Supreme Court to Hear Case of Orthodox Jew Ordered to Get Permit to Host Prayers at Home

The petitioner, Daniel Grand, is an observant Jew who lives with his family in University Heights, Ohio…

In January 2021, Grand emailed a dozen friends, inviting them to pray at his house on the upcoming Sabbath. Shortly after, one of the neighbors informed the mayor, asking him to “put a stop to this.” Within a day, the city demanded he “cease-and-desist” from using his home as a place of religious assembly without first obtaining a permit.

This is surprising.  University Heights was always liberal, but that may have evolved to being Progressive, and that leans to being intolerant and antisemitic.

Maybe there is more to the story, but so far, the mayor looks like a dick.

This incident occurred in the middle of the Covid lock-down, when local, state and federal authoritarians were doing unconstitutional shit all over the place.  The isolation damaged a lot of people, and some of them were suburban mayors. 

The only way this incident should be a municipal issue is if it disrupted the neighborhood.  If the faithful frequently clogged up the street or took all the parking spots, that would be a legitimate complaint.  The article doesn’t mention the resident violating any zoning statutes.

That’s not always an issue if your religion is powerful enough to demand submission.

Columbus-area mosque begins outdoor broadcasting of prayer call

In Physics, during the chapter on sound, we covered local noise ordinances.  I did that to demonstrate that residents can look up laws and find them comprehensible.  Also, that laws can be specific, technical and contradictory.

In North Royalton, a person mowing their lawn with a gas lawnmower is violating the noise ordinances. 

The noise ordinance is very specific.  At your property line, a sound greater than 70 dB is not permitted.  A gas lawn mower is about a 100 dB.

If you don’t mow your lawn, the city will issue a citation.  Everybody ignores that part so we all get along.  Changing or ignoring noise ordinances to allow the Muslim call to prayer, seems like another kind of Constitutional violation.