20 | OCTOBER 21 • 2021 

A

Federal Appeals 
Court ruled Oct. 12 
that the Michigan 
Department of Corrections 
(MDOC) must provide kosher 
meals to Jewish inmates on cer-
tain holidays, the Courthouse 
News Service reported.
The MDOC had been serv-
ing kosher meals to Jewish pris-
oners since 2019, when the state 
settled a class-action lawsuit 

that its vegan meals were not 
sufficient to be served as “reli-
gious meals” for Jewish inmates 
who kept kosher.
The 2019 settlement didn’t 
address Jewish inmates’ 
demands that kosher meat and 
dairy products be provided on 
certain Jewish holidays. The 
MDOC stated that kosher-cer-
tified meat and dairy products 
were available in the prison 

commissary for those who 
wanted them. It also stated pro-
viding meat and dairy products 
to holiday meals would be too 
expensive.
Under the ruling from the 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Sixth Circuit, the MDOC must 
provide kosher meat and dairy 
products on Shabbat, Rosh 
Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot 
and Shavuot.
An appeals panel said the 
availability of kosher snacks and 
dairy products from a com-
missary is insufficient to satisfy 
federal standards for Jewish 
inmates that require specific 
meals on Shabbat and other 
holidays. 
The panel also said the 
expected annual cost of $10,000 
to satisfy the Jewish inmates’ 
dietary needs was not a reason 
to deny the accommodations 
as it would only represent .02% 
of its $39 million annual food 
budget.

The decision held that the 
MDOC must accommodate the 
sincerely held beliefs of Jewish 
inmates under the Religious 
Land Use and Institutionalized 
Persons Act, or RLUIPA.
Thomas Rheaume, plaintiffs’ 
attorney, said in a statement that 
the “Sixth Circuit rightly upheld 
the sincerely held religious 
beliefs of incarcerated persons.
“The decision paves the 
way for a class of Jewish pris-
oners to eat religious meals in 
accordance with the precepts 
of their religion as opposed to 
non-conforming religious meals 
deemed sufficient by the state,
” 
he said. “The accommodation 
of religion upheld today by the 
Sixth Circuit is consistent with 
RLUIPA
’s purpose and should 
be lauded.
”
A spokesperson for the 
Michigan Attorney General’s 
Office said it is reviewing the 
ruling and declined further 
comment. 

O

n Friday Sept. 17, 
Farber Hebrew 
Day School mid-
dle school students stood in 
front of a junkpile containing 
doors, wooden pallets, sheets 
of metal, cardboard boxes and 
PVC piping. They scratched 
their heads while Rabbi Simon 
Italiaander charged them with 
the following task: Construct a 
kosher sukkah that can house 
your entire team using only the 
materials in front of you. 
The students were far from 
stumped. Farber students spent 
the previous two days in info 
sessions with their teachers 
and rabbis learning the fun-
damental requirements for a 
sukkah. Among them were 
the concepts of dofen akumah 

(crooked wall), gud 
asik I (the wall goes 
up) and schach kash-
er (the covering on 
the top). Students 
also learned the 
minimum number 
of sukkah walls 
needed, as well the 
protocol for if (or 
when) it rains during 
Sukkot. 
The winning team was to 
be rewarded with an in-school 
pizza party as well as their 
team’s picture being featured 
in the Detroit Jewish News. Each 
one of the six teams built an 
exquisite minimalist sukkah, 
and Rabbi Italiaander wished he 
could choose multiple winners. 
One team enclosed a plat-

form on the playground 
structure to form an elevated 
sukkah. Another team zip-tied 
wooden crates together to form 
a cozy tropical-looking cabana.
The winning team, however, 
built a low, sprawling sukkah 
decorated with a blanket, hand-
drawn decorations and color. 
The clincher, however, was an 
unexpected skit that this team 

performed that demonstrated 
the need for strong sukkah 
walls (that can’t be blown down 
by an evil wind).
Congratulations to the win-
ning team: Noah Elberg, Rafael 
HaLevy, Jonah Schwartz, Zev 
Mandel, Devorah Attali and 
Amalya Winer, headed by Mrs. 
Elana Miodownik and Rabbi 
Ari Weber. 

JN STAFF
Farber team wins school competition.
Sukkah Success!

OUR COMMUNITY
The winning group 
smiling proudly from 
inside their kosher 
sukkah.

LEFT: Students build a Sukkah based on 
what they learned.

Court rules Jewish inmates should get 
appropriate meals on Shabbat, holidays.
Court rules Jewish inmates should get 

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