MAHWAH, NJ — The New Jersey State Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against the Mahwah Township Council and the town for an alleged attempt to restrict Orthodox Jews from the township, including in its parks.

The nine-count complaint stems from two ordinances the council approved recently. One of them prohibits non-New Jersey residents from using Mahwah public parks, the State alleges. The other — an ordinance amendment approved in July — is discriminatory because it bans the posting on utility poles of boundaries of the eruv used by Orthodox Jews, including those from neighboring Rockland County, New York, the suit says. The complaint also challenges actions the town has taken to have an existing eruv removed.

Watch: Mahwah Township Excluded Orthodox Jews, State Claims In Lawsuit Eruvs symbolically extend the private domain of Jewish households into public areas. Jewish households within an eruv are allowed to participate in activities that are normally banned on the Sabbath.



In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Christopher Porrino likened the township's conduct to "1950s-era 'white flight' suburbanites who sought to keep African-Americans from moving into their neighborhoods." Halloween Parade Canceled At NJ Elementary School Because It Wasn't Inclusive

"In addition to being on the wrong side of history, the conduct of Mahwah's township council is legally wrong, and we intend to hold them accountable for it," said Porrino. "To think that there are local governments here in New Jersey, in 2017, making laws on the basis of some archaic, fear-driven and discriminatory mindset, is deeply disappointing and shocking to many, but it is exactly what we are alleging in this case.



The nine-count complaint was filed in Bergen County Superior Court on behalf of Porrino, the state Division on Civil Rights, Department of Environmental (DEP) Protection Commissioner Bob Martin and the DEP. It charges that the Township Council was largely influenced by "vocal anti-Orthodox-Jewish sentiment" expressed by people at public meetings and on social media.

The state is also seeking the return of more than $3.4 million in DEP Green Acres grants the township used to purchase and maintain parks. The ordinance banning non-New Jersey residents from using those parks breaches those funding contracts, Porrino said. The Green Acres Act provides that the use of any lands acquired under the program cannot be restricted on the basis of religion or residency.