Neighbor makes case home is house of worship
Issue focuses on use of private residence in Freehold Twp.
BY ELANA ARON Correspondent
Heckling, anger and comments that came close to intolerance all reared their heads as the Freehold Township Zoning Board of Adjustment met Jan. 24 to hear an application filed by Paul Sweda, a resident of the township and a neighbor of Rabbi Avraham Bernstein who is asking the board to find Bernstein in violation of the municipal zoning ordinance.

The meeting was held at the Freehold Township Senior Center, Jackson Mills Road. The building was filled almost to capacity, with many residents turning out to hear a case that has received national media attention.

Sweda is asking the board to determine if Bernstein, who is a member of Chabad Lubavitch, a worldwide Jewish organization headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., is using his Stillwells Corner Road home as a house of worship, something that would be prohibited in a residential zone.

Attorney Gerald A. Marks, who represents Bernstein, asked the board to adjourn the meeting until a court rules on the matter. Various litigation is pending in the case surrounding Bernstein's use of his Freehold Township home for prayer services.

"While it is certainly within the discretion of this board to hear testimony tonight," Marks said, "the township of Freehold has stated that there won't be action until the decision of the courts. What you're acting on is hypothetical. It's the court that will ultimately determine this."

Board members denied Marks' request for adjournment and proceeded with the application.

To prove his case, Sweda came armed with photographs of Bernstein's home, aerial photos, cars parked in Bernstein's driveway and at the municipal complex across the street, and a tent in the backyard of Bernstein's home.

Sweda claims dozens of worshippers who come to Bernstein's home have been parking on the street near his (Sweda's) home, along with several large vans parked in Bernstein's driveway. He also stated that tents have been erected several times a year on Bernstein's property to hold large religious celebrations.

Although they accepted the photographs into evidence, the board members told Sweda that the pictures of cars and a tent were just that - photos of isolated cars and a tent - and being that there were no people photographed or proof ofwhomthe vehicles belonged to, they were not very substantial.

Marks agreed with that assessment, arguing there was nothing to identify the vehicles and stating that there was no violation in parking on a township street.

Sweda also brought information printed off the Internet, including a listing of all 120 Chabad centers throughout New Jersey, material on Chabad ofWesternMonmouth, as well as the renovation blueprints of Bernstein's ongoing extension of his home on Stillwells Corner Road, where he lives with his wife and eight children.

Sweda, who has lived in the neighborhood across from the municipal complex since 1968, testified that Bernstein initially held services at the Barkalow Middle School, also on Stillwells Corner Road, but that six months later groups of people began to pray at Bernstein's home.

Sweda claims that the number of worshippers has gradually increased since 1998, when Bernsteinmoved in to the home on Stillwells Corner Road.

Marks read a letter that Sweda sent to municipal officials in 1999. The information included in that correspondence, which Sweda claimed was accurate, later proved to be shaky as Marks cross-examined Sweda on his sources of information.

In one instance Sweda acknowledged getting his information about Chabad from The New York Times. Sweda also testified that the Chabad headquarters of Monmouth County listed its location as 351 Stillwells Corner Road, Freehold Township, which is Bernstein's home address.

"Do you try and verify all the information you give to the zoning board?" Marks asked Sweda.

When Sweda responded in the affirmative, Marks produced a copy of a page from the 2007 VerizonYellow Pages. It listed 351 Stillwells Corner Road, Freehold Township, as the home of Sister Janice Edwards and the Sisters of Mercy.

Apparently, the property was owned by the Church of Saint Robert Bellarmine until it was sold to Bernstein in 1998. Four nuns fromthe Sisters ofMercy order had resided there until the sale.

In his 1999 letter to the township, Sweda described "men in weird clothing" coming to pray at Bernstein's home, and stated that they were "chanting."

"What do you consider weird?" Marks asked him. When Sweda did not respond, Marks asked what he considered normal.

"I guess you know it when you see it," the attorney said, answering his own question. "Kind of like pornography."

At that point the crowd erupted, after which Marks explained the reference. Marks said he was repeating what Sweda had stated during a Channel 9 TV broadcast that aired inAugust, reporting on Freehold Township's setting up of a surveillance camera at town hall in order to monitor activities at Bernstein's home.

Marks said during that broadcast Sweda had stated that a person knew when prayer was going on in someone's home. He said it was like pornography, that "you know it when you see it."

Sweda denied making that statement. Marks then asked the zoning board to allow him to boot up his computer in order to show a tape of the broadcast.

At that point the board members decided to adjourn themeeting, tellingMarks he could produce the tape at the nextmeeting and assuring themembers of the public that they would be heard as well.

The hearing will continue on Feb. 28 at the Freehold Township Senior Center.