http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0906/philly_rabbi.php3?printer_friendly
Did Jesus bring gifts weekly to the rich and powerful, or to the poor? Who was and is the true Rabbi of the Jews, despite their spit in his face?
Not only that this Rabbi talks the local Gentile unions for working for him for free, while his talmudic sects utters these words behind their backs.
http://newsfromthewest.blogspot.com/2008/06/on-chabad-lubavitch-from-preface-of.html
PLEASE CLICK INTO THESE WEBSITES
“In fact, in recent years while governor of Alaska,Sarah Palin, the proud hockey mom even met with rabbis from the Chabad Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Orthodox Judaism. The Lubavitchers are a racist, fanatically anti-Gentile organization which declares non-Jews not to even be human beings at all, but refuse and animals. Yet there is not a peep from the Jew Tube about this radical Jewish sect which courts presidents and prime ministers. Governor Palin is surely bright enough to know that she must bend to the will of Big Jewry or be obliterated by its beast-like machine of defamation and slander. And so she does, smiling her adorably cute smile and winking at the Goyim knowingly as she embraces the Jewish tribalists who loathe every value she holds dear and who especially hate every white person who draws breath. We can be sure that if elected, Palin will continue to carry out the savage aims of Jewish supremacism or be immediately damned by the media.”
http://thisiszionism.blogspot.com/2008/10/savage-nature-of-big-jewry.html
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog
Chabad’s primary objective is simple: get as many people to give as much money as possible to the organization while at the same time give the impression that they are the one and only true perspective of Judaism and the world.
Understand that when someone from Chabad approaches you they see potential for three things: 1) Money, 2) Execution of a “Mitzvah” on THEIR part (even though they will make it look like that they are concerned with the execution of the “Mitzvah” on YOUR part), 3) Convincing you that doing a “Mitzvah” is the most important thing in the world which will hopefully lead you to do “1″.
Chabad will claim that in their organization, they welcome everyone regardless of observance and income. That you don’t need a “ticket” to come to services and there is no “memberships”. Make no mistake about it: Chabad’s “open concept” is actually a cover-up for what it really is: a money collecting organization that ultimately funds the torah-study of individuals who view the outside world as sub-human.
Universities should not endorse any religions on Campus. They should be particularly careful when recognizing cult organizations such as Chabad who’s sole purpose is to attract young, impressionable people to join their “warm loving atmosphere” to give money, time, resources and favors.
While the question of Chabad’s money-grabbing schemes are questionable (but certainly plausible), I do have other issues with the movement.
In every experience I have had with Chabad, the rabbis and congregants have always been very nice and inviting. And I think that they are genuine in their hospitality. I find it commendable that they want to provide an outlet of Judaism for Jews who otherwise would have nothing.
The problem I have with Chabad is that for all of their welcoming to non-Chabad Jews, they are actually pretty intolerant. I find that there general attitude towards Judaism is that there is only one correct way- there way. They treat me, a fairly knowledgeable Conservative Jew, like a know-nothing. They are fine with Jews being secular, but if and when they choose to do anything religious, it has to be Orthodox.
I have actually heard a Chabad rabbi openly make fun of Conservative and Reform Judaism, which is pretty offensive being that most of the young people there had parents who probably were members of Reform and Conservative congregations.
Also, I find that their means of getting young people to come to their Intolerance House…oh sorry, Chabad House, somewhat skeezy. I honestly know people who go to Chabad on Friday night to get free alcohol before they go to the bars. And Chabad has no problem with this, as long as they put on t’fillin in the morning.
Israel
October 14,2008
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Responding to haredi pressure, Chabad blocked the participation of women in its Succot celebrations in Jerusalem’s Shikun Chabad neighborhood Tuesday night.
Chabad’s rabbinical leadership acquiesced to a call by heads of the most important hassidic sects – Ger, Belz, Sanz, Sadigora and Viznitz – to restrict the music and dancing to indoors, effectively preventing women from participating.
Last year Chabad ignored a call by the Lithuanian rabbinic leadership to tone down its festivities.
However, this year for the first time hassidic leaders joined the call.
Chabad, a hassidic sect that is known for its outreach work with assimilated or unaffiliated Jews all over the world, traditionally celebrates outdoor concerts and dancing that targets the wider Jewish population.
Chabad’s last rabbinic leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson – who passed away in 1994 – vigorously encouraged holding Succot festivities outdoors in the most visible locations possible.
Rabbi Menachem Brod, spokesman for Chabad in Israel, said that Schneerson, known as “the rebbe,” directed his followers to “take the Torah from the study halls to streets” on Succot.
“We will continue to follow the rebbe’s orders in all locations except Jerusalem, where the local public specifically requested that we respect their sensitivities,” he said.
Chabad events at other venues during the holiday will take place outdoors. Both men and women, separated by partitions, will be allowed to participate.
Rabbi Mordechai Bloi, a senior member of the Guardians of Sanctity and Education, an organization based in Bnei Brak that enforces what it sees as normative haredi behavior, praised Chabad.
“The rebbe of Chabad told his hassidim to spread the joy in the streets, but he was not talking about haredi areas,” said Bloi. “Let them do what they want in secular areas.
“The Talmud teaches that even in the time of Temple men and women were strictly separated and this was called ‘the big tikkun.’ I am happy that this year we will have this tikkun in Jerusalem.”
Brod said that Chabad respected the call by the rabbis to maintain strict codes of modesty. However, he added that the increasingly stringent demands by haredi rabbis that have effectively brought about a total ban of outdoor concerts might be counterproductive.
“If haredim are not given a kosher option for musical entertainment they might end up turning to non-kosher options,” he said. “As a result of the changes we made this year in Jerusalem, women who came to our annual event in the past will be forced to stay home.
“Only time will tell whether or not this is the best policy to adopt,” he said.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/200810121010kapparot.html
PETA, Chasidim sling mud
over chicking-slinging ritual
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| Ben Harris |
| Chickens are ritually slaughtered in Brooklyn on Oct. 8, 2008 during the kapparot ritual. |
| Published: 10/12/2008 |
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the night before Yom Kippur last year, animal rights activist Philip Schein says he was physically threatened when he showed up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn for the annual kapparot ritual.
An undercover investigator with People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals, Schein long has been concerned about kapparot — also known as kapporos — in which chickens are swung over one’s head in a symbolic transferring of sins a day before Yom Kippur (many Jews use money in place of a live chicken).
Schein says he identified himself as a PETA member and was filming the ceremony when several people physically harassed and threatened him.
“It was just fortunate that there were police around,” Schein told JTA. “They said I have the right on a public street. I wasn’t disrupting anything. Who knows what would have happened
| Related Resources: | |
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WHY A CHICKEN? Rabbi Shea Hecht explains (JTA podcast) |
if they weren’t there?”
Fearing a repeat, Schein grew a beard and donned a cap in an effort to better blend in with the Chabad-Lubavitch Chasidim who mount a massive kapparot operation each year in Crown Heights.
Last week, shortly before 10 o’clock on the night before Yom Kippur, Schein and his wife, Hannah, also a PETA investigator, set out to monitor this year’s kapparot.
To the uninitiated, the Oct. 8 scene in Brooklyn and the ritual at its center may seem inhumane and somewhat bizarre.
Amid a carnival-like atmosphere featuring food vendors and street sellers, the largely Chasidic crowd lines up to purchase live chickens from a truck. With a wing and a prayer book in their hands, the Chasidim “shlug,” or swing, the birds around their heads while reciting a prayer before lining up to have the chickens ritually slaughtered.
It’s all in full view of Eastern Parkway, a teeming thoroughfare that is the headquarters for the Chabad movement.
Organizers estimate upward of 10,000 chickens are slaughtered in the street during the ritual, which winds down at sunrise.
Chickens are placed in inverted red traffic cones after they are killed so their blood can run down. Once the chickens stop moving, which can take several minutes, they are transferred to garbage bags and piled on the sidewalk.
Processing takes place in a cramped alley behind the Hadar Hatorah Rabbinical Seminary on Eastern Parkway. With an electric saw, the birds’ heads and legs are removed. A group of yeshiva students then pulls off the feathers and passes the chickens to the mashgiach, or kosher supervisor, who removes their intestines for inspection.
Those deemed kosher — the vast majority — are then soaked and salted and placed in a freezer. All the chickens are then given to charity, says Rabbi Shea Hecht, a prominent figure in the Chabad movement and one of the main organizers of the kapparot event in Brooklyn.
Hecht’s prominent role in organizing the kapparot has made him a target of PETA.
After years of investigating kapparot, PETA asked the New York State Kosher Law Enforcement Division in August to open a fraud investigation against Hecht. As Yom Kippur approached, PETA also issued an action alert to its followers, which led to a flood of e-mails and faxes to Hecht’s office.
Hours before the ritual was set to begin, Hecht issued a statement condemning the PETA campaign, which he claimed had led to some “threatening” and anti-Semitic e-mails. New York City Police reportedly opened an investigation.
The Scheins’ specific objections to kapparot concern the treatment of the birds, which are transported in plastic crates stacked on large trucks and kept without food and water for hours. Though rabbis have urged kapparot centers to have adequate food and water on hand, they weren’t in evidence on the night before Yom Kippur.
The Scheins also claim that the volume of birds slaughtered far outstrips processing capacity, resulting last year in some two-thirds of the birds being discarded in Dumpsters. Organizers are violating two Jewish injunctions, the Scheins say — against causing unnecessary suffering to animals and against wastefulness.
Hecht adamantly denies both charges and says Schein made up the two-thirds figure.
“He’s a liar,” Hecht said.
Schein claims that at 7:15 the morning after kapparot last week, more than 100 crates of live chickens were still on the sidewalk. A driver told Schein they were being taken to a Chasidic community in upstate New York.
Schein says subjecting the birds to 24 hours without water on stressful transports in cramped, feces-covered cages violates Jewish law by causing unnecessary suffering.
During the kapparot ritual, Hannah Schein dressed to blend in with the Chasidic crowd as she searched for evidence of animal cruelty. She found a seemingly forgotten crate in which several birds that appeared to be dead shared space with other live chickens. She covertly documented it.
PETA is frequently accused of pursuing a radical — and possibly anti-Semitic — agenda because of its criticisms of kapparot and Agriprocessors, the country’s largest kosher meat producer.
The Scheins, both of whom are Jewish, reject that accusation, saying their work stems directly from their Jewish values.
“I feel like every ethical step I make forward in my life has a Jewish root to it,” Hannah Schein said. “Being kosher, growing up, I was trained to look at labels and always think what’s in this product and where does it come from.”
Hannah Schein admits that PETA’s ultimate goal is to abolish animal slaughter. She also believes that humans have no right to kill animals for food or clothing — and certainly not to expiate one’s sins.
She says she takes what steps she can to minimize animal suffering.
“PETA’s a pragmatic organization,” she said. “We want incremental welfare improvements. Otherwise we’re never going to get to abolition.”
The Scheins met while they were working for Hillel, the Jewish campus organization. Hannah says she used to pray at the Chabad synagogue in Norfolk, Va. on the high holidays.
“I want kashrut to live up to what it’s supposed to be, and to be this model, the whole ‘higher authority,’” Schein said. “It’s been very frustrating. It’s been a real sort of embarrassment to see how the kosher industry has conducted itself. As a Jew, that impacts on me.”
Yet even among those Orthodox Jews who claim to share PETA’s concerns about animal treatment, there is a widespread view that the organization has pursued an unfair and misleading campaign against Jewish ritual slaughter.
“Their agenda is to wipe out shechita — period,” Hecht said last week as hundreds of chickens sat in crates on the sidewalk behind him. “No. 2, their agenda is to hurt Torah-observant Jews.”
As evidence, he cited PETA’s targeting of him as the most visible proponent of kapparot.
“If they take me down, everybody else is going to stop doing it,” Hecht said.
Hecht’s view is mirrored in the Chabad community, where many believe that PETA has a radical and fundamentally anti-Jewish agenda.
Isaac Hurwitz, a Chabad follower and attorney whose father wrote a monograph on Jewish treatment of animals, told JTA he performed kapparot at Hecht’s facility on Eastern Parkway this year specifically because it has been targeted by PETA.
Hurwitz admitted that keeping chickens in “little cramped boxes” made him uneasy, but he said it’s no worse than how birds are normally treated during transport to the slaughterhouse.
“I’m more uncomfortable with my own sins of the past year than these few moments of discomfort for the bird while I’m swinging it above my head,” he said.
by Marc Parry | Times Union writer
ALBANY � A Loudonville rabbi faced fresh sex-abuse charges on Tuesday � and his lawyer confirmed the father of one of the alleged victims is another local rabbi.
Yaakov Weiss appeared in Albany City Court on the day before the Yom Kippur high holiday to answer charges that he sexually abused a 13-year-old boy.The 28-year-old rabbi, founder of the Chabad of Colonie, e-mailed the Times Union a statement on Tuesday night calling the accusations “100 percent untrue.”
“This has been generated by an individual who has been antagonistic toward Chabad of Colonie from its inception and continues to be envious of continued success,” Weiss wrote. “This is his way of getting rid of us.”
Weiss carried an infant child into the courthouse and prayed in the vestibule. He later appeared in the courtroom in handcuffs, pleading not guilty to misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
The charges stem from “inappropriate sexual contact” with the boy in June on Whitehall Road, according to Albany police.
Weiss was released without bail and drove away in a silver SUV.
Weiss adheres to the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Judaism, known for its outreach work to get Jews more involved in their religion. He moved to Colonie from Iowa in 2004 with his wife Rosa and an infant daughter. He founded the Chabad of Colonie and the Chabad Hebrew School soon after.
Tuesday’s charges come one week after Weiss was arrested for allegedly abusing another 13-year-old boy.
The rabbi’s new accuser is a member of the same religious community as Weiss, said Dave Rossi, chief of the homicide and special victims bureau in the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.
Rossi wouldn’t discuss any other details about their relationship or where the alleged abuse took place. Authorities restricted access to all court papers in the case.
Weiss’s attorney, Arnold Proskin, also declined to reveal more details beyond his claim that the father of one of Weiss’s alleged victims is a rabbi — a claim Rossi would not confirm.
“I think you’re going to find some very strange, strange reasons for these things happening,” he said outside the courtroom.
In his statement, Weiss characterized the accusations as a plot concocted by the unnamed “envious” individual.
“This individual contacted the authorities three months ago together with a close friend,” Weiss claimed. “His new allegations were released today.”
Rossi said the investigation was continuing but he was unaware of any other victims.
Weiss has been suspended, said Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Brooklyn-based worldwide Lubavitch organization.
“I would emphasize very unequivocally that the suspension is in no way whatsoever implicating him or an admission or a decision of guilt,” he said.
This article was found at:
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com
Forward, the Jewish newspaper, did some first-rate investigative reporting last year to expose harsh working conditions at Agriprocessors Inc. of Postville, Iowa, at the time the largest kosher slaugherthouse in America.
As we summarized the paper’s findings:
The owners of the slaughterhouse, an ultra-Orthodox family from Brooklyn’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, have been accused of exposing workers — many of them Hispanic immigrants — to unsafe conditions, underpaying them, housing them in cramped, substandard quarters, and placing them in dangerous jobs without adequate training.
Forward’s exposés were followed by a massive immigration raid at Agriprocessors, as well as by news coverage in The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other media outlets.
Now, Forward has turned its attention to another big kosher plant, Alle Processing in Queens, N.Y.
(Since the AgriProcessors raid, the paper writes, Alle has become the largest U.S. producer of kosher beef.)
According to a story published earlier this month, the paper found evidence at Alle of inadequate safety training, numerous employee complaints of substandard workplace conditions, “low pay, unhappy relations with management, and a lack of health benefits.”
The paper’s stories have triggered a national debate among rabbis and other Jewish scholars, some of whom argue that ethical treatment of workers ought to be at least as high a priority at kosher plants as adherence to strict rules in the handling and processing of foods.
| A Reform Response to Chabad |  |
| Written by Josh Nathan-Kazis | |
| Tuesday, 23 September 2008 | |
Rabbi Rick Jacobs on the Authenticity of Reform Judaism
A Chabad outreach van. Image by flickr user andyinnyc.
In the popular imagination, Jewish denominations exist on a two dimensional plane. At one extreme sits Chabad-Lubavitch, broadly identified with authenticity in Jewish practice by dint of its black-hatted presence wherever Jews may be found. At the other extreme sits Reform, the Judaism of the suburbs and the extravagant Bar Mitzvah.It was over the question of B’nai Mitzvot, in fact, that the two poles most recently collided. In an article published in 2007, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, criticized Chabad’s practice of holding B’nai Mitzvot without requiring preparation from the boys or commitment from their families. An emissary at Cornell’s Chabad House responded with an article that accused Reform of using Bar Mitzvah students as “pawns in a game of institutional extortion.” The scuffle highlighted a deep tension between the movements, which increasingly find themselves in competition on campuses and in communities around the world. Chabad constitutes a challenge to the Reform movement. When Chabad’s rabbis come to town, the local Reform synagogue faces the risk of appearing less authentic than the competition. But some Reform rabbis aren’t about to roll over. Rabbi Rick Jacobs leads the Westchester Reform Temple, a large Reform congregation of 1,200 households in Scarsdale, New York. Jacobs is a prominent figure within the Reform movement, active in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Reform’s rabbinical association, and Synagogue 3000, an effort to revitalize synagogue life. We spoke with Jacobs about his thoughts on Chabad, the authenticity of Reform Judaism, and outreach to college students. What do you tell college students from your congregation when they come to you with questions about Chabad activities on their campuses? I believe that all meaningful Jewish experiences are important, and I would put Chabad in that mix. What I’m nervous about is the less versed Jewish college student who walks in and immediately feels like they have [previously] been part of something not authentic. Sometimes that comes from the Chabad rabbi or the rabbi’s wife or the rabbi’s staff, and sometimes it’s just, ‘My God, this is so different from what I know.’ I had a student who would have Shabbat dinner with [his school's Chabad rabbi] regularly. It’s an opportunity for easy conversation about Torah, with a little kugel and a little gefilte fish and a loving acceptance. I think that’s incredibly valuable. However, this kid tells me, ‘I didn’t know the birkat hamazon.’ I said, ‘Excuse me? Remember, at [Hebrew school], where you were a student for five years, we said the birkat hamazon at each class?’ [And he said,] ‘Oh, but its very different the way they do it’. I agree. It is different. But this young man felt like he didn’t even know something called the birkat hamazon, and he’s a kid who was fairly involved in his high school Reform Jewish education. I don’t want to say don’t go to a Chabad house. What I do want to say is don’t throw away your Jewish authenticity in your encounter, because you have a very valid Jewish experience. There’s a line of thought in the organized Jewish community that says that non-Orthodox students should go to the Chabad house as a means of developing a Jewish identity, even if they don’t particularly identify with the set of values espoused by Chabad. Is this appropriate? 
Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Westchester Reform Temple.
[Chabad] does not line up with all of the liberal Jewish values that we’ve learned from our tradition. I would argue that egalitarian values are, in my Jewish life, from the tradition, not opposed to the tradition. There’s the question of to what extent tikkun olam and social justice are a primary part of one’s Jewish practice. Chabad would certainly say that to help another Jew in distress is very important, but if you’re talking about organizing the Darfur rally at the college Hillel, they would say, ‘Why would you be spending all that effort? We need to take care of our own.’One of the most problematic things is that Chabad subscribes to a view that a Jewish soul is inherently more sacred than a non-Jewish soul. Yes, there are sources: Hasidic, Kabalistic, and probably even rabbinic where you could construct such a notion. But I find that to be the most problematic aspect of Chabad. And it’s not going to be in the first conversation with a Chabad rabbi, it’s not going to be in the fiftieth, but it under girds much of the Chabad worldview and their mission to spread out around the world and bring Jews back to the fold. Frankly, that’s a serious conversation that has to be kind of explored. It’s not easily done by an 18-year-old [student] versus a 35-year-old Chabad rabbi who’s got fifteen good responses, but their version of Judaism is in my mind problematic and not necessarily built on the same intellectual and moral foundations as the rest of traditional Judaism. And what about the older donors? They know all this. Why do so many secular adults give money to Chabad? I think the reality is that many liberal Jewish donors to Chabad are hedging their bets. [They think,] ‘When all is said and done in 50 or 100 years, I don’t know if this liberal Jewish path is going to still be around. And the Chabad people remind me of my zayde.’ No, really, the guy could be 28 years old, but he reminds people of their zayde. It touches a heart string, as well as that little gnawing doubt that maybe [the Lubavitch] are the ones that are going to endure the onslaught of modernity, and maybe they are the ones who are going to make sure that in four generations there will be Jewish life. It pains me that they don’t have enough belief in what they do and what they’re providing for their children to support their own religious congregation to the same extent as they would Chabad. I think it’s Yitz Greenberg who called it the ‘Zayde Principle,’ and I think that is the secret to their success, because obviously financially they’re doing quite well. And I would never preach against supporting them. My approach would be to emphasize how important it is to support financially the main institutions of Jewish life. Reform Judaism is now the largest movement in North America, and I don’t think it’s because we’re watering down Judaism, I think it’s because it’s a Judaism that is in sync with the challenges of modern life. What should Chabad’s role be among secular and non-Orthodox Jews? As a Reform rabbi, I think that their role ought to be as one of the spiritual paths within Jewish life. A passionate, committed, very authentic path, but one of the paths and not the path, not a hierarchically overarching path making others seem less authentic or less serious. I was in midtown Manhattan, and I’m walking down the street and this wonderful friendly warm Chabadnik stops me and says, ‘Are you Jewish?’ I’m walking along, I’m wearing a grey suit. I don’t know, maybe I have curly Jewish hair. I said, ‘Yes, are you?’ And he looked at me and started to laugh and he pointed to his tzit tzit and to his beard. I said, ‘You know, appearances are not always reality. http://newvoices.org/interview/a-reform-response-to-chabad.html |
Boca Raton – For nine years, Chabad of East Boca has met in rented space. On the brink of building its own permanent synagogue, the chabad was stuck on the question of parking.
The City Council on Tuesday approved rules that could more than double the number of spaces required at the chabad, which is planned as a two-story synagogue in the Golden Triangle neighborhood by Mizner Park. Residents there have been fierce in their opposition to any change that would bring more vehicles onto their streets and swales. They say they already are overwhelmed with overflow parking from Mizner Park.
About 75 residents showed up at City Hall on Tuesday night to persuade council members to keep parking requirements strict.
“We’re happy with keeping parking as it should be,” resident Anthony Majhess said before the meeting. “We felt in the beginning the city was going to try to make it less restrictive.”
City officials set out to make uniform rules for all places of assembly. Parking was a significant part of the effort, which began more than a year ago. In June, the chabad applied for a 23,000-square-foot building on six lots.
“This is not an issue of support or nonsupport of faith tonight,” said Deputy Mayor Peter Baronoff. “I would be very embarrassed as a council member if that’s what it came down to tonight.”
Golden Triangle residents wanted the city to keep parking at one space per three seats in gathering places and one space per 25 square feet of space for overflow parking. It would require more than 100 spaces at the proposed synagogue, in stark contrast to the 42 spaces the chabad proposes, said Rabi Ruvi New.
The synagogue had planned to seek off-site parking agreements on occasions when parking is heaviest, such as the High Holy Days.
“This particular ordinance has been revised and revised. … Certainly, there has been a lot of pressure for the neighborhood,” New said.
Charles Siemon, a planning consultant who developed Mizner Park, told council members he was disappointed with the “one-size-fits-all solution.”
Residents held up signs during the meeting, including “1 PER 25″ and “90% ON SITE,” when a few speakers asked for more leniency. Residents expressed concern the ordinance would allow for “technical deviations” that would make its requirements moot.
“Why bother?” asked resident David Warburton. “On-site parking must be sufficient [but] there is one glaring loophole.”
City Manager Leif Ahnell said city officials would re-evaluate technical deviations, which would allow developers to ask for more parking for extraordinary circumstances.
Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6609.
September ended as it began, with an attorney appearing before the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) speaking in absolute terms about the suitability of a synagogue on Goose Lane. On Sept. 3, it was the applicant’s attorney promoting the proposal, on the 24th (after a Q&A session on the 17th) it was the opponents’ attorney’s turn.
The general public will get its chance to speak in November.
In sharp contrast to the opinion of Chabad-Lubavitch attorney Marjorie Shansky, Committee to Save Goose Lane attorney Edward Cassella stated that a synagogue nestled among private residences was far from ideal.
“We are opposed to this application because the development of the Chabad is not the perfect use for this site,” said Cassella. “We think the perfect use is what is there now–a residence.”
Shansky had earlier stated, “I believe this is a perfect use for this parcel,” at the Sept. 3 PZC public hearing on the application.
Shansky’s client, a branch of Hasidism that supports the Jewish continuity, is part of a global organization. There are more than 20 Chabad centers in Connecticut including those in Branford, Hamden, New Haven, and Milford.
They have submitted an application to the PZC to build a 17,000 square-foot house of worship on Goose Lane. The proposed project would have a 52-car parking lot, 4,000 square-foot play area for a daycare center, and a 7,000 square-foot residence for the rabbi to the rear of the main building. The residence is not part of the application to the PZC at this time.
Cassella, who represents a group of neighbors to the site, said they were not opposed to the Chabad coming to Guilford, just opposed to it being built at 181 Goose Lane. The reasons for this, added Cassella, are because the proposed building would lack harmony with the neighboring homes, negatively impact the value of the homes, increase noise and traffic to the area, and present a safety concern due to its apparent easy access for fire vehicles.
“In addition, it is too large for the site,” he said.
PZC Chairman Shirley Girioni noted that both the Guilford fire and police departments had reviewed the application and approved it.
Cassella told the PZC that it should deny the special use application because it would negatively affect the neighboring properties. He reiterated that the Chabad’s application for a special permit “is a privilege and not a right.”
“Residential uses are allowed as a right; religious services are not,” he said.
He emphasized the neighbors’ anxiety as to the size of the proposed building.
“This lot is not in a commercial or industrial zone–it is in a residential zone,” noted Cassella. “I won’t challenge the architectural design but I will challenge the scope.”
Karen Flatley, a neighbor at 21 Village Victoria Drive, expressed concern over the applicant’s modest projections for use of the facility.
“We know the intensity of use in the first few years will be less,” she said.
At past public hearings, Shansky said the sanctuary and social hall were designed for 100 people, but recently expressed that “more may attend.”
“We have no intention to exploit this site beyond 100 people,” Shansky said at an earlier public hearing.
Flatley disagreed, saying that at last year’s Rosh Hashanah services, Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison had 600 people in attendance.
“I’m looking 10 years ahead,” noted Flatley.
The Guilford Planning & Zoning Commission’s public hearing on the proposed Chabad on the Shoreline is continued to Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Greene Community Center on Church Street.
