proposed ordinance that would have prevented the construction of an eruv. The Mahwah Township Council voted Thursday night to withdraw a measure that would have prohibited the posting on utility poles of “other matter,” which would include the white PVC pipes used to demarcate the artificial…
World of Appliances is a small strip mall operation, sandwiched between a Dunkin’ Donuts and a sushi joint. Four days a week, it sells refrigerators, washing machines and vacuums to residents of a New Jersey suburb. But since opening this summer, the store has been targeted by a self-styled neighborhood watch group. The group has…
When a Holocaust survivor took the microphone last summer at a city council meeting in Mahwah, New Jersey, tensions were already running high. Hundreds of people filled the hall as Sami Steigmann, 78, sat before the township’s mayor and council. The meeting happened amid rising concerns by residents that ultra-Orthodox Jews were “infiltrating” their town…
