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High Stakes In
Chasidic Court Case
JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
recent decision by the
Supreme Court to hear a
case involving a Chasidic
village in New York
could add to the political divi-
sions within the Jewish com-
munity over fundamental
church-state questions.
The case involves action by
the State of New York setting
up a special public school dis-
trict for Kiryas Joel, an enclave
of the Satmar Chasidic group
in Orange County northwest of
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But Israeli officials, who had
previously pushed for a more
active role by Washington, do
not favor American interven-
tion in their talks with Pales-
New York City. The district was
created to allow the Satmar
group to operate its own special
education facilities, with public
funding.
But that action was over-
turned by a New York state ap-
peals court earlier this year,
which ruled that the state's ac-
tion was really intended to meet
the special religious needs of the
Jewish group.
And that, the court ruled,
would violate the so-called
Lemon test — the benchmark
against which the Supreme
Court has evaluated church-
state cases in recent years, a
standard that has generally
strengthened the church-state
wall.
Aside from the details of the
case — which involves real chil-
dren with serious problems, not
just abstract legal principles —
the Court's decision to hear the
case could lead to a reexamina-
tion or a scrapping of the Lemon
test, something a few justices
have been edging toward in re-
cent years.
The Lemon test lays down
strict rules for judging a gov-
ernment practice in terms of
church-state suitability: To pass
the test, a government practice
must have some secular pur-
pose, it must not have the "pri-
mary effect" of advancing a re-
ligion — and it must not lead to
excessive government entan-
glement with religion.
"We invited the Court in our
petition to kill [the Lemon test],"
said Nathan Lewin, a legal ad-
vocate for Orthodox causes who
is representing the Chasidic
school district. "It causes a lot
of confusion in lower courts, and
it should not apply in cases of
this kind."
The appeals court's ruling
that the special school district
resulted in a "symbolic union"
between church and state, Mr.
Lewin argued, demonstrated
how Lemon has caused inde-
fensible decisions in lower
courts.
He also cited a recent New
Jersey Supreme Court decision
striking down a state kosher
food law based on their reading
of the legal benchmark. "As long
as the Lemon-Kurtzman test is
on the books, the courts will be
applying it in these very strange
ways," he said. "So we think it's
best that it's done away with."
But others see just a Pando-
ra's box of constitutional hor-
rors.
"Lemon has worked very
well, from our perspective," said
Michael Lieberman, associate
director and counsel for the
Anti-Defamation League's
Washington office. ADL filed
a brief in opposition to the
school district in the New York
court action, and expects to do
the same when the Supreme
Court hears the case, probably
in March.
"It is an understandable
standard. From our perspective,
any change in the Lemon stan-
dard could be very dangerous
in terms of church-state law."
Christopher
To Mideast
With Secretary of State War-
ren Christopher back in the
Middle East for more shuttle
diplomacy, both Jerusalem and
Washington are wondering
what America's role should be
in the troubled negotiations
over implementing the Sept. 13
Israeli-PLO accord.
The Clinton administration
is eager to help clear away the
last obstacles to Israel's pullout
from Gaza and Jericho, sched-
uled to begin Dec. 13 despite Is-
raeli warnings that there might
be a delay.
Warren Christopher
tinian and PLO officials. But
they also recognize that politi-
cal factors make intervention
almost irresistible for the ad-
ministration.
"The Americans' domestic
agenda makes them want to be
in the talks at this time," said a
source close to the talks. "They
see the possibility of some fair-
ly easy political profit. But they
also think they can be genuinely
helpful. So their motives are
mixed."
Israeli leaders have told
Washington about their posi-
tion, while making it clear that
they will not turn any new me-
diation effort by Mr. Christo-
pher and his Mideast team into
an issue.
On the eve of the secretary's
departure, State Department
officials seemed unusually op-
timistic that the visit might
break the impasse on the Syri-
an-Israeli front. They were less
optimistic about progress on the
Arab boycott, although Mr.
Christopher promised to raise
the issue in his meetings with
Syria's President Hafez Assad.
This week, several members
of Congress led by Rep. Elliot
Engel, D-N.Y., Rep. Chuck
Schume, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ben
Gilman, R-N.Y., also pressed
Mr. Christopher to renew his
pleas on behalf of Syrian Jews.
Redefine
Israel Ties
On top of trying to keep U.S.
Jews up-to-date on the many
details of the Mideast peace
process, Israel's embassy in
Washington is moving quietly
on an even more ambitious
agenda: Trying to redefine the
relationship between Israel and