By Denis Devine
Mesivta and supporters blast Jackson over letter; he and others question zoning
One side sees anti-Semitism and a possible hate crime; the other sees mistaken or corrupt zoning variances and tax exemptions afforded an Orthodox Jewish religious educational institution. One side consists of Long Beach's Orthodox Jewish community and its supporters, as well as the students and rabbis of a yeshiva described as the pinnacle of Jewish religious education. The other consists of the non-Orthodox neighbors of the yeshiva and its controversial dormitories, and a small but vocal band of civic activists intent upon stopping the Mesivta of Long Beach's expansion.
Either way, the controversy which erupted in two full-page advertisements in last week's Long Beach Herald has divided a polarized, embittered city. Hundreds of Mesivta supporters signed the petitions printed in the August 10 edition of The Herald. Dozens of readers have called the Herald in the week since to express their outrage over the ad's charge of anti-Semitism.
Last week, two ads expressed outrage "at the open anti-Semitic statements made by Mark Jackson, calling the Mesivta of Long Beach parasites because of its tax-exempt status both as a religious and educational organization." The ads were called petitions, featuring signatures of the Mesivta's rabbis and students on one, and community supporters on the other.
Long Beach resident Howard Fishman, an attorney with a practice in Mineola who also prays at the Mesivta, is representing the yeshiva in relation to the advertisements and Mr. Jackson. Rabbi Shlomo Lesin, the Mesivta's administrator, said he did not wish to speak to reporters. But Mr. Fishman said the ads were placed to contest "how inaccurate and inflammatory" Mr. Jackson's statements were. He blasted the characterization of the Mesivta as "parasites," noting that the approximately 15 rabbis' families and approximately 200 students were a vital part of the Long Beach community.
In an August 14 letter to Mr. Jackson, Mr. Fishman wrote, "I understand that you have been disseminating scurrilous letters throughout the City of Long Beach which describe the Mesivta and its students as 'parasites.' They are inaccurate and inflammatory, to say the least and are clearly anti-Semitic... The Mesivta has suffered, and continues to suffer, serious damage. Furthermore, those letters have harassed and caused mental pain and anguish to its students."
Mr. Fishman closed by putting Mr. Jackson on notice that "unless you cease and desist from harassing the Mesivta and its students, both civil damages and criminal penalties will be sought against you."
But Mr. Jackson, a World War II veteran and the city administration's most frequent and strident critic, was not about to back down. Asked what effect the ads would have on his willingness to speak out against the Mesivta, Mr. Jackson said, "It will make me more defiant. It will stimulate me to pursue it even more, because it's a sign of a cover-up, like they're reaching for straws to discredit me."
He also hinted at future legal action against the school and the people behind the advertisements. The ads, which together cost $1,150, were paid for by Mesivta supporter and Realtor, Ellen Omeara, who is also a youth liaison within the Orthodox community. Ms. Omeara said she had collected the money from people who signed the petitions. [She also acknowledged that although the names were labeled "signatures," not every person signed the petition themselves. A secretary at the Mesivta printed the rabbis' names, for example. But Ms. Omeara stood behind the names, saying everyone included in the ad both knew what they were signing and wanted their name to appear in the paper as well.]
"Their calling me an anti-Semite has defamed me and attacked my character," said Mr. Jackson, a Jew by birth himself. "They have injured my reputation and my good name and I'm not going to tolerate that."
After reading Mr. Jackson's letter and the ads in response, Phyllis Barell, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League's Long Island office, certainly felt that the anti-Semitism charge had merit. She also said Mr. Jackson's Jewish birth did not lessen the offense.
"Any time we call a group a name that is so offensive that is targeted at a group, it certainly could be anti-Semitic," Ms. Barell said. "When a negative and offensive word is used, targeting a specific group, in this case the group is Jewish, then it could be called anti-Semitic."
In his letter, Mr. Fishman interpreted Mr. Jackson's comments as directed at "the Mesivta and its students." When asked to whom she thought Mr. Jackson directed his comment, Ms. Omeara said "you know what he's referring to... The boys are the ones most affected by this."
While Mr. Jackson stood behind his use of the term "parasites" - "they're takers," he said -- he stressed that he was not targeting the Orthodox Jewish community nor the students of the Mesivta. According to Mr. Jackson, his "parasites" remark was meant for the yeshiva's "senior management, not the students, they're innocent victims. No, I meant the senior rabbis because they're the ones that set policy."
The policy Mr. Jackson is protesting has brought the yeshiva before the Long Beach Zoning Board of Appeals twice in the past two years, both times in highly charged hearings leading to controversial decisions. In March 1999, the Mesivta applied to expand its school building at 205 West Beech Street, only to meet substantial resistance from its neighbors. They eventually received the zoning variances they sought. Then, in May 2000, the yeshiva again appeared before the Zoning Board, this time seeking to demolish a dorm and two private homes in order to build a dormitory for its students at 76 East Beech Street along Riverside Boulevard.
The application to build the dormitory in the residential neighborhood also met with considerable outcry from non-Orthodox neighbors, and the plan remains mired in litigation to this day. After the Zoning Board granted the Mesivta the variances it sought, neighbors and the A & B Homeowners Association filed an Article 78 proceeding to halt the demolition and construction of the new dorm.
"I have no problem with what the Mesivta is trying to do in terms of their avowed purpose, but I have a big problem with how they do it," Mr. Jackson said. "They're just not good neighbors, alright?"
One neighbor who agrees with Mr. Jackson is Barbara Fotinatos, one of the parties behind the Article 78 against the dormitory slated to be built next to her home. Ms. Fotinatos said Mr. Jackson's only involvement with her case was to lend "moral support," but she was disgusted by the use of what she called the "ugly label" of anti-Semitism.
"As usual, they pull out the anti-Semitism label to take the focus away from the real proceeding: which is about a building that doesn't conform to the zoning laws, that the Zoning Board decided to approve contrary to every zoning law they have passed in the last 30 years," said Ms. Fotinatos.
"It's a disgusting weapon to use," Ms. Fotinatos said. "We're not being anti-Semitic, we're being anti-ridiculous Zoning Board decision. I don't care who is building the dorm, I'm opposed to it in a residential neighborhood."
On behalf of Ms. Fotinatos and her husband Gregory, as well as the A & B Homeowners, attorney Charles Kovit filed the Article 78 seeking to overturn the Zoning Board's May 25 decision to grant the area variances sought by the Mesivta to build a three-story dormitory on plots formerly occupied by three homes. Mr. Kovit argued that the dormitory would require a use variance in a residentially-zoned neighborhood, and that because the dormitory was not on the same lot as the Mesivta's school building, it was not protected as an accessory use to the school's religious educational purpose.
'Parasites' letter all over town, but how?
The controversial ads charged Mark Jackson with making open anti-Semitic statements "calling the Mesivta of Long Beach parasites because of its tax-exempt status both as a religious and educational organization." But Mr. Jackson did not call the yeshiva's administration "parasites" in a news article or at a public meeting, on the public record. Instead, the quote came from a controversial letter Mr. Jackson Faxed to Long Beach Chamber of Commerce President and attorney Lawrence Elovich, which was then photocopied and distributed to most addresses south of Park Avenue in the center of town. Both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Elovich deny copying the letter or showing it to anyone else -- but someone's not telling the truth.
Mr. Jackson said he sent the letter to Mr. Elovich to seek his legal opinion of the Mesivta's unusually high number of properties off of the Long Beach tax rolls. The yeshiva owns 16 properties in Long Beach which have been granted tax-exempt status by the Long Beach Tax Assessor, Mary Cammarato.
The letter begins, "Enclosed list of off the tax rolls of Mesivta, related officials. What legal standards do these people meet to merit paying no taxes? They don't even pay garbage collection, water or sewer fees. The hard-working Long Beach breadwinner subsidizes the Mesivta who bring nothing to the table in the way of economic benefit to the community, Mesivta are parasites - they only take!"
The letter also names some property owners and their addresses.
Mr. Elovich said he "didn't share it with anybody. I read the letter and put it in the garbage, frankly... I did not agree with the contents of the letter, and I discarded it."
Mr. Jackson also denied sharing the letter with others, and vehemently denied distributing it to the mailboxes and doors of every home in the center of town.
Ellen Omeara, a realtor and youth liaison in the Orthodox Jewish community with close ties to the Long Beach Democratic Party, said the letter had been "lit-dropped" in hundreds of mailboxes sometime in late June. Even the Mesivta's current dorms received them in their mailboxes, and offended students then alerted Ms. Omeara, she said.
Ms. Omeara declined to say who had created the petitions protesting Mr. Jackson's letter, but guessed that Mr. Jackson had "lit-dropped" his own letters. Ms. Omeara said members of the Orthodox community had volunteered to carry the petitions in their neighborhoods, and had easily enlisted the support of those named in the petitions.
