Head Shliach Sues Miami Beach over Parade Tickets

Rabbi Avraham Korf, the Head Chabad Shliach to the state of Florida, is suing the city of Miami Beach after the annual Chanukah parade he organizes every year was shut down by police, with 30 tickets cited to participants.

From CBS Miami:

The Friends of Lubavitch parade happens every year on Miami Beach but the December parade was different this year. The celebration of lights ended with 30 people being cited for traffic violations.

“I plan to sue the city,” said Rabbi Abraham Korf with Friends of Lubavitch.

He’s furious that police handed out tickets. The group is accused of not following the permit by starting the parade before 7 p.m. during rush hour.

“This parade, we have for 19 years, every year with a permit. Always 5:30 in the afternoon,” said Korf.

City officials said several months ago, the policy changed. It does not allow events like this during peak traffic hours, as the police chief explained last month.

Click here to continue reading at CBS Miami.

25 Comments

  • I don't get it!

    If a Shliach is working with the city, and then they EXPLAIN that policy has changed due to rush hour concerns, why wouldn’t they give out tickets for VIOLATING that? How come Rabbi Korf didn’t deal with this before Chanukah to save this embarrassing issue?

    This story makes no sense. Something must be missing from the details.

    • 5:30 davke

      Bc the parade is to the Gulf Stream event any later and the parade will be missing half its participants

    • Milhouse

      That makes sense. But if he knew the permit was for 7, why did he think he would get away with starting at 5:30, and on what basis is he suing now? Is there some legal argument for why he was entitled to a 5:30 permit? Has he found a case since the new policy came into effect where an exception was made, so that he can claim to be entitled to such an exception as well?

    • K

      He had a chazaka of doing the parade at 5:30. He printed flyers, posters and paid advertisements publicizing that the parade begins at 5:30.

      The city gave him late notice of their new policy – only three days prior to the parade!

      This was far too late to change all the printed posters and advertisements about the parade.

      I think he has a very strong ta’ana!

  • From also many other stories

    It appears Rabbi Korf has a problem with authority , bitul and mashmaois kabalas oyl.

    • Kop Doktar

      Milhouse, seems K thinks that Korf has a chazaka sh’yesh imo taana. That he had a chazaka of doing the parade at 5:30 and the notice that this year it can only be at 7 pm arrived 3-days before the parade.

      K assumes that all the publications and publicity by Korf about the parade was already in the public domain and it was too late to re-schedule the parade.

      Does that seems to somehow make sense or is that a yeshivishe lomdus?

    • Toshov Hashchuna

      Dr. Kop, don’t fall for Litvish pilpulim. They do not have application to real life situations. A thousand sevoras cannot over rule one single mitziyus (fact). Even I know that.

    • Milhouse

      He’s suing in court, not in beis din. I’d like to know the basis for his suit. I don’t think chazakah works. Actually I don’t even think it would work in beis din. The city has the right to change its policies, and this change is several months old. He could have found out about it before printing his flyers, if he’d bothered to ask. When did he apply for the permit? A week before the parade? 2 weeks?

    • K

      Ever hear of “l’chatchila ariber”??? It’s a Chabad motto about getting over fences.

    • Toshov Hashchuna

      I am very uncomfortable that people outside of anash read these postings and then put in their $0.02 about our affairs.

      I am even more uncomfortable that someone from BMG is commenting and using “our” language.

      It is even more disturbing that I sometimes somewhat agree with his comments.

    • Drei kop

      The correct motto is: si nit da kein farfalen.(pessach sheini). You can always sue, appeal etc.

    • Toshov Hashchuna

      Korf is using the Dina demalchutah to sue for his rights under the law. That is part of the judicial system.