Yeshiva to open on Logan Road

By Jonathan Weber
Ocean Township — A few signs still remain along the sidewalks on Logan Road, but it will no longer make a difference – “No Dorm on Logan Road” is finished. Yeshiva Gedola Na’Os Yaakov has won its appeal in Federal Court in Trenton, thus ending a two-year battle for the school to dorm rabbinical students in their late teens and early 20s.

Twice, the Township of Ocean Board of Adjustment turned down their application, the second time after Judge Freda Wolfson ordered the Board to reconsider the decision on the Talmudic academy (school to ordain rabbis). Along with right to open the facility, the school is asking for one million dollars in damages.

The Board had 180 days by law to decide if Na’Os Yaakov could dorm 96 students at the 1515 Logan Road site, but the hearings became contentious — over a thousand people showed up to complain at some meetings — and the process dragged on for 511 days. The municipal building couldn’t contain everyone requiring the sessions to move to the gymnasium in Ocean Township High School.

The overwhelming feeling of those who opposed the school centered around a fear the Township of Ocean would turn into another Lakewood. Charges of anti-semitism flew and residents took to social media like Facebook to show their disdain.

The town has a large Modern Orthodox population, but this affair seemed to go more against the Chassidic wing of Judaism that resides in the Ocean County township.

The Yeshiva appealed the no vote in Federal Court and the whole process suddenly changed. No longer would the Yeshiva have to prove their school was beneficial, but under federal law, which supersedes the state statutes, the religious use of the site meant the municipality would have to prove it was not beneficial.
The land use provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (known as RLUIPA) protect individuals, houses of worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and land-marking laws.
The building has been home to several religious institutions in the past and was used in this past school year as an elementary school with about 100 students. When it housed the Deal Yeshiva, fifty high school students were dormed.
Asked if the town will appeal the latest decision from the US District Court, Mayor Christopher Siciliano stated, “Since this was a RLUIPA case, the chance for a successful appeal is slim, and thus, we will not gamble and risk the possibility of an enormous settlement if we were unsuccessful. We have a responsibility to the entire community to minimize the damage of this ruling. As it stands now, they are demanding damages of nearly $1 million dollars which we will mediate within 60 days of this order.”
Na’Os Yaakov will be limited to 80 students, not the 96 they sought and students will not be permitted to have cars on campus. Additionally, the windows in the study hall will have to remain closed when it is in use so as to minimize noise.
The mayor did succeed after six hours of negotiations in having the Yeshiva stick to their original site plan.
Yeshiva Gedola Na’Os Yaakov currently operates in Lakewood with a smaller student body and with the students dormed off campus. They wanted the Ocean location to give the students intense study of the Talmud, the collection of rabbinic writings that contains the religious authority of Orthodox Judaism.

Mayor’s statement
Siciliano issued the following statement after the ruling:
Unfortunately, the application was judged as a RLUIPA case rather than a “zoning” issue. This severely limited our ability to defend this and consequently the actions and statements from the enthusiastic and concerned residents trigged such a case. I feel their comments and actions were unfairly used against them.
In this application there certainly were inappropriate comments on social media; however, those comments were from a population that was not limited to Ocean township residents. In addition, just as there are rights in our constitution protecting religious freedoms, there are also rights protecting free speech, no matter how abhorrent it may be.
I am proud of our Board of Adjustment, whose decision of denial would be upheld in the normal appeal of zoning denial. This case, however, is under the jurisdiction of  the Federal Court and imposes the standards of RLUIPA, which turns the tables and requires the objectors or the Board to show a compelling reason to deny the application, rather that the applicant having that burden. The Court found that there was no “compelling” basis for denial of the application.

I was afforded the opportunity to appear in Trenton to discuss face to face with the Rabbi and his “Team” of attorneys the need for them to adhere to the site plan as previously presented. After six hours, I was successful in getting them to demur or accept my suggestions to comply.

It’s important for people to understand that since it was judged as RLUIPA and not a zoning case, that the Mayor and Council were not in any position to negotiate, compromise or anything of the sort. The ball was in their court and the best we could do was to ask them to please comply with the site plan, which, after six hours, eventually they did indeed agree to.

I am expecting that we will live harmoniously with the yeshiva.

I personally believe that our lives will not change one bit from this application, and that we will be good neighbors.

I did demanded an apology from the applicants attorney for remarks he made in the Asbury Park Press the other day saying, “The people of Ocean Township are small minded.”  His statement WAS UNCALLED FOR AND OFFENSIVE! (The) rabbi did however reach out to me and apologize, saying that he did not agree with the attorney’s statement and he too was offended! He wants to work with us as a good neighbor, promoting fellowship and community spirit.