Long Island Jew Claims Landlord Evicted Him for Refusing to Remove Mezuzah
by Zach Pontz
An Orthodox Jew living in Long Island is claiming in court that his landlord evicted him after he refused to remove a mezuzah from his door, the New York Post reported Sunday.
Arye Sachs, 53, says that the landlord made the demand based on religious grounds, telling him, “This is a Christian residence.”
In a Brooklyn federal lawsuit, Sachs called the mezuzah a “priceless, irreplaceable protector” that helped him recover from three strokes and even made his divorce “one of the most amicable and peaceful divorces known to man.”
He claims Margarita Pascale, 57, repeatedly told him to take the mezuzah down from the door of the North Babylon home where he rented an apartment from her and that she evicted him when he didn’t.
“Pascal [sic] informed me this residence is a Christian residence, and if I will not remove my mezuzah, I will be out ‘on the street,'” Sachs alleges, according to the Post.
He says the mezuzah was missing when he returned from a trip last month.