24 | JULY 16 • 2020 

A 

Muslim group is advocating for 
a Jewish man who was denied a 
religious kosher diet while being 
housed at the Macomb County Jail in 2017.
In court filings July 6, the Michigan 
chapter of the Council on American 
Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) announced its 
appearance as counsel on behalf of plaintiff 
Brandon Resch, who in November 2017 
was transferred from Oakland County Jail, 
where he was receiving a kosher diet, to 
Macomb County Jail. There he requested a 
kosher diet, had an interview with the jail’
s 
chaplain, and was denied a religious kosher 
diet by the jail because he didn’
t have the 
ability to write to a rabbi and obtain a “let-
ter of good standing.
” 
According to the CAIR-MI court filing, 
“Under no circumstances do a person’
s 
religious rights depend on whether or not 
they are a member in good standing of a 
religious organization … Macomb County’
s 
policy of requiring an individual housed 
in its jail to contact a religious leader — at 
their own expense and when they may 
not have access to phone numbers and 
addresses — to obtain a letter of ‘
good 
standing’
 prior to being afforded a religious 
diet places an undue burden on the indi-
vidual’
s religious practice in violation of the 
Constitution and the law.
”

According to CAIR-MI Staff Attorney 
Amy V
. Doukoure, Resch reached out to the 
group in a series of letters about his troubles 
getting kosher meals after saying he had 
reached out to Jewish organizations that 
didn’
t have the legal staffing to help him.
“The right to maintain a religious diet is 
of dear importance to the Muslim commu-
nity,
” Doukoure told the JN. 
“On this issue, the Muslim and 
Jewish communities are closely 
aligned.
”
Rabbi Boruch Zelouf, a 
Michigan advocate for the 
Aleph Institute, a nonprofit 
that assists Jewish prisoners, 
told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that 
“according to Resch’
s grandmother, Resch 
self-proclaimed as Jewish after entering 
prison, and that the group therefore does 
not consider him Jewish.
” 
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, execu-
tive director of the JCRC/AJC, 
said neither Resch nor CAIR 
had reached out to their orga-
nization, but if approached, 
“we would do our utmost to 
help,
” he told the JN.
“The JCRC/AJC appreciates 
anyone who works with prisoners to assert 
their rights and certainly when it comes to 

Jewish rituals and kosher food,
” Lopatin 
said. “Criminal justice reform is one of 
our key advocacy issues, and the ability of 
prisoners to practice their religion is a basic 
right that all prisoners and people every-
where deserve.
” 
Professor Daniel Manville of the Civil 
Rights Clinic at Michigan State University 
has been engaged in a lawsuit against the 
Michigan Department of Corrections for 
the past several years to give kosher-obser-
vant prisoners the right to meat and dairy 
meals. The court ruled in his favor and he is 
working to enforce a settlement agreement 
granted in January of this year.
Resch’
s case does not apply to that set-
tlement because he was in a county jail 
not run by the Michigan Department of 
Corrections, “where there are a different set 
of standards for those not yet convicted,
” 
according to Manville. 
Manville said he spoke to a CAIR-MI 
attorney about Resch’
s case. “If the jail uses 
this requirement against a Jewish detainee, 
it is likely to require it against a Muslim. It 

is better to stop something like that when 
you have a good factual case,
” he said. 
“The fact that he was given a kosher diet in 
Oakland County Jail, but not in Macomb, 
bolsters the case. Macomb is on shaky 
ground.
” 
Doukoure added, “The law has never 
required anybody to get the approval of 
someone else that this is your sincerely held 
religious belief; it is only up to the individ-
ual.
”
Doukoure said the motion phase of 
Resch’
s case will take place in September 
and it could go to trial by the end of the 
year.
Lopatin said the JCRC/AJC “will look 
into this issue seriously.
” 

Muslim Group
Helps Jewish 
Prisoner

CAIR-MI joins legal case of
county prisoner denied a kosher diet.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Jews in the D

Amy V. 
Doukoure

MACOMB.GOV

Rabbi Asher 
Lopatin

“The ability of 
prisoners to practice 
their religion is a 
basic right that all 
prisoners and people 
everywhere deserve.”

— RABBI ASHER LOPATIN

Macomb 
County Jail

