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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2714 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 11, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Court opinion:

  • During Jewish synagogue services, a "Torah reader" recites portions of the Torah to the congregation. Since year 1999, Efraim Marcus, a professionally-trained Torah reader, has served as the Torah reader for a synagogue in Harrison, New York.

  • Jews are forbidden from using cars or other means of transportation on the Sabbath, so they generally must live within walking distance of a synagogue. In 1999, Marcus lived outside Harrison, so he had to drive to Harrison before the Sabbath, stay overnight at the rabbi's house, and walk to the synagogue on the Sabbath. In 2005, after the birth of Marcus's first child, the synagogue rented an apartment one mile away and allowed Marcus to live there for free. In 2014, after the birth of Marcus's third child, Marcus determined that walking a mile to the synagogue on every Sabbath would be "implausible", so a congregation member bought a house 0.2 mile away and donated it to the synagogue, and the synagogue allowed Marcus to live in the house for free. The house is also used to hold events and to tutor students on Torah-related matters. Marcus also serves as a full-time assistant/substitute rabbi, though he is not "an ordained member of the clergy".

  • Under New York law, property used for a religious purpose is exempt from property tax. Is this house, used as a residence for the synagogue's Torah reader, eligible for this exemption? The municipality's tax assessor says no. The trial judge agrees, questioning whether the synagogue needs a Torah reader at all when it could just return to the pre-1999 practice of having a rotation of college students read the Torah at services.

  • The appeals panel reverses. This situation is quite distinguishable from a past case where a synagogue bought a house for the use of a part-time janitor. Marcus's ability to walk to the synagogue on the Sabbath obviously is an integral part of the synagogue's religious purpose, so a house that the synagogue allows him to use can be tax-exempt.

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