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Atlantic Beach continues costly war to stop Chabad KEVIN J. KELLEY LI Herald columnist
A village trustee said Chabad is ‘buying the world town by town,’ adding, ‘They have the numbers, they procreate.’
T
he Village of Atlantic Beach is incurring sizable financial costs as a result of its long-running dispute with Long Beachbased Chabad Lubavitch of the Beaches over the organization’s effort to open an outreach center at the foot of the Atlantic Beach Bridge. •The village’s egal costs have totaled about $375,000 — so far •The village may also have to pay Chabad at least $400,000 stemming from a federal court’s finding of violations of the Chabad group’s constitutional rights. At the same time, Atlantic Beach’s 1700 year-round residents are facing a local tax increase of 50 percent or more. That steep hike is unrelated to the Chabad case and stems from the village’s past mismanagement of its finances. Not only money is at stake. The reputation of the South Shore community that’s adjacent to the Five Towns has also been badly damaged. The move to keep Chabad out of Atlantic Beach partly reflects intolerance toward pious and proselytizing Jews whose culture
and beliefs are not shared by a majority of residents. The controversy dates to 2021 when Chabad of the Beaches paid $950,000 for a 10,000-square-foot property at the foot of the bridge, a prominent location was listed for sale following the closure in 2019 of a Capital One branch. The village made no move to buy the building during the two-year period when it remained vacant and available. But soon after Chabad’s purchase, the village sought to use its eminent-domain power to seize the property, with the stated intention of opening a community center and a lifeguard operations facility there. ome Atlantic Beach residents voiced opposition to the seizure of Chabad’s property. They noted that the village already owned other parcels suitable for a community center. Constructing it at an alternate location would avoid the cost of compensating Chabad for the taking of its property via eminent domain, the critics said. See Atlantic Beach on page 2
S 2025 Park St., at the foot of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, was formerly a CapitalOne branch that included drive-thru banking. The proposed use of the property by Chabad of the Beaches would feature a drivethru for kosher-food pickup.
From Agam Berger, joy DR. ALAN MAZUREK Jewish Star columnist
W
Freed hostage Agam Berger is a violinist. As a balat teshuva, she’s an inspiration.
Courtesy
atching video after video of the hostages released over the last few weeks brings forth feelings of happiness for the individuals released and their enormously grateful loved ones, along with feelings of unease and despair at the apparent surrender to terrorist demands. Watching the barbaric hordes, salivating and celebrating like wild beasts around Arbel
Yahud and Gadi Moses as they were released, fills us with anger, despair and uncertainty. Was the price worth it? As the value of a human life is incalculable, this question has no answer. The release of Agam Berger, one of several women military observers at Nahal Oz on the Gaza border (whose warnings were ignored by higher-ups), provided a spark of hope. A gifted violinist, she was a baalat teshuva who, it’s been reported, during her captivity kept Shabbat as best as possible, did not eat meat to maintain kashrut, and even fasted on Tisha B’av. As result of her daughter’s commitment to Shabbat, her mother, Meirav, asked that Agam not be released on Shabbat, to avoid any furSee The news on page 13