15 February 2007
A bizarre row between an Orthodox rabbi and his Muslim neighbor over the "chanting" and "wailing" coming from his London synagogue has been settled when the London High Court ruled that the noise was not a nuisance. The two judges ruled that the noise emanating from rabbi Moshe Rottenberg’s synagogue and Jewish school did not amount to a statutory nuisance. The court ordered the London Borough of Hackney, which had brought the case, to pay GBP 7,120 (US$ 13,900) in legal fees. Lawyers for the Hackney Council said that the ruling had far-reaching implications because it contradicted the professional views of council officers, who had fully and thoroughly investigated the claims.
Rabbi Rottenberg, whose synagogue and school are in semi-detached buildings in north London, was sued by a Muslim neighbor. Environmental health and pollution control officers backed the complainant after visiting her home and reporting “loud shouting, clapping and thumping” coming from the school, plus “chanting, wailing and tapping on floors” on at least six occasions. They decided that the noise was a nuisance that had to be stopped.
But the two High Court judges decided that a lower court, which had found in favor of the rabbi, was entitled to find that the noise amounted to no more than mere irritation – and claimed it was right that judges had a discretion to make up their own minds and not just follow advice provided by Hackney Council.
