MAHWAH, N.J. – In an effort to stave off a feared influx of Orthodox Jews from New York, Mahwah Township introduced a pair of unlawfully discriminatory ordinances, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office alleges in a complaint filed in Bergen County Superior Court Tuesday.
The nine-count complaint filed against the Township of Mahwah and the Mahwah Township Council seeks the return of more than $3.4 million in state Green Acres funds awarded to the township, as well as injunctions blocking the two ordinances alleged to be discriminatory.
At issue are an ordinance that went into effect at the end of July, limiting the use of the township’s recreational facilities to state residents, and an ordinance amendment that was introduced but not passed that would have effectively banned the posting on utility poles of plastic strips called “Lechis” that denote the boundaries of an eruv used by Sabbath-observant Orthodox Jews, the state alleges.
The complaint charges that the township council, influenced largely by vocal anti-Orthodox-Jewish sentiment expressed by some residents at public meetings and on social media, engaged in unlawful discrimination aimed at halting an unwanted “Infiltration” by Orthodox Jews.