Montclair rabbi leads effort to OK Muslim center
Opponents claim ‘land-use’ objections to Bridgewater site
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The proposed site of the alFalah Cultural Center is the now-defunct Redwood Inn on Mountain Top Road in Bridgewater. Photos courtesy alFalah Center
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February 23, 2011
Motivated by what he called “the Jewish obligation to welcome the stranger,” Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Montclair is leading a drive to support the building of an Islamic cultural center in Bridgewater, a plan that has met with strong opposition from some of its neighbors.
The Muslim center is seeking to construct the alFalah Center on the 7.6-acre site of a banquet hall called the Redwood Inn. Plans call for the center to include a mosque, religious school, and facilities for day care and after-school and senior citizens’ programs in a space that would accommodate 500 people.
In a Feb. 18 e-mail letter cowritten by Tepperman and cosigned by 20 other rabbis, one cantor, and five rabbinical students, the religious leader of the Reconstructionist Bnai Keshet synagogue called on the people of Bridgewater “to affirm their commitment to religious freedom and to seriously consider options that would allow for the building of this mosque within its borders.”
The appeal was sent on the letterhead of the Jewish Voice for Peace. According to Tepperman, many of its signatories were members of the organization’s Rabbinic Advisory Council, and the letter was sent to New Jerseyans on the JVP mailing list.
The JVP was branded by the Anti-Defamation League in October as one of the top 10 “most influential and active anti-Israel groups in the United States.” In a Feb. 21 phone interview, Tepperman told NJ Jewish News he “would reject any claim that it is an anti-Israel group.” (See sidebar.)
Despite a federal law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which gives wide latitude to the siting of houses of worship in residential areas, officials in Bridgewater are seeking to block the center’s construction.
On Feb. 8 its planning board unanimously agreed to a recommended change in the township’s master plan that would require such institutions as houses of worship, schools, and country clubs to be located on major roads or county roadways rather than in residential areas.
Those objecting to the center, such as Somerset County Tea Party leader James Lefkowitz, said they are “opposed to anything of that size being in that neighborhood.”
Lefkowitz, a Bound Brook resident, told NJJN in a Feb. 20 telephone interview, “The fact that the center would contain a Muslim, rather than Christian or Jewish, house of worship doesn’t trouble me at all. The homeowner associations who have been leading the fight against this have been very much focused on a land-use issue only. Period. End of story.”
A spokesperson for the alFalah Center, Sara Wallace, told NJJN her organization “as a gesture of goodwill” agreed to withdraw plans for opening an elementary school and made sure its application “conformed to every existing law.”
“We completed traffic studies to ensure this would be an appropriate site for the size of our congregation, consulted engineers, and even agreed to widen the access road and install a traffic light — all to protect the safety of the community.
“So we’re really shocked and disappointed to find a campaign like this launched to change the laws from under our feet.”
To Tepperman, land-use issues pose “a reasonable question. I know one has to be careful with that because often potentially legitimate concerns are pushed up against much less legitimate concerns. In one breath, people say things very much deserving of consideration, like parking. Then, in the next breath, they say, ‘And we’re concerned if it might be a terrorist organization.’ When I hear those things side-by-side it makes me very suspicious that parking is not the main concern and the concerns are primarily being fueled by prejudiced assumptions about Muslims.”
“Certainly a Muslim mosque raises questions about where the money is coming from and the principals involved and any association with terrorism,” said the Tea Party’s Lefkowitz. “I have not brought that forward to raise opposition awareness to this mosque, but I am certainly not going to apologize for asking that question.”
Wallace called the issues of funding sources and association with terrorism “ugly insinuations” that “betray by their nature an anti-Muslim bias…. People of good conscience should not stand for this type of scapegoating or guilt by association.”
“Questioning the purpose of a religious institution and the source of funding is unconstitutional, and shames our American tradition of religious tolerance,” she wrote in an e-mail to NJJN.
Tepperman agreed. “If we are concerned with extremist violence, we have a lot of internal places to look before we start looking at the Muslim community. One good place to look is what happened to Rep. Giffords,” he said, referring to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) by an angry constituent who killed six people and wounded 13 others outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8.
The rabbi said the Muslims involved with alFalah “are people who are coming here to build a community and uphold values that the majority of Americans would understand to be righteous, loving, and justice-seeking. It was not that long ago that Jews were having trouble getting congregations built and certain neighborhoods were not interested in having Jewish neighbors. That history and that memory are strong in the minds of many Jews and certainly is something I take very seriously.
“At a time like this when there are examples in our country of anti-Muslim prejudice,” said Tepperman, “we need to go beyond what we normally do to show welcome and support.”
“There is no reason in 2011 for anybody to be afraid of having a Muslim neighbor,” the rabbi added. “In fact, there is a need to welcome a mosque and to welcome in any community the opportunity to have religious diversity. I would be delighted to have local Muslim partners that Bnai Keshet could work with. Every community is enriched by having multiple faiths.”
‘Absolutely love Israel’
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman’s letter urging fellow Jews to support the building of the alFalah Cultural Center in Bridgewater was issued on the letterhead of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group the Anti-Defamation League has called one of the top 10 “most influential and active anti-Israel groups in the United States.”
Asked about that allegation, Tepperman told NJ Jewish News: “I have not been involved in Jewish Voice for Peace. I have a number of colleagues who are on their rabbinic council whom I respect and who I know love Israel. I would reject any claim that it is an anti-Israel group. I know for sure there are many people who are active in Jewish Voice for Peace who absolutely love Israel and want nothing more than peace. I chose to sign this letter not because of my support for Jewish Voice for Peace but as a sign of support for the alFalah community.”
Comments
Sanford M Sherman
February 25, 2011
As a Jew living in Bridgewater, I believe Rabbi Tepperman is stretching the meaning of “the obligation of welcoming the stranger”. Muslims have never welcomed Jews or the existance of Israel. Israel is their sworn enemy and the United States is not far behind. Why is that?
According to the Anti Defimation League, this group of Rabbis are just as radical as Muslims that want to kill the infidel. Who is the Infidel, anyone that is not a believer.
If Rabbi Teppermen is so welcoming, let the Rabbi share his Montclair Synagogue with the alFalal Mosque members and keep them out of Bridgewater
Jay
March 01, 2011
Jews also have the obligation of self preservation and if one is deemed to be hostile to Jews we are not obliged to welcome them. It’s always painful to see Jews like Tepperman and company, speak such self deprecating drivel. There has to be a strong and respected Jewish voice in the Bridgewater area that can speak reasonably about the addition of this mosque. Someone needs to be willing to vet out the philosophy and backgrounds of those planning this mosque before they give it their unreserved and total endorsement. It would be nice to know for instance that Tepperman isn’t giving his blessing to Muslims who will preach Jew hatred. Maybe a little due diligence would have been nice.
Eric Lavitsky
March 04, 2011
As a Jew living 1/2 mile from the site, I can tell you that this is not an issue of religious discrimination, but purely of an intensive land use in a quiet residential area. A use that would easily be denied to any commercial concern, but may occur because people choose to yield the RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act) as a weapon. The land in question was initially zoned for 7 houses and then reduced to 5 at the behest of the residents. The old Inn saw only light use ever since I’ve lived here (17+ years), and was built long ago (1938) before the area was as developed as it is now. RLUIPA should have application in two cases:
1. To preserve the right of a prisoner to maintain their religous principals and practice.
2. To preserve the right of a religious group to practice and use a facility or parcel of land as they see fit, within the local zoning constraints, such that those constraints are not exclusionary only to religious institutions or a particular group. In other words, if you can build a cheese shop, but not a church then that’s a problem. But if you can’t build any kind of business/club, then not being able to build a church is not a problem.
The RLUIPA shouldn’t be used to give any religious group carte-blanche to build anything, anywhere.
In Bridgewater we have a great diversity of ethnic and religious people and institutions. Recent construction of the Hindu and Sikh Temples were done on roads with major access. Imagine if you invested your life savings in your home on a quiet, established residential street and a group came in, bought the two lots next to your house and decided to erect a multi-story facility there that would draw hundreds of cars onto your street. The alFalah center supporters, who are overwhelmingly from outside of Bridgewater, are trying to run roughshod over the local community. They didn’t try to engage in a dialogue - they threatened immediately with lawsuits and have been spreading propaganda claiming religious persecution. They claim they’ve been searching for years for a suitable site to build in the area, yet other religious groups have been able to find sites. No one is denying them the right to build in Bridgewater - it’s the particular site which is a problem. A community should have the right to control unchecked growth, development, traffic, maintain safety and quiet enjoyment for it’s residents as long as those laws don’t explicitly or inherently exclude particular groups.
The offer to rescind the school is meaningless. The first witness they called to testify at the planning board hearing was the Imam from the Boonton Islamic Center. In Boonton, they expanded far beyond the capacity of the local roads to handle the resulting traffic, often in complete disregard of the planning/zoning board requirements. If alFalah is approved to be built at the Redwood Inn site, they will also either ignore the zoning requirements, or expand soon-after while waving an RLUIPA lawsuit as a threat. If you were at the meeting held this past Monday, you would have heard this exact tone from their supporters. They have no regard for how their plans impact the local residents.
These Rabbis who are speaking out are not from the area and know nothing of the situation. They have accepted the propaganda from alFalah and NJCAIR (the NJ Council on American Islamic Relations) wholesale. Did these Rabbis seek out the other voices before taking their position? - it’s a disgrace to the profession! (my Father has served as the Hazzan/Rabbi of many communities). The Tea Party has nothing to do with this case, and they are only being used in this story to paint a picture of opposition and hatred, when they are only a radical minority voice.
Stand up and tell Rabbi Tepperman and others that this is not a religious persecution issue and the alFalah Center should be built on a suitable site in Bridgewater or a surrounding town, but not on the former Redwood Inn site.
Scott
March 06, 2011
I have lived in Bridgewater for about 10 years now. The Inn is maybe 5 minutes biking distance from my house and it’s a nice little area. When I had first heard about this proposed Mosque, I was infuriated. I am Jewish myself and get even more angry when seeing Jewish rabbi’s supporting this structure.
First off, the neighborhood around is very quiet and peaceful. The Inn sits secluded from everything in it’s empty parkinglot yet it has come WITH the area. The Inn started around 1937 I think and the town was then build around it with the less residential areas moving off the mountain. The muslims seem to not understand that a structure of any religon, Jewish, Christian, or Hindu, it will not belong.
Nontheless, it may sound prejudice, yet the structures hailing from the middle east hardly look modern. The Jewish temple looks nice AND is closer to the none residential area. The Hindu temple is near non-residential yet looks discusting. Coming down that hill and seeing that building makes me almost want to throw up and it makes me even more confused that they are continuing to chop down as many trees as if everyone wants to see it.
Don’t give us “We’ve looked for years and this is the best spot” because it’s crap. There are plenty more spaces that can offer a good community and enviorment for a facility such as this. I am not a racist, I just do not support races that try and push boundries on other communities.
Sandy
March 06, 2011
After attending the Planning Board meeting the other night, I saw first hand exactly what this group of Muslims is up to. As the Chughtai Foundation, nothing more than a PO Box in a nearby town, doesn’t appear to have enough money to widen the roads, purchase the building and remodel it, they are probably figuring that if the town doesn’t grant the variance a law suite will come next allowing them to cash in. They didn’t come to the meeting with can we help the town or community. It was all adverserial. Not one Muslim person from Bridgewater spoke at this meeting. All were outsiders that don’t live in the area and probably have never been to this residential neighborhood. As one resident stated, Mountain Top Rd is nothing more then a paved goat path. The community center will not benefit any one other then outside Muslims.
One of the people speaking in favor of the Mosque was James Yee, NJ Director for CAIR. This group is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. Cair and Mr. Yee were also present at the trial for 6 persons found guilty in conspiring to kill Americans at Fort Dix. CAIR and Mr. Yee was in agreement with these Islamist Jihadists.
As the Rabbi stated we should welcome these people with open arms, I think not.
hesnotarealrabbi
March 23, 2011
There are already so many comments. Let’s just say that Islamists want Jews dead and call Jews pigs and monkeys. So WHAT is the rabbi’s damage? Is he brain dead? The Torah states that we must fight back. I am disgusted.