Troubled House of Worship

At Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, the 1st Amendment collided painfully with the American Dream.

One side framed the controversy as a battle for religious freedom, the other said it was just a zoning dispute. The right to exercise one’s beliefs versus the right to own a home in a residential neighborhood.

Each had a strong captain: George Mihlsten, the city’s premier lobbyist, is working for free on behalf of a small Orthodox synagogue that conducts services in a Hancock Park house. John Ferraro, the president--some say king--of the City Council, backs the neighbors who want homes to be used by families, not congregations.

In the end, the guy with the gavel won: The council unanimously rejected Congregation Etz Chaim’s request for a special permit to remain in the residential zone.

But there will, undoubtedly, be another round.

“I cannot, in good conscience--I cannot, from religious belief--close this shul down,” Rabbi Chaim Rubin told the council, offering a prayer to give the politicians the courage and wisdom to make “the right” decision.

“There’s going to be a minyan tonight, and tomorrow, and Shabbos,” the rabbi added in an interview after his appeal was denied, saying that he will consider taking the case to court. “We’re going to go on.”

Despite the unanimous vote, many lawmakers--including Ferraro--struggled mightily with the land-use quandary, which directly touches only a few blocks but has broad implications.

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For a quarter of a century, Rubin’s father ran a small congregation out of his home on quiet June Street in the heart of Hancock Park; it was illegal, but nobody said anything. When the elder Rubin grew too old to hold services, his son took the flock three blocks away to a rented house at Highland Avenue and 3rd Street, a busy intersection traversed by thousands of cars each day.

The Hancock Park Homeowners Assn. started to complain, so the rabbi decided to seek City Hall’s blessing. Wrong move.

Ferraro supported the homeowners group, which has helped him get elected eight times. And council members quietly fell into lock step behind their leader.

“It’s amazing how the votes stack up before committees are assigned,” said an observer, referring to Ferraro’s power as newly reelected council president to shuffle membership on the council’s policy panels.

“If it wasn’t for John,” said one of the council’s seven Jewish lawmakers, “I would have supported [the synagogue].”

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Ferraro promised to work with Etz Chaim--which means “tree of life”--to find the worshipers another location. He noted that the elder Rubin had lived in the June Street home where he led services daily; no one lives in the Highland Avenue house--10 to 15 men visit twice daily for morning and evening services, and 50 or 60 people attend Sabbath and holiday prayers.

Some neighbors have complained that the illegal usage could hurt property values.

“This is not an easy decision,” Ferraro told his colleagues, taking a rare step down from his presidential post to address the issue. “This is strictly a land-use item. This is a residential area.”

Municipalities throughout the nation have been struggling to find a balance between zoning regulations and the Bill of Rights for years.

Orthodox Jews in a tiny village in New York State sued the government for requiring two-acre lots for places of worship. A Presbyterian church in Washington went to court when the city blocked it from running a soup kitchen in a residential neighborhood.

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But last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1993 law that many churches and synagogues had used to fight the government on cases involving the “free exercise” clause of the 1st Amendment.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which President Clinton signed with a flourish shortly after arriving at the White House, said government officials must meet higher-than-usual standards when state and local regulations affect religious practice, and must make exceptions for people whose actions are based on religion. The high court nullified the law, saying that Congress had no power to interpret the Constitution, and that the incidents that motivated the legislation failed to “indicate some widespread pattern of religious discrimination.”

Etz Chaim’s opponents cited the recent court decision Tuesday, and further argued that giving the shul permission to stay open was the first step on a slippery slope.

“We live in a diverse community. If you permit this illegal use, how can you rationally prevent Muslims from setting up their things, Buddhists from having their temples?” asked Hancock Park resident Molly Gorelick. “Once you open up the door, you will ruin a beautiful asset.”

Rabbi Rubin and his supporters argued that this was a unique case.

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Orthodox Jews, they pointed out, walk to services on Sabbath and most holidays. That means there are rarely cars parked near the six-bedroom, $391,000 home built in 1925 being used as a synagogue. It also means that neighborhoods where no shuls are allowed are off-limits to the Orthodox.

“We’re not talking about a [conditional-use permit] for a liquor store. We’re not talking about a [conditional-use permit] for a fast-food restaurant,” Mihlsten reminded lawmakers. “We’re talking about a [conditional-use permit] so that people can pray.”

Brian Cartwright, a Hancock Park resident who frequently jogs past 3rd and Highland, testified that the synagogue has “no discernible impact” on the neighborhood.

“How this could be disturbing to anyone remains a mystery to me,” he testified during the council hearing. Noting that the founders of Hancock Park imposed covenants restricting the race and religion of residents, Cartwright added: “In 1997, I hope the city of Los Angeles won’t apply its regulations so that, as a practical matter, Orthodox Jews can’t live on my block.”

But Gail Gordon, a lawyer for the homeowners association, noted that “most of the board members” of the group are Jewish, and said their goal is not to reenact discriminatory covenants but to protect “one of the oldest, well-established and maintained single-family neighborhoods” in Los Angeles.

“This is not a religious issue,” insisted homeowners association President James Wolf, who said he represented 90% of Hancock Park’s 1,200 homeowners. “This is a land-use issue.”