US/World News

Court orders town to allow mikvah

NEW YORK (JTA) – A New York appeals court ordered an upstate New York town near a planned Chasidic development in Bloomingburg, N.Y., to allow the construction of a mikvah ritual bath at a site that had been rejected.

The town, Mamakating, had denied permission to build a mikvah at the site, a former day spa a short walk away from a Chasidic-friendly housing development called Chestnut Ridge in the village Bloomingburg. After the filing of a complaint by Orthodox  petitioners, the New York State Supreme Court upheld the denial of a permit for the mikvah. But the appeals court ruling overruled that decision, affirming that the mikvah qualifies as a “house of worship” for the purposes of Mamakating’s zoning codes and therefore must be allowed.

The tiny village in Sullivan County, about 80 miles north of New York City, has been the site of a pitched battle between Orthodox Jewish developer Shalom Lamm and locals – including Mamakating town supervisor Bill Herrmann –  who oppose the changes Lamm is bringing to the area. For months, construction at Lamm’s housing development adjacent to the mikvah, which is being built to suit Chasidic needs, had been frozen while Lamm and opponents in Mamakating fought over certificates of occupancy for the dozens of units already completed.

But the first certificates of occupancy recently were granted, and sales of the units are now in progress, according to a spokesman for Lamm, Michael Fragin.

“Every effort of the town of Mamakating to stymie the growth of the Jewish community in Bloomingburg has been struck down by the courts,” Fragin said. “It’s time for Bill Herrmann and his allies to cease their costly campaign of discrimination and fruitless legal challenges.”

SHARE
RELATED POSTS
Peres Center rejects play for calling Israel the “Jewish state”
Netherlands, Belgium pledge new funds to UN Palestinian relief agency
Netanyahu, in phone call with Hillary Clinton, thanks her for supporting Israel

Leave Your Reply