Debate Brews Over Chabad Sukkah in Tribeca Park

Disagreement over the appropriateness of a sukkah in Tribeca’s Duane Park is putting the fate of that proposal, by an orthodox Jewish group, in limbo.

The Tribeca/Soho Chabad, a Jewish community center at 100 Reade Street, asked Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 14, for permission to build the sukkah (an outdoor structure erected for the Jewish holiday Sukkot) in the park from Oct. 12 to 19. But the committee was split over whether the structure in Duane Park would violate the First Amendment. Two members supported the sukkah, one opposed it, and two abstained.

The full board will debate the issue at its meeting on Sept. 27 before advising the city’s Parks Department on whether to give the group a permit.

“This is a ultimately a religious symbol and it has issues,” said the committee’s co-chair Michael Connolly, who abstained from voting.

“I don’t want to encourage having all sorts of religious things in our public parks,” said committee member Paul Cantor, who voted against the application.

Chow Xie, another member of the board, asked whether there would be religious ritual associated with the sukkah. When told there would not, he said he could support it.

The plan was presented by Rabbi Zalman Paris of the Tribeca/Soho Chabad. “We’ve had many requests from community members to place a sukkah in a public space, such as many other neighborhoods in the city,” Paris said.

The proposed sukkah would be 12-feet by 14-feet, Zallman said, and would be open to the public during the week-long holiday. He said it would be staffed by volunteers during the day and locked at night.

Unlike the Synagogue for the Arts on White Street, which erects a sukkah on its fenced plaza, this sukkah would be open to all, the rabbi said.

“The very idea of putting a sukkah in a public space is to share the goodwill of the holiday with the entire public,” Paris said.

Tribeca would hardly be the first neighborhood in New York to have a sukkah in a public space. The city’s Parks Department issued about 10 permits for the structures to be erected on city-owned property—including Bryant Park and Union Square—and expects to continue to do so as long as they are structurally sound, said Parks Department spokesman Phil Abrahmson.

“We’re content-neutral when evaluating applications for events in parks, whether they be of a religious, political, or cultural nature,” Abrahmson said.

In Tribeca, Friends of Washington Market Park install a Christmas Tree and Channukah menorah in the park each year. But Friends of Duane Park, which maintains the public space and is consulted by the Parks Department for permitting, does not.

“The Friends’ view has been consistent in that we don’t advocate the permitting of religious activities,” said Friends board member Karie Parker Davidson. “There was an application for a Christmas tree sometime back and we said, ‘No, we’d rather not.’ It is a passive use park that is open for the enjoyment of all.’”

Parker Davidson said on Thursday tht the Chabad had not contacted her group about the Sukkah, but Parks Department officials know the Friends position, she said.

A religious symbol in a space that is open to free expression by people of all beliefs—including atheists— would likely be viewed as acceptable by the courts, said Jen Carnig of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“Where it would get tricky is where it appears that the government appears to be sponsoring one,” Carnig said.

The Catholic League obtains a permit from the Parks Department and annually erects a nativity scene in Central Park, in part to demonstrate that religious symbols should be allowed in public spaces and that parks are places for open expression.

“If they deny somebody that right it would be more of a violation,” Jeff Field, the League’s director of communications said. “It’s a free speech zone, it’s a public area, and it’s not offensive to anybody to erect a nativity scene next to a wooden menorah or a star and crescent. It’s about the time, place and manner.”

Paris said after Wednesday’s vote that he was not surprised that the committee failed to endorse his proposal.

“I expected that there would be many questions about the sukkah,” the rabbi said. “It’s a new type of request for this neighborhood.”