News Release
For Immediate Release: 5.20.23
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Florida HOA Sued Over Antisemitic Actions Against Jewish Rabbi and Boca Raton Chabad
Orthodox Jewish community faces relentless vandalism, discrimination, and unlawful treatment from HOA and surrounding homeowners.
Boca Raton, FL—Today attorneys from First Liberty Institute and Jones Day filed a federal lawsuit against Loggers’ Run Association, a homeowners’ association, and its management company in Boca Raton, FL calling for it to end all illegal, discriminatory, and antisemitic actions against Rabbi Naftaly Hertzel and his wife Henya. Since 2015 the Hertzels and the Chabad community, who reside in the HOA area, have been denied the same rights allowed for all residents and groups within the community and have been the victims of discrimination and constant harassment.
You can read the complaint here.
“The HOA’s leadership has engaged in open antisemitism against Rabbi Hertzel and created a hostile environment for Jewish residents living in their community,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Targeting Jewish residents with enforcement while ignoring the same violations by other residents not only violates basic decency, but violates the HOA’s obligations under federal law.”
The Loggers’ Run HOA has repeatedly singled out the Hertzels for selective rule enforcement while ignoring violations by other residents. The HOA board told the Hertzels on one occasion that they “didn’t want Jews” in Loggers’ Run and the HOA assistant manager told them that they “should have ended your kind in the 1930s.” Vandals have knocked down religious symbols, spray-painted buildings, broken windows, and screamed antisemitic slurs outside their worship space while meetings were being conducted. The suit alleges that the HOA board and its management company ignored its own rules to deny Jewish residents a seat on the HOA board.
The lawsuit claims that, “Defendants’ discrimination and retaliation has interfered with both the Hertzels’ and Chabad Organization’s efforts to expand the Jewish community in Loggers’ Run and facilitate the free exercise of Orthodox Judaism in the community. The denial of approvals to alter the Chabad House to serve the Chabad precluded a new Jewish rabbi from inhabiting the Chabad House. And because of the limited capacity of the Chabad’s existing spaces, it also has discouraged other Jews from moving to Loggers’ Run due to the lack of availability of services. The discrimination also subsequently interfered with the Chabad Organization’s ability to sell the home to a Jewish buyer as outstanding fines precluded closing on a written offer for sale.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact our team at media@firstliberty.org.
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