I’ve been thinking about starting a prayer service in the produce aisle of my local kosher supermarket. Weeks ago, when the only legal gatherings in my state were at golf courses, we could have had one there. The other day, a friend asked me what in my county was open, and I was at a loss to provide an answer; it’s hard to keep track. The businesses and activities open in my county differ from the rest of my state; in nearby counties in Virginia and in Washington, D.C., the rules for what is open in different “phases” are different as well. It’s impossible to keep track of the arbitrary rules that determine how and when people are allowed to reopen their businesses and try to salvage their livelihoods.
In New York, four sets of Jewish parents and the Association of Jewish Camp Operators reached a breaking point in their willingness to allow the government to apply these rules and decisions. Three weeks ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that sleep-away camps would have to remain closed this summer, despite the fact that dormitories on college campuses and day camps are open. These secular activities are on the approved list, while Jewish children are unable to attend sleep-away camp. In their brief, the plaintiffs argue against the state, which outlined the supposed risks of opening sleep-away camps: “Each of the risks he cites for Jewish overnight camps applies to a same or greater extent to secular activity that he has decided to exempt from his Executive Orders, as long as they adhere to State issued health protocols.”
Speaking to the Washington Examiner about the case, Avi Schick, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, explained that in keeping these camps closed while allowing dormitories and day camps to remain open, “the state is saying its [religious camps are] not that important. … There’s a lack of respect for religion and religious practice. Whenever the government balances risk and reward, if they don’t value the spiritual reward, there’s no risk the state finds is worth taking. They value higher education, childcare, and day camps, and so they therefore see the reward of those activities as outweighing the risks.”
One of the biggest mistakes in this lockdown experience has been granting the government the power to make these kinds of value judgments about how and where we spend our money and time. Why is it the government can determine that parents can send their children to a day camp or a university dormitory but not a sleep-away summer camp? The cause of Jewish sleep-away summer camp may seem inconsequential, but we need to reassert the right to decide how to live our lives at some point.
This case isn’t just about sleep-away camp; it’s about religious freedom and parental rights and the right to have one’s religious and parental rights respected by the government. Schick further explained, “This is one of those cases that arises due to the convergence of the secular state and the nanny state. The state sees no value in religious activity and has no inclination to defer to parents who know what is best for their children. When the government is dictating what is best for your child, you can bet it’s not going to be religious practices and beliefs.”
The plaintiffs may not win this motion, which likely will come in the next hours or days, but that doesn’t mean that citizens should stop trying to reassert their rights against draconian and arbitrary government lockdowns. Across the country, states are locking back down, and the rhyme and reason make as little sense today as they did three months ago. In California, the beaches and parks are closed with temperatures passing 90 degrees this weekend, and yet these kinds of gatherings continue:
LAPD just posted this photo of people protesting tonight. People are messaging me, asking how this is allowed, with no social distancing, when hours ago Governor @GavinNewsom said we shouldn’t even see our family for a July 4th gathering this weekend, unless we live with them. pic.twitter.com/ONq78nCok7
— Christina Pascucci (@ChristinaKTLA) July 2, 2020
Government officials and politicians need to be held to account and have the emergency powers they have assumed checked by the judiciary. In order to do that, citizens need to file suits like this one and send a loud and clear message that we will not watch our rights be curtailed capriciously by a fickle and often biased government.
Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a stay-at-home and homeschooling mother of four and a freelance writer. She is an editor at Ricochet.com, a columnist at the Forward, and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.
