Synagogue Feted as Feud Goes On

After years of feuding and legal wrangling with neighbors and the city, a small congregation of Jewish Orthodox families opened the doors Sunday to its controversial new synagogue in Hancock Park.

Setting off from a house that, for 30 years, has doubled as their rabbi’s home and a place of worship, about 200 members of Congregation Etz Chaim and their guests danced and sang their way through the usually tranquil streets. Led by musicians on a flatbed truck blaring traditional Jewish music, the group snaked its way for an hour along four blocks to a building at the corner of Highland Avenue and 3rd Street that will serve as a synagogue. Police escorting the procession stopped traffic twice, while several upset homeowners looked on and two followed the celebration with video cameras.

“This is an absolute abuse of residential zoning,” said Cynthia Chvatal, a 14-year resident of Hancock Park, as the crowd passed. “I don’t care whether it’s Jewish, Muslim, Catholic or Pentecostal. This is not about religion. What protection do we have now for [our houses]?”

The day brought into focus the long-running fight over Etz Chaim’s right to worship as a group in Hancock Park -- a neighborhood renowned for its impressive homes and zoned almost entirely for single-family residences.

For nearly a decade, some residents have tried to prevent Rabbi Chaim Baruch Rubin from building what, they say, is an illegal synagogue that flouts zoning laws and opens the neighborhood to other religious groups. Armed with an agreement with the city and a protective federal law, Rubin and his followers have pursued their plans, insisting that they have equal claim to a place in Hancock Park.

“There would be enormous joy on any occasion,” he said after he finished leading the crowd in prayers in the new synagogue, “but after finally prevailing, it is very sweet.”

Scores of Orthodox families live in Hancock Park, and most belong to one of the many synagogues a mile or two away on La Brea Boulevard. For three decades, however, the 30 or so families of Etz Chaim have held services in Rubin’s home on June Street. Their routine attracted little notice until 1995, when the congregation rented an old house at the Highland site and applied for a city permit to use it for prayer services.

City officials denied the permit requests repeatedly. Eventually, Rubin sued the city in federal and state courts, but judges had no more sympathy than the city. In 2000, the congregation got another chance with the passage of a federal law that in most cases prohibits local governments from restricting a religious group’s use of property if doing so makes it particularly difficult for the congregation to worship there.

Soon after the law was passed, then-City Atty. James K. Hahn agreed to allow Rubin to use the Highland property as a synagogue if he agreed to limit the number of people allowed inside to 50, and that any restoration work would reflect the unique character of Hancock Park. In what they now say was a mistake, city attorneys later approved plans to demolish the house and replace it with the new, 8,100-square-foot structure. The congregation is awaiting final approval of city permits before it is allowed to hold regular services in the building.

Chvatal and several other homeowners filed a lawsuit against Etz Chaim and the city to stop the synagogue’s construction and ban prayer services in Rubin’s home. Last month, a federal district judge dismissed the case.

“The fundamental problem with [the federal law] is that it creates two classes of landowners -- those who are religious and everyone else,” said Marci Hamilton, the lawyer hired by the homeowners. Hamilton said she plans to appeal the recent dismissal and believes the federal law will be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

“If I were them,” she said, referring to Etz Chaim, “I wouldn’t feel too terribly secure about their location.”

Rubin dismissed such claims, saying he was not concerned with attempts to shutter the new synagogue. And while he acknowledged that far more than the 50 people allowed under the settlement agreement had gathered Sunday, Rubin said homeowners would be foolish to make an issue of the celebration.

“It is not a daily activity, it is not a weekly activity or even a yearly activity. This is once in a blue moon,” he said.

As Bob Eisele and his wife, Diana, watched the procession pass their home of 20 years, he said, “This is filled with life. I love this. But as the use of a home for religious use, that’s something else.”