Dividing Line

M ahwah doesn’t want out-of-state residents to use its parks and the town has passed laws that would make building an eruv impossible. The state’s attorney general says the township is discriminating against Jews and is seeking $3.4 million in a civil suit.

The northern New Jersey town which sits across the border from Monsey and Spring Valley New York is also being sued by the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association over its refusal to allow an eruv.

In a nine-count complaint filed in late October state prosecutors said the actions of Mahwah’s township council were “hateful ” “small-minded ” and “biased.” Jewish leaders also smell a skunk.

“They fear the hyped-up lies regarding the chassidic community ” Yossi Gestetner co-founder of OJPAC (Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council) and a Monsey resident said. “Anywhere from education to poverty taxes unemployment and blockbusting accusations — all flat-out lies and innuendo.”