  Version 8.2 |
|
|
|
|
<-- WNest 2.1|
|
Wren's Wrants
& Wramblings
|
Features... News Links Who Is Wren W Nest Logos |
Go to the... |
| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 56,549,858 |
 Fight Over Jewish Symbol Heads To Trial Author: John Schwartz Source: New York Times Title: FIGHT OVER JEWISH SYMBOL HEADS TO TRIAL The case of the missing mezuzah will go to trial. Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, ruled that a case may go forward involving a family’s fight to affix a small box containing Hebrew religious texts, known as a mezuzah, to the doorposts of their condominium units. The mezuzah has deep importance for many Jews as a sign of faith, but for the family of Lynne Bloch, it is also a symbol of battle. The Blochs have lived in the Shoreline Towers condominium in Chicago for three decades. In May 2004, the condo association began a hallway renovation and asked residents to remove everything from their doors, including mezuzot (the plural of mezuzah). The Blochs took the mezuzot down from their three apartments, then replaced them when the renovations were complete. But the condo management removed them, and did so repeatedly so when the Blochs put them up again — even on the day of the funeral of the family patriarch, Marvin Bloch. The family sued the condo association in 2005. | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 5 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Hallways.. | Nov 22nd. at 11:58:01 am EST |
|
Ken Ra (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - Email Me It is acceptable to have your own name on the doorway. For these Jews the mezzua is a part of their own names. The association like many other associations is acting like petty dictators over something that should not be their business. |
| Messy Law | Nov 22nd. at 3:50:01 am EST |
|
Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me Green ethics for some are religious. They're also good public policy. If some Jews are protected in using common areas they don't own to install purely token symbolism items, why not treat clothes lines in common areas as the right of other tenants? The law mentioned preempting restrictions on doorway items sounds like a Constitutionally suspect one. Is it more of an effort to protect legitimate religious rights, or a special privilege for Jews not applicable to others? Calling it "doorway art" with fine print that implies "Jews are just speshal" fails to make it neutral law. Similar issues exist over sound and time of day, other species as pets or familiars, gardens, art as spiritual or political for some, and what then become equal rights for others, and many other issues. Things could get interesting for petty dictators often attracted to HOA officer roles were these issues fully enforced as religious trump cards to their rules. |
| Oivay... | Nov 22nd. at 12:22:12 am EST |
|
Winddragon (anderson, South Carolina) - Email Me So this Rabbi schleps into this apartment building and... Seriously, a mezuza is only about 3" to 5" or so and about 1" to 2" across and being small, it can't be any trouble to leave them be on the doorways. The management is a bunch of schmucks. |
| Why Can't It Be OK To Actually Be Jewish? | Nov 21st. at 3:09:54 pm EST |
|
Aidan Odinson (Collingdale, Pennsylvania) - Email Me - Web The mezuzah is indeed important to many Jewish people. And to some, if they were told that they were not allowed to put one up on their doorway, they would not want to live there. And taking away someone else's mezuzah would be seen as worse than theft. The mezuzah has been a part of the entrance to a Jewish home since Biblical times. It sounds to me like yet another one of those subtle ways to say "Juden raus", or at least an attempt to make the more "apparent" ones go a bit more "underground." |
| Right Wise | Nov 21st. at 3:03:41 pm EST |
|
Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me A lawyer for the Blochs, Gary Feinerman, said the facts at trial would vindicate his clients. While not conceding that an anti-Semitic worldview is at issue in the case, he said that even if the actions of the board president were based in personal animus, the president wanted to harm the family, and “he got at them in a way that was intentional religious discrimination.” It seems only religious descrimination, if that's the reason for the cleaning of the doors. If the Bloch's are to put the Mezzuzah outside their own door, the outside of that door isn't theirs. The Condo Owner only owns as far as the paint, so the Condo would own even the door. If the policy against expressive doors was based on religious persecution, then the President was probably the vandal who removed those items. How religious are those, who burden their neighbors with the task of desecrating the temples? If the Condo President hadn't spoken to a Rabbi, I'm minded of Saint Peter's search, for a Lawyer who could get him an engineer back from Hell. Rabbis really practice the debate of these issues. Arawn Graalrd |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright 1997-2010 The Witches' Voice Inc. All rights reserved
Note: Authors & Artists retain the copyright for their work(s) on this website.
Unauthorized reproduction without prior permission is a violation of copyright laws.
Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.
Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren’s Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches’ Voice, Inc. TWV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.
Sponsorship: Visit the Witches' Voice Sponsor Page for info on how you
can help support this Community Resource. Donations ARE Tax Deductible.
The Witches' Voice carries a 501(c)(3) certificate and a Federal Tax ID.
Mail Us: The Witches' Voice Inc., P.O. Box 341018, Tampa, Florida 33694-1018 U.S.A.