Jean Mikle

@jeanmikle

TOMS RIVER -- A federal civil rights lawsuit charges that "anti-Semitic hostility" and local opposition to the township's ultra-Orthodox Jewish population are the reasons why the Chabad Jewish Center has been told it needs a variance to operate as a house of worship.

The Chabad Jewish Center and Rabbi Moshe Gourarie filed the lawsuit against the township and the Board of Adjustment, claiming the Chabad has become the target of community opposition to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population in Toms River.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, challenges the township's zoning laws and the board's decision that the rabbi needs a variance to continue to operate a house of worship out of his Church Road home. A hearing on the variance is scheduled for next month.

The lawsuit says the Chabad has become a target in spite of its "negligible land use effect on the local community and its existence at this location and another residential home in Toms River for 12 years without negative impacts."

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Gourarie previously operated the Chabad from a home he was renting on New Hampshire Avenue.

In 2011, Gourarie purchased a home on Church Road, where he has testified that he's operated a Jewish community center and weekly prayer services, which draw about 15 to 20 people. A 2009 revision to the township's zoning ordinance banned churches in the residential zone that includes Gourarie's property.

"Substantial community opposition to both the Chabad's use and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population in general, has targeted the Chabad," according to lawyer Roman P. Storzer, of Storzer & Greene in New York and Washington, D.C., who represents the Chabad Jewish Center.

The suit, citing both state and federal civil rights protections, said the measures protect religious land uses from discrimination and arbitrary treatment.

"This cancerous movement targeting a specific religious minority has spread into Toms River," Storzer said. "The use of local ordinances and land use regulation to build a wall around Lakewood should not be tolerated."

The lawsuit mentions Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher's recent comments to Bloomberg News, in which the mayor described the aggressive tactics of some real estate solicitors operating in Toms River's North Dover section as "like an invasion." Lakewood Mayor Menashe P. Miller demanded that Kelaher apologize for the comments, which the Toms River mayor insisted had been taken out of context.

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Kelaher said that he had been quoting residents of North Dover, who he said referred to the number of real estate agents seeking to buy homes in the area as "an invasion" during a public hearing on a township ordinance aimed at limiting door-to-door real estate soliciting.

He said his words — and the Township Council's adoption of an ordinance banning real estate soliciting in most of North Dover — have been incorrectly labeled as anti-Semitism.

More than 1,200 residents packed Toms River High School North in December for the first Board of Adjustment meeting on the Chabad Jewish Center. At the meeting, the zoning board ruled that Gourarie must seek a use variance to continue operating the Chabad.

Gourarie received eight zoning violations in October 2014 for operating the Chabad in a residential zone.

He pleaded not guilty in Municipal Court to those violations, and the court proceedings were stayed pending the outcome of the zoning board application. A second meeting on the application is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 14 at High School North's auditorium.

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The lawsuit mentions the recent carving of the words "Burn the Jews" on a piece of playground equipment at Riverwood Park, and cites "significant evidence of the anti-Semitic hostility of such ‘concerned citizens,’ ” which was often directed at the Chabad's religious use.

Statements referring to ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Chabad's use as “cockroaches,” “trash,” a “cult,” “he-brews and she-brews,” a “Jewish conspiracy,” “disgusting phonies,” a “joo school,” “damn jews,” “dirty,” and a “disease,” were among many negative epithets that appeared on online petitions, on social media and various websites, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, one Toms River resident stated regarding the Chabad’s zoning request: “Keep these damn Jews out of Toms River. ... There will be issues if this passes. ... I promise."

Township officials have collaborated with residents to prevent ultra-Orthodox Jews from moving to Toms River from nearby Lakewood, the complaint states.

Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050; jmikle@gannettnj.com