A Gift From God? : Orthodox Jews in Hancock Park Seek, Receive Delay in Malathion Spraying

Some argue that political intervention did the trick. Others look to the heavens. Who can say?

The fact is that Friday’s scheduled malathion spraying of Hancock Park has been put back by an hour and a half, long enough for the Orthodox Jews who live there to stroll to synagogue, walk to dinner and scurry home before the helicopters arrive.

The Orthodox follow a strict interpretation of Jewish law, which says to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. In practice, this means a ban on driving from sundown Friday until three stars come out Saturday night, among other restrictions. Often, people who walk to friends’ homes for dinner do not get home until late.

But officials of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who are battling the area’s infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies, did not have the Sabbath in mind when they targeted an area bounded on the north by Beverly Boulevard, on the east by Vermont Avenue, on the south by Adams Boulevard and on the west by Redondo Boulevard and La Brea Avenue for aerial malathion spraying at 10 p.m. Friday.

Hancock Park, once a white Gentile enclave but lately home to many Orthodox families, is tucked into the northwest corner of the target zone. The announcement, which came in the mail earlier this week, set off a flurry of phone calls to local and state officials.

“We were in contact with the Department of Agriculture to see what could be done to meet the needs of the people,” said J.J. Kaplan, an aide to state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles). “They don’t want to be sprayed on when they’re walking home.”

Roberti represents the area and packs considerable clout as president pro tem of the Senate. But Bill Callison, special assistant in the Agriculture Department’s Division of Plant Industry, said that special requests had nothing to do with the postponement.

“We can’t start taking every request and trying to reschedule,” he said. In this case, he said, a spraying set for San Dimas earlier in the week had been scrubbed because of rain. It was rescheduled for 10 p.m. Friday in order to have a better chance of good visibility in the San Gabriel Valley.

As a result, the helicopters will not reach Hancock Park and surrounding areas until 11:30 p.m., and North Hollywood, also the home to many Orthodox Jews, will be undisturbed until about 1 a.m.

“We satisfied our operational needs, and it turned out that that fit well with the people’s needs. We’re happy with that and so are they,” Callison said.

Rabbi Meyer H. May, associate director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and a resident of Hancock Park, was among those who called Callison’s office to ask for a delay.

“I just wanted him to adjust the timetable so that it wouldn’t impede the flow of Jews to their synagogues and their Sabbath meals,” he said.

Although he is convinced that political pressure played a part, “I’m happy they had a cancellation in San Dimas, for whatever reason,” May said.

Callison said the state intends to stop the aerial spraying of malathion May 9, when enough sterile Medflies should be available to take over as the primary weapon in the fight to eradicate the insect, which is regarded as a serious threat to the state’s production of fruits and vegetables.