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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