Religious Discrimination of Orthodox Jewish Summer Camp

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on nations, societies, and individuals all around the world. More specifically it has resulted in many shutdowns, restrictions, and precautions from many. It has resulted in many local entities having to reduce occupancy and capacity percentage of their facilities as well as having to implement mask usage in public spaces to prevent the further sprerad of the virus. Within the limitations imposed on local entities, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted religious groups around the world. Health officials have ruled it unsafe in many states for religious groups to gather at full capacity. Some states have even ruled it all together unsafe for religious groups to gather at all, while others have reduced religious gatherings to only 25% capacity. Additional restrictions on religious groups that have been taken include the prevention of singing and chanting due to its risk of further spreading the virus. However, these restrictions have raised concerns from many religious groups stating that these restrictions are violating their Constitutional right of the Free Exercise of Religion. The Oorah inc., a non-profit Orthodox-Jewish organization that hosts boy and girl summer camps as well as family retreats during Jewish holy days, is an example of a religious group that faced huge financial damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this case in particular, there exists a slippery slope in regards to the motive behind the restrictions placed on their camp and their ability to operate. Oorah camp is located in the county of Schoarie New York and as a result of the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the camp was fined $65,000 and shut down for the Summer 2021 for COVID-19 regulation and code violations until Oorah met all of Schoarie County officials demands. Over the past decade, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oorah inc. has been discriminated against for being a religious minority. The discrimination of Oorah inc. dates back to 2008 where “the complaints veered into anti-Semitism, such as the time in 2008 that officials mulled hanging a sign with swastikas to deter Oorah staff” (Hamodia). Although this act of discrimination is considered a part of a separate court case, it still helps explain the true motive behind shutting down the campgrounds of Oorah inc. These “unproved” COVID-19 violations placed on the Oorah camp are in violation of the Due Process clause. New York health officials failed to allow Oorah inc. to attend hearings as well as failure to re-inspect the camp grounds, and failure to renew the Oorah’s temporary residence permit. The Scholarie County officials issued a complete shutdown & refused to communicate with Oorah camp owners, which ultimately serves as a discriminatory action against the camp. It has prevented the camp from gathering and celebrating many of their religious holidays, including Roshashana & Sukkoth, and has restricted these Orthodox Jewish camp members from having an area of worship & retreat with their families & friends.

During this time the governor of New York, Andrew Cumno called for the closure of all summer camps due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many camps, including Oorah, re-structured their programs to bypass this restriction by instead running day & family camps. During the restructuring, Oorah assured that their family retreats met and followed all New York COVID-19 safety protocols, and as a result during the first few weeks of their opening had no positive cases on their campgrounds. The county of Scholarie ultimately violated Oorah’s Constitutional right of the free exercise of religion by using excuse of the camp breaking COVID-19 regulations to shut the camp down. 

The County of Scholarie later admitted that they have been trying to shut the Oorah camp down for months. Oorah inc. faced discriminatory treatment by the county due to being a religious minority. In recent Supreme court cases regarding constitutional religious violations and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme court has stated that even in a pandemic the New Jersey recently issued restrictions on religious groups, reducing their gatherings to 25% capacity in order to prevent the spread of  Coronavirus. A priest and Rabbi challenged these restrictions stating that small minority religious groups were negatively affected and were being treated unequally compared to other secular groups & local entities. The Supreme court ruled that this was a violation of the Free Exercise Clause and that religious groups had to be treated as equally with other secular local businesses. In a California case, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of California could not put restrictions on indoor religious gatherings, but approved of the restrictions on singing and chanting because that contributes to the spead of the virus whereas large religious gatherings are proven indifferent to other secular gatherings. The Supreme Court concluded that individuals should listen to state health officials guidlines, but there is a limitation on the policies health officials can put into place regaring the health and safety of individuals & communities. 

In my opinion, I agree with the set by these other Supreme Court Cases. The state, and more specifically Counties do not have the authority to prevent religious groups from gathering even in the midst of a pandemic. Especially in Oorah’s case, the County authorities cannot use the pandemic as an excuse to shut down their Orthodox Jewish camp just because they don’t agree with their values & practices. However, the county does have the authority to limit the capacity of the camp, but not shut down the camp all together. The actions taken by the County authorities and health officials prove to be discriminatory against Orthodox Jewish individuals and ultimately is a violation of their Free Exercise clause given that they have proceeded to act in alternative ways with other secular activities similar to Oorah inc. within the New York area.