City of Portland Seeks to Prohibit Home Worship

August 19, 2008

PORTLAND For nearly 20 years, Rabbi Moshe Wilansky has used his Portland home to introduce Mainers to a religious movement established centuries ago in the White Russian town of Lyubavichi.  If the City of Portland has its way, those years of worship will come to an end on Thursday, August 21.  That night, the Portland Zoning Board of Appeals will hear arguments over whether the Rabbi is violating a Portland zoning ordinance by holding religious services in his home.

"The government has no business telling people when, where or how they should pray," said Zachary Heiden, Legal Director for the Maine Civil Liberties Union, who is representing Rabbi Wilansky.  "Mainers have freedom of religion, guaranteed by the Maine and U.S. Constitutions, and the City of Portland has to respect it."

Though attendance at Rabbi Wilansky's services is small, the city has nonetheless expressed the view that having a "Place of Worship" in a house the size of the Wilanskys' is a threat to the safety of the community.  In its memo to the Zoning Board of Appeals, the city argues that worshippers at Rabbi Wilansky's home could prevent streets from being plowed or fire trucks from reaching fires.  Yet, over an eighteen-year history of holding worship services, there has been no documentation of any of these sorts of problems.  Half of the participants walk to services, as part of their religious practice.

"Rabbi Wilansky is a good neighbor and a pillar of the community," noted Attorney Marshall Tinkle who has served for many years as counselor to the Rabbi.  "Now, for some mysterious reason, a complaint from one neighbor has brought the weight of City Hall down on this family's back."

Home-based worship services are a growing phenomenon in the United States, both because of the high-cost of operating an independent building and because of the intimacy and fellowship such environments provide.  Home-based worship services, however, have frequently come under attack from zoning boards and other municipal entities.  Such troubles led Congress in 2000 to pass the "Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act", which insulates religious communities from onerous and arbitrary land-use regulation.

"If this were a group of people gathering for a weekly poker game or a weekly sewing circle, the city would have no complaint," noted Paul Aranson, an attorney who frequently helps lead services with Rabbi Wilansky.  "But because we all get together to pray and study, the city thinks it has the authority to send in the zoning enforcer."

If the Zoning Board of Appeals rules against Rabbi Wilansky, he could be subject to daily fines if he allows religious worship in his home.  Attorneys Aranson, Tinkle, and Heiden have vowed to do whatever is necessary to prevent such penalties, including litigation.

Religious liberty supporters are planning a rally in front of City Hall, at 5:30 pm, Thursday August 21, in support of the Rabbi.

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