COMPLAINT
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER
____________________________________________
JESSIE SANDER,
Plaintiff,
-against-
WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE, JONATHAN BLAKE, DAVID E. LEVY and ELI KORNREICH,
Defendants.
____________________________________________
Index No. _____________
VERIFIED COMPLAINT
____________________________________________
JESSIE SANDER,
Plaintiff,
-against-
WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE, JONATHAN BLAKE, DAVID E. LEVY and ELI KORNREICH,
Defendants.
____________________________________________
Index No. _____________
VERIFIED COMPLAINT
Plaintiff JESSIE SANDER, by her attorneys HERBST LAW PLLC and PROFETA & EISENSTEIN, as and for her verified complaint, hereby alleges upon information and belief as follows:
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. This is an action pursuant to Section 201-d of the New York Labor Law against Defendants WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE (“WRT” or the “TEMPLE”), its Senior Rabbi JONATHAN BLAKE (“Rabbi BLAKE”), its Associate Rabbi and Director of its school, the Jewish Learning Lab (“JLL”), DAVID E. LEVY (“Rabbi LEVY”), and its Executive Director, ELI KORNREICH (“KORNREICH”). It arises from defendants’ firing Plaintiff JESSIE SANDER (“SANDER”), a highly qualified Jewish staff member they had recently hired. They fired her solely because of a recreational blog post she had published with a friend, prior to being hired, criticizing the most recent attack on Gaza by the State of Israel.
2. Defendants fired SANDER only a week after Rabbi LEVY, having read the blog post, engaged SANDER in a frank, honest and open discussion of her views about Israel and Zionism, stated that he agreed with 90% of what she was saying, noted that the JLL embraces a “wrestling with Israel” position and “wanted to welcome diverse thinkers,” advised SANDER that she should never work somewhere that would fire her for her beliefs, and pronounced in an email to Rabbi BLAKE and the TEMPLE president that he had complete confidence in SANDER and that she would be a good role model for WRT’s students.
3. In discharging SANDER from employment because of her uncompensated lawful recreational activity, outside of work hours, off the employer’s premises and without use of the employer’s equipment or other property, defendants violated Labor Law §201-d, entitling SANDER to reinstatement and damages at law.
VENUE
4. Venue in this proceeding lies in Westchester County, in the judicial district in which the Defendants-Respondents reside and took the actions challenged here, and where their office is located.
PARTIES
5. Plaintiff JESSIE SANDER is a 26-year-old Jewish American woman and a resident of the City and State of New York. She is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, with a major in Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, and earned a Masters of Science for Teachers Degree from Pace University in 2020 while working for three years for the New York City Department of Education as a special education teacher in Brooklyn, New York.
6. Defendant WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE is and was at all times material herein a religious corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, with its principal office and place of business in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York.
7. Defendant JONATHAN BLAKE is and was at all times material herein the Senior Rabbi of WRT.
8. Defendant DAVID E. LEVY is and was at all times material herein the Associate Rabbi of WRT and Director of the JLL.
9. Defendant ELI KORNREICH is and was at all times material herein the Executive Director of WRT.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
SANDER Applies For and Obtains Employment at WRT
10. In or about April 2021, WRT advertised in JewishJobs.com for a Full-Time
Educator for its WRTeen Initiative a program of the JLL, reporting to the Associate Director and Director of the JLL. Specific job responsibilities mentioned were classroom teaching, family and parent education, social justice programming, field trips and other off-site programs, communications, administrative support, and writing articles for Synagogue publications.
11. The job was secular rather than religious, and no religious ordination or training was required. The teaching responsibilities were essentially limited to the teaching and tutoring of the Hebrew language to WRT’s learners and students. The other job responsibilities involved assisting and supporting the development of social, cultural and community service programs for the teenagers in the WRT community.
12. Nothing in the job description required adherence to any particular political point of view about Israel, Zionism, the Palestinians, or Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
13. On April 21, 2021, SANDER applied for that job, attaching her resume and a cover letter.
14. On May 10, 2021, after several interviews, Rabbi LEVY, in his dual capacity as Associate Rabbi and JLL Director, and his Assistant Director, Felicia Block, sent a letter formally offering SANDER the job, to start on or about July 6, 2021. The letter concluded:
My colleagues and I are looking forward to having you [] join the WRT team, because we know that you have what it takes to help us continue to provide excellence in all that we do, and especially in the Jewish Learning Lab.
Your thoughtfulness, your commitment to causes you believe in, and your dedication to Jewish learning and the Jewish people are laudable. We have no doubt that your efforts will add value to our congregants’ experience at the Temple and strengthen our ability, as a team, to put our best face forward in serving our community.
SANDER’s Blog Post
15. On May 20, 2021, SANDER and a co-author published a blog post on their website, just after Israel’s most recent attack on Gaza.
16. In that blog post, they wrote that they felt compelled to speak out against that attack on Gaza, which they felt was especially abhorrent since the violence came during the holy month of Ramadan. As white American Jews raised to proudly support Israel, they affirmed that they stood by the Jewish ideals of tikkun olam (repairing the world), the ethics laid out in pirkei avot, tzedakah (justice), and emet (truth), which drove their passion for liberation. Noting that what they described as the legalized apartheid regime in Israel has been brutalizing Palestinians for decades, they stated that the liberation of Palestine is tied to the struggle for Jewish liberation -- the perennial Jewish struggle throughout history. Pointing out that Zionism is not equivalent to, or a necessary component of, Jewish identity, they warned that conflating Zionism and Judaism was dangerous and inaccurate, because it runs the risk of spreading deeply antisemitic narratives about the nature of Judaism. They also wrote that the struggle towards dismantling white supremacy would make the world safer for all marginalized groups, including Jews. The blog post concluded by noting that the authors’ anti-Zionist journeys, while difficult, had been essential to strengthening their passion for Judaism, and had made them even more invested in building Jewish community and fighting for justice for all Jews.
17. Writing and publishing this blog post was a lawful, leisure-time recreational activity, outside work hours, off WRT’s premises, prior to the start of SANDER’s employment at WRT, and without use of WRT’s equipment or other property. SANDER received no compensation for this blogging activity, which is generally engaged in by SANDER and a multitude of other Americans and Jewish-Americans for recreational purposes.
SANDER’s Employment at WRT’s JLL
18. SANDER began work at WRT and its JLL on July 6, 2021. She immediately began developing social event and social action programming for the WRT teenagers and met with representatives of other youth organizations with a view toward collaboration. SANDER also met with the head of the Hebrew tutoring program and reviewed the Hebrew textbook and Hebrew flashcards used by students learning Hebrew.
19. On July 15, 2021, SANDER was invited to a Zoom meeting with Rabbi LEVY and Block, purportedly to discuss the 11th and 12th grade programming for the 2021-22 school year. After a few minutes, Rabbi LEVY told SANDER that he had an “awkward” question to ask her. He said that he had read a May 20, 2021 blog post on her website, and asked if she understood that WRT was a Zionist institution and how comfortable she felt working at a Zionist institution as an anti-Zionist.
20. SANDER said she understood the political position of WRT and the larger Union of Reform Judaism in reference to Israel, respected it, and would not share her anti-Zionist views on the job.
21. Rabbi LEVY asked what “anti-Zionist” meant to SANDER.
22. SANDER explained that she objected to the colonization of Palestinian land, with
the accompanying displacement of the indigenous population. She also expressed opposition to the military rule that has been imposed on the occupied territories. She acknowledged the importance of Israel in the Torah, the reference to the land of Israel in ancient Jewish writing, and the connection that they and all Jews have to that land, but said that she could not justify the creation of a state for the Jewish people at the expense of another people.
23. Rabbi LEVY asked her to clarify that “you are not calling for a second Holocaust” because “some people may read ‘anti-Zionist’ and think that’s what you mean.”
24. SANDER responded that she was not calling for a second Holocaust and was horrified that anyone might think so.
25. SANDER said she did not support Hamas, and instead supported grassroots Palestinian organizations that are fighting for freedom in Palestine.
26. Rabbi LEVY said he agreed with “90% of what you’re saying.”
27. Rabbi LEVY said that “there are some people here who would demand I fire you immediately” upon seeing the blog post, but that SANDER “should never work at a place that would fire you for your beliefs.”
28. Rabbi LEVY asked SANDER why she does not identify as a “non-Zionist” or “post-Zionist” rather than an “anti-Zionist,” noting that he thought Peter Beinart now identifies as a “non-Zionist” or “post-Zionist” rather than an “anti-Zionist,” and recommended that SANDER check out Beinart’s work because it sounded to him that her opinions were aligned with his.
29. Upon information and belief, Beinart is a widely respected journalist and intellectual who has written that Zionism is in crisis, that he no longer believes in a Jewish state, and who supports the concept of a fully democratic Israel-Palestine, with equal rights for all and a right of return for both Jews and Palestinians. As Rabbi LEVY suggested, Beinart’s vision for a just Israel is substantially similar to SANDER’s.
30. Rabbi LEVY and Block both said that the JLL embraces a “wrestling with Israel” position and welcomes diverse thinkers.
31. Rabbi LEVY thanked SANDER for her openness and honesty in discussing her position and views.
Rabbi LEVY Communicates His “Full Confidence” in SANDER to Rabbi BLAKE and WRT
32. Shortly after the July 15, 2021 meeting, Rabbi LEVY wrote an email to Rabbi BLAKE and Warren Haber, WRT’s president, summarizing his conversation with SANDER earlier that day.
33. In that email, which Rabbi LEVY shared with SANDER, Rabbi LEVY explained SANDER’s definition of anti-Zionism and stated that she does not support Hamas, is not against Israelis and supports grassroots Palestinian organizers.
34. Rabbi LEVY concluded his email by expressing “complete confidence” in SANDER as an educator and stated that she would be “a good role model for our students.”
35. Prior to the commencement of this lawsuit, SANDER, through counsel, requested a copy of Rabbi LEVY’s email from WRT.
36. WRT declined to provide it.
37. Upon information and belief, Rabbi LEVY forwarded his email to SANDER to
communicate to her as well as to WRT that SANDER was fully qualified for the position for which she had been hired, and that neither her off-the-job blogging or anti-Zionist views, nor anything she had written in the May 20 blog post or said in the July 15 meeting, were appropriate grounds to terminate her from that position.
Rabbi LEVY and KORNREICH Fire SANDER on Behalf of WRT
38. On July 21, 2021, SANDER was invited to another Zoom meeting the next day at 2 p.m. with Rabbi LEVY and KORNREICH.
39. On July 22, 2021, at the start of that meeting, Rabbi LEVY told SANDER that her employment was terminated effective immediately.
40. SANDER asked the reason for the termination.
41. KORNREICH said, “I can answer that one. It’s just not a good fit.” No elaboration or other reason was given.
42. When the meeting ended, SANDER discovered that her WRT email account had been terminated, preventing her from accessing Rabbi LEVY’s email or any of the prior emails or documents she had created or transmitted on that account.
WRT Says That It Is a Pluralistic, Inclusive Congregational Community Open to All “World Views”
43. On its website, “WRT prides itself on being an inclusive community, where all of our congregants feel welcome and accepted for who they are. We welcome and value the diversity of our members’ abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, skin colors, family structures, and world views, and strive to create a culture of respect and acceptance, and a space where members are enriched by each other’s participation in our community.”
44. WRT does not require adherence to any particular political point of view about Zionism, the Palestinians, or Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, in order to qualify for membership at WRT. WRT’s marketing materials paint it as a community that welcomes all Jews, as they are, regardless of political viewpoint.
45. Upon information and belief, all three of WRT’s rabbis have expressed views severely critical of Israel, its politics, and its policies toward the Palestinian inhabitants of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
46. Rabbi Reiser, WRT’s second associate rabbi, states on his web page that “had he been alive for the First Zionist Congress, he would have been a follower of Ahad Ha’am.” Ahad Ha’am was a critic of the Zionist movement, who broke with Theodore Herzl and other political Zionists of his day. Ha’am thought that Palestine should serve as a spiritual center that would fuel the sense of Jewish identity for all Jews, whether in Palestine or in the diaspora. He recognized that Palestine was already occupied and well-tended by Palestinian Arabs who would likely resist ever-expanding Jewish settlement. He opposed their subjugation and believed that the land of Palestine should be shared by Jews and Arabs.
47. Thus, like SANDER, Ahad Ha’am was dedicated to the Jewish people but was specifically concerned that the Jewish mistreatment of Palestinian Arabs was immoral and unworkable, and he did not support creation of a state in which only Jews have the right of self- determination, or in which Jews dominate Palestine’s indigenous non-Jewish population.
48. In a blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
Jewish leaders need to learn to understand the ambivalence of American Jews not as a threat but as an opportunity. Learning about and wrestling with Israel is a strong Jewish identity-building tool. Israel, by its very existence, offers the opportunity to engage in conversations that are important to Jews no matter where they live. Questions like: Who decides who is and who isn’t a Jew? What does it mean to be patriotic? Am I first a Jew, first an American, or first a citizen of the world?
49. In that same blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
If Jewish leaders want to make Israel relevant, they must find ways to bring precisely these questions to the forefront of Israel education. Rabbis, educators, and communal professionals must not try to rationalize or distract from the issues their constituents feel about Israel. Rather, they must embrace those issues and use them as opportunities for self- exploration.
50. In that same blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
The Reform rabbi—as teacher, as model—must recognize the value of questioning. We must not ignore the challenges Israel presents, but rather embrace them as opportunities to better our world. Like our forefather Jacob, for whom our people are named, we must give ourselves a little room to wrestle.
51. In September 2021, Rabbi BLAKE criticized Israel for having a split personality,
one half of which is “the Israel of dangerous fanaticism.” He described Israel as “a state that has eroded its democratic credibility by passing laws of dubious necessity that chauvinistically privilege Jewish culture and Hebrew language, while disregarding the cultural sensitivities of the more than one in five Israeli citizens who are not Jewish[,]” and “a country that continues to encroach on Bedouin and Palestinian lands with ever-expanding development projects and settlements, further marginalizing and aggravating already underprivileged populations; a country that has empowered some of its most fanatical religious and ultra-nationalistic voices, in the name of national security, to the long-term detriment of security, much less peace.” About this Israel—the Israel that resembles the “Abraham whose religious fervor nearly led to the sacrifice of his own child—we must unflinchingly speak the truth, because we are Jews, and that’s what we do. The Torah regards it an act of love and a moral obligation to offer reproof when one’s fellow goes astray. We do not prevaricate.”
52. Rabbi BLAKE also said that Jews must not dismiss the “uncomfortable truth” that “in the Israel of today, extremists, cynical political officials, and wealthy patrons have co-opted the 54-year long military occupation of the West Bank for their own ideological purposes: a grandiose vision of Jewish totalitarianism in the Biblical Holy Land. What began as a necessity for Israel’s security has become a moral and political morass with no end in sight.”
53. Rabbi BLAKE also acknowledged that “a quarter of American Jews agree[] with the statement, ‘Israel is an apartheid state,’” with “nearly as many American Jews affirming that, ‘Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians,’ and even as many as one in five under the age of forty declaring that ‘Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.’”
54. Rabbi BLAKE also referred to the May 2021 Israeli airstrikes “targeting the Gaza Strip” that occasioned SANDER’s blog post, and to “the international outcry, the vast majority castigating Israel.”
55. About those students who had written to WRT clergy about their concern about events in Israel, Rabbi BLAKE said, “you remind us why WRT exists: to infuse lives with joy, purpose, and impact through the Jewish tradition, and to carry that tradition proudly forward. I hope you, our students, know that WRT will always be there for you to help you navigate the complexities and opportunities of Jewish life, no matter how far you may go, no matter what paths you may take.”
CAUSE OF ACTION – LABOR LAW § 201-d
56. SANDER realleges the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1 through 55.
57. Defendants unlawfully discharged Plaintiff from employment because of her legal
recreational activity, outside of work hours, off of WRT’s premises and without use of WRT’s equipment or other property; to wit, writing and publishing the May 20, 2021 blog post, which she wrote and published without compensation, a lawful, leisure-time activity in which she engaged for recreational rather than commercial purposes.
58. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ unlawful conduct, SANDER has suffered economic loss, mental and emotional distress, damage to her reputation and harm to her career, lost business and professional opportunities, and other damages.
RELIEF REQUESTED
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff seeks judgment:
(1) Declaring that Plaintiff’s discharge was unlawful;
(2) Directing Defendants to reinstate Plaintiff to her position at WRT, on the same terms and conditions as if she had never been discharged;
(3) Awarding Plaintiff back pay and compensatory damages in an amount to be set by the jury;
(4) Awarding Plaintiff pre- and post-judgment interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs; and
(5) Granting such other relief to Plaintiff as the Court deems just and proper.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. This is an action pursuant to Section 201-d of the New York Labor Law against Defendants WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE (“WRT” or the “TEMPLE”), its Senior Rabbi JONATHAN BLAKE (“Rabbi BLAKE”), its Associate Rabbi and Director of its school, the Jewish Learning Lab (“JLL”), DAVID E. LEVY (“Rabbi LEVY”), and its Executive Director, ELI KORNREICH (“KORNREICH”). It arises from defendants’ firing Plaintiff JESSIE SANDER (“SANDER”), a highly qualified Jewish staff member they had recently hired. They fired her solely because of a recreational blog post she had published with a friend, prior to being hired, criticizing the most recent attack on Gaza by the State of Israel.
2. Defendants fired SANDER only a week after Rabbi LEVY, having read the blog post, engaged SANDER in a frank, honest and open discussion of her views about Israel and Zionism, stated that he agreed with 90% of what she was saying, noted that the JLL embraces a “wrestling with Israel” position and “wanted to welcome diverse thinkers,” advised SANDER that she should never work somewhere that would fire her for her beliefs, and pronounced in an email to Rabbi BLAKE and the TEMPLE president that he had complete confidence in SANDER and that she would be a good role model for WRT’s students.
3. In discharging SANDER from employment because of her uncompensated lawful recreational activity, outside of work hours, off the employer’s premises and without use of the employer’s equipment or other property, defendants violated Labor Law §201-d, entitling SANDER to reinstatement and damages at law.
VENUE
4. Venue in this proceeding lies in Westchester County, in the judicial district in which the Defendants-Respondents reside and took the actions challenged here, and where their office is located.
PARTIES
5. Plaintiff JESSIE SANDER is a 26-year-old Jewish American woman and a resident of the City and State of New York. She is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, with a major in Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, and earned a Masters of Science for Teachers Degree from Pace University in 2020 while working for three years for the New York City Department of Education as a special education teacher in Brooklyn, New York.
6. Defendant WESTCHESTER REFORM TEMPLE is and was at all times material herein a religious corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, with its principal office and place of business in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York.
7. Defendant JONATHAN BLAKE is and was at all times material herein the Senior Rabbi of WRT.
8. Defendant DAVID E. LEVY is and was at all times material herein the Associate Rabbi of WRT and Director of the JLL.
9. Defendant ELI KORNREICH is and was at all times material herein the Executive Director of WRT.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
SANDER Applies For and Obtains Employment at WRT
10. In or about April 2021, WRT advertised in JewishJobs.com for a Full-Time
Educator for its WRTeen Initiative a program of the JLL, reporting to the Associate Director and Director of the JLL. Specific job responsibilities mentioned were classroom teaching, family and parent education, social justice programming, field trips and other off-site programs, communications, administrative support, and writing articles for Synagogue publications.
11. The job was secular rather than religious, and no religious ordination or training was required. The teaching responsibilities were essentially limited to the teaching and tutoring of the Hebrew language to WRT’s learners and students. The other job responsibilities involved assisting and supporting the development of social, cultural and community service programs for the teenagers in the WRT community.
12. Nothing in the job description required adherence to any particular political point of view about Israel, Zionism, the Palestinians, or Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.
13. On April 21, 2021, SANDER applied for that job, attaching her resume and a cover letter.
14. On May 10, 2021, after several interviews, Rabbi LEVY, in his dual capacity as Associate Rabbi and JLL Director, and his Assistant Director, Felicia Block, sent a letter formally offering SANDER the job, to start on or about July 6, 2021. The letter concluded:
My colleagues and I are looking forward to having you [] join the WRT team, because we know that you have what it takes to help us continue to provide excellence in all that we do, and especially in the Jewish Learning Lab.
Your thoughtfulness, your commitment to causes you believe in, and your dedication to Jewish learning and the Jewish people are laudable. We have no doubt that your efforts will add value to our congregants’ experience at the Temple and strengthen our ability, as a team, to put our best face forward in serving our community.
SANDER’s Blog Post
15. On May 20, 2021, SANDER and a co-author published a blog post on their website, just after Israel’s most recent attack on Gaza.
16. In that blog post, they wrote that they felt compelled to speak out against that attack on Gaza, which they felt was especially abhorrent since the violence came during the holy month of Ramadan. As white American Jews raised to proudly support Israel, they affirmed that they stood by the Jewish ideals of tikkun olam (repairing the world), the ethics laid out in pirkei avot, tzedakah (justice), and emet (truth), which drove their passion for liberation. Noting that what they described as the legalized apartheid regime in Israel has been brutalizing Palestinians for decades, they stated that the liberation of Palestine is tied to the struggle for Jewish liberation -- the perennial Jewish struggle throughout history. Pointing out that Zionism is not equivalent to, or a necessary component of, Jewish identity, they warned that conflating Zionism and Judaism was dangerous and inaccurate, because it runs the risk of spreading deeply antisemitic narratives about the nature of Judaism. They also wrote that the struggle towards dismantling white supremacy would make the world safer for all marginalized groups, including Jews. The blog post concluded by noting that the authors’ anti-Zionist journeys, while difficult, had been essential to strengthening their passion for Judaism, and had made them even more invested in building Jewish community and fighting for justice for all Jews.
17. Writing and publishing this blog post was a lawful, leisure-time recreational activity, outside work hours, off WRT’s premises, prior to the start of SANDER’s employment at WRT, and without use of WRT’s equipment or other property. SANDER received no compensation for this blogging activity, which is generally engaged in by SANDER and a multitude of other Americans and Jewish-Americans for recreational purposes.
SANDER’s Employment at WRT’s JLL
18. SANDER began work at WRT and its JLL on July 6, 2021. She immediately began developing social event and social action programming for the WRT teenagers and met with representatives of other youth organizations with a view toward collaboration. SANDER also met with the head of the Hebrew tutoring program and reviewed the Hebrew textbook and Hebrew flashcards used by students learning Hebrew.
19. On July 15, 2021, SANDER was invited to a Zoom meeting with Rabbi LEVY and Block, purportedly to discuss the 11th and 12th grade programming for the 2021-22 school year. After a few minutes, Rabbi LEVY told SANDER that he had an “awkward” question to ask her. He said that he had read a May 20, 2021 blog post on her website, and asked if she understood that WRT was a Zionist institution and how comfortable she felt working at a Zionist institution as an anti-Zionist.
20. SANDER said she understood the political position of WRT and the larger Union of Reform Judaism in reference to Israel, respected it, and would not share her anti-Zionist views on the job.
21. Rabbi LEVY asked what “anti-Zionist” meant to SANDER.
22. SANDER explained that she objected to the colonization of Palestinian land, with
the accompanying displacement of the indigenous population. She also expressed opposition to the military rule that has been imposed on the occupied territories. She acknowledged the importance of Israel in the Torah, the reference to the land of Israel in ancient Jewish writing, and the connection that they and all Jews have to that land, but said that she could not justify the creation of a state for the Jewish people at the expense of another people.
23. Rabbi LEVY asked her to clarify that “you are not calling for a second Holocaust” because “some people may read ‘anti-Zionist’ and think that’s what you mean.”
24. SANDER responded that she was not calling for a second Holocaust and was horrified that anyone might think so.
25. SANDER said she did not support Hamas, and instead supported grassroots Palestinian organizations that are fighting for freedom in Palestine.
26. Rabbi LEVY said he agreed with “90% of what you’re saying.”
27. Rabbi LEVY said that “there are some people here who would demand I fire you immediately” upon seeing the blog post, but that SANDER “should never work at a place that would fire you for your beliefs.”
28. Rabbi LEVY asked SANDER why she does not identify as a “non-Zionist” or “post-Zionist” rather than an “anti-Zionist,” noting that he thought Peter Beinart now identifies as a “non-Zionist” or “post-Zionist” rather than an “anti-Zionist,” and recommended that SANDER check out Beinart’s work because it sounded to him that her opinions were aligned with his.
29. Upon information and belief, Beinart is a widely respected journalist and intellectual who has written that Zionism is in crisis, that he no longer believes in a Jewish state, and who supports the concept of a fully democratic Israel-Palestine, with equal rights for all and a right of return for both Jews and Palestinians. As Rabbi LEVY suggested, Beinart’s vision for a just Israel is substantially similar to SANDER’s.
30. Rabbi LEVY and Block both said that the JLL embraces a “wrestling with Israel” position and welcomes diverse thinkers.
31. Rabbi LEVY thanked SANDER for her openness and honesty in discussing her position and views.
Rabbi LEVY Communicates His “Full Confidence” in SANDER to Rabbi BLAKE and WRT
32. Shortly after the July 15, 2021 meeting, Rabbi LEVY wrote an email to Rabbi BLAKE and Warren Haber, WRT’s president, summarizing his conversation with SANDER earlier that day.
33. In that email, which Rabbi LEVY shared with SANDER, Rabbi LEVY explained SANDER’s definition of anti-Zionism and stated that she does not support Hamas, is not against Israelis and supports grassroots Palestinian organizers.
34. Rabbi LEVY concluded his email by expressing “complete confidence” in SANDER as an educator and stated that she would be “a good role model for our students.”
35. Prior to the commencement of this lawsuit, SANDER, through counsel, requested a copy of Rabbi LEVY’s email from WRT.
36. WRT declined to provide it.
37. Upon information and belief, Rabbi LEVY forwarded his email to SANDER to
communicate to her as well as to WRT that SANDER was fully qualified for the position for which she had been hired, and that neither her off-the-job blogging or anti-Zionist views, nor anything she had written in the May 20 blog post or said in the July 15 meeting, were appropriate grounds to terminate her from that position.
Rabbi LEVY and KORNREICH Fire SANDER on Behalf of WRT
38. On July 21, 2021, SANDER was invited to another Zoom meeting the next day at 2 p.m. with Rabbi LEVY and KORNREICH.
39. On July 22, 2021, at the start of that meeting, Rabbi LEVY told SANDER that her employment was terminated effective immediately.
40. SANDER asked the reason for the termination.
41. KORNREICH said, “I can answer that one. It’s just not a good fit.” No elaboration or other reason was given.
42. When the meeting ended, SANDER discovered that her WRT email account had been terminated, preventing her from accessing Rabbi LEVY’s email or any of the prior emails or documents she had created or transmitted on that account.
WRT Says That It Is a Pluralistic, Inclusive Congregational Community Open to All “World Views”
43. On its website, “WRT prides itself on being an inclusive community, where all of our congregants feel welcome and accepted for who they are. We welcome and value the diversity of our members’ abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, skin colors, family structures, and world views, and strive to create a culture of respect and acceptance, and a space where members are enriched by each other’s participation in our community.”
44. WRT does not require adherence to any particular political point of view about Zionism, the Palestinians, or Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, in order to qualify for membership at WRT. WRT’s marketing materials paint it as a community that welcomes all Jews, as they are, regardless of political viewpoint.
45. Upon information and belief, all three of WRT’s rabbis have expressed views severely critical of Israel, its politics, and its policies toward the Palestinian inhabitants of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
46. Rabbi Reiser, WRT’s second associate rabbi, states on his web page that “had he been alive for the First Zionist Congress, he would have been a follower of Ahad Ha’am.” Ahad Ha’am was a critic of the Zionist movement, who broke with Theodore Herzl and other political Zionists of his day. Ha’am thought that Palestine should serve as a spiritual center that would fuel the sense of Jewish identity for all Jews, whether in Palestine or in the diaspora. He recognized that Palestine was already occupied and well-tended by Palestinian Arabs who would likely resist ever-expanding Jewish settlement. He opposed their subjugation and believed that the land of Palestine should be shared by Jews and Arabs.
47. Thus, like SANDER, Ahad Ha’am was dedicated to the Jewish people but was specifically concerned that the Jewish mistreatment of Palestinian Arabs was immoral and unworkable, and he did not support creation of a state in which only Jews have the right of self- determination, or in which Jews dominate Palestine’s indigenous non-Jewish population.
48. In a blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
Jewish leaders need to learn to understand the ambivalence of American Jews not as a threat but as an opportunity. Learning about and wrestling with Israel is a strong Jewish identity-building tool. Israel, by its very existence, offers the opportunity to engage in conversations that are important to Jews no matter where they live. Questions like: Who decides who is and who isn’t a Jew? What does it mean to be patriotic? Am I first a Jew, first an American, or first a citizen of the world?
49. In that same blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
If Jewish leaders want to make Israel relevant, they must find ways to bring precisely these questions to the forefront of Israel education. Rabbis, educators, and communal professionals must not try to rationalize or distract from the issues their constituents feel about Israel. Rather, they must embrace those issues and use them as opportunities for self- exploration.
50. In that same blog post, Rabbi Reiser wrote:
The Reform rabbi—as teacher, as model—must recognize the value of questioning. We must not ignore the challenges Israel presents, but rather embrace them as opportunities to better our world. Like our forefather Jacob, for whom our people are named, we must give ourselves a little room to wrestle.
51. In September 2021, Rabbi BLAKE criticized Israel for having a split personality,
one half of which is “the Israel of dangerous fanaticism.” He described Israel as “a state that has eroded its democratic credibility by passing laws of dubious necessity that chauvinistically privilege Jewish culture and Hebrew language, while disregarding the cultural sensitivities of the more than one in five Israeli citizens who are not Jewish[,]” and “a country that continues to encroach on Bedouin and Palestinian lands with ever-expanding development projects and settlements, further marginalizing and aggravating already underprivileged populations; a country that has empowered some of its most fanatical religious and ultra-nationalistic voices, in the name of national security, to the long-term detriment of security, much less peace.” About this Israel—the Israel that resembles the “Abraham whose religious fervor nearly led to the sacrifice of his own child—we must unflinchingly speak the truth, because we are Jews, and that’s what we do. The Torah regards it an act of love and a moral obligation to offer reproof when one’s fellow goes astray. We do not prevaricate.”
52. Rabbi BLAKE also said that Jews must not dismiss the “uncomfortable truth” that “in the Israel of today, extremists, cynical political officials, and wealthy patrons have co-opted the 54-year long military occupation of the West Bank for their own ideological purposes: a grandiose vision of Jewish totalitarianism in the Biblical Holy Land. What began as a necessity for Israel’s security has become a moral and political morass with no end in sight.”
53. Rabbi BLAKE also acknowledged that “a quarter of American Jews agree[] with the statement, ‘Israel is an apartheid state,’” with “nearly as many American Jews affirming that, ‘Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians,’ and even as many as one in five under the age of forty declaring that ‘Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.’”
54. Rabbi BLAKE also referred to the May 2021 Israeli airstrikes “targeting the Gaza Strip” that occasioned SANDER’s blog post, and to “the international outcry, the vast majority castigating Israel.”
55. About those students who had written to WRT clergy about their concern about events in Israel, Rabbi BLAKE said, “you remind us why WRT exists: to infuse lives with joy, purpose, and impact through the Jewish tradition, and to carry that tradition proudly forward. I hope you, our students, know that WRT will always be there for you to help you navigate the complexities and opportunities of Jewish life, no matter how far you may go, no matter what paths you may take.”
CAUSE OF ACTION – LABOR LAW § 201-d
56. SANDER realleges the allegations set forth in paragraphs 1 through 55.
57. Defendants unlawfully discharged Plaintiff from employment because of her legal
recreational activity, outside of work hours, off of WRT’s premises and without use of WRT’s equipment or other property; to wit, writing and publishing the May 20, 2021 blog post, which she wrote and published without compensation, a lawful, leisure-time activity in which she engaged for recreational rather than commercial purposes.
58. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ unlawful conduct, SANDER has suffered economic loss, mental and emotional distress, damage to her reputation and harm to her career, lost business and professional opportunities, and other damages.
RELIEF REQUESTED
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff seeks judgment:
(1) Declaring that Plaintiff’s discharge was unlawful;
(2) Directing Defendants to reinstate Plaintiff to her position at WRT, on the same terms and conditions as if she had never been discharged;
(3) Awarding Plaintiff back pay and compensatory damages in an amount to be set by the jury;
(4) Awarding Plaintiff pre- and post-judgment interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs; and
(5) Granting such other relief to Plaintiff as the Court deems just and proper.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Robert L. Herbst
Robert L. Herbst (N.Y. Bar No. 1333194)
Benjamin J. Ashmore, Sr.
Herbst Law PLLC
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300
New York, NY 10170
tel: 646 543 2354
fax: 888 482 4676 [email protected]
/s/ Jethro M. Eisenstein
Jethro M. Eisenstein (N.Y. Bar No. 1175504)
Profeta & Eisenstein
45 Broadway, Suite 2200
New York, NY 10006
tel: 212 577 6500
fax: 212-577-6702
[email protected]
Attorneys for Plaintiff
/s/ Robert L. Herbst
Robert L. Herbst (N.Y. Bar No. 1333194)
Benjamin J. Ashmore, Sr.
Herbst Law PLLC
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300
New York, NY 10170
tel: 646 543 2354
fax: 888 482 4676 [email protected]
/s/ Jethro M. Eisenstein
Jethro M. Eisenstein (N.Y. Bar No. 1175504)
Profeta & Eisenstein
45 Broadway, Suite 2200
New York, NY 10006
tel: 212 577 6500
fax: 212-577-6702
[email protected]
Attorneys for Plaintiff
ATTORNEY'S VERIFICATION
Jethro M. Eisenstein, an attorney admitted to practice in the courts of New York State and a member of the firm of Profeta & Eisenstein, hereby affirms under penalty of perjury that: I am attorney for the plaintiff in the within action; I have read the foregoing complaint and know the contents thereof and the same is true to my own knowledge, except as to the matters therein stated to be alleged on information and belief, and as to those matters I believe them to be true based upon documents in the file and investigation. The reason this verification is made by me and not by plaintiff is because plaintiff is not in the county where I maintain my office.
Dated: New York, New York January 25, 2022