OpinionJournal: Faith and Fashion

The oh-so-fashionable folks of Long Island are trying to shut down a rabbi who holds services in a house tucked away behind hedgerows.

It sounds vaguely like the recent difficulties in Orange County, Florida (where, I'm pleased to report, the rabbi won.).

To be fair, it sounds like the Long Island case involves something identified as a Jewish Center and not as a home. But still. Good grief. The plaintiff's complaint includes the charge that the Chabad of Southampton Jewish Center is driving down property values. (Despite the fact that property values seem to be going up.)

The reporter who wrote this commentary, Lucette Lagnado, has attended Southampton Chabad, and she wonders out loud whether part of the problem, in the locals' eyes, is that Rabbi Rafe Konikov is a member of the Lubavitch sect, which is traditional Orthodox.

But she also has a quote from New York magazine in which a resident claims he/she isn't against Jews - but would be just as opposed to "Holy Rollers."

Sigh.

Full Lagnado op-ed piece