Residents Upset After Condo Association Removes Sukkah

BAL HARBOUR, FL [WSVN] — Several residents of a condominium are outraged after the condo association removed a religious Jewish symbol.

A Resident of a Bal Harbor condominium recorded a video showing what he discovered Monday morning, after his religious symbol called a Sukkah was dismantled. “Having a little hut that’s 6-by-8 to be bothering someone is really ridiculous,” said the resident.

Sukkot is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days. Jews set up what they call a Sukkah, a temporary dwelling where they eat their meals. The significance of the holiday is to commemorate the time when Jews left Egypt thousands of years ago.

The attorney of the condominium gave out a written statement which states: “The board of directors is enforcing their documents prohibiting owners from making temporary alterations to the common element. It’s Tantamount to a Christian making an alter by the pool during lent. To allow one owner to do this, we will have to allow 451 owners to do this,” said Rosa de la Camara.

Residents were hoping the Sukkah would be up until Saturday evening. “I find it offensive in some regards. I don’t think that it was meant as an affront to anyone’s religion. I think it was a symbol of, rather an expression of someone’s beliefs, but really Sukkot is meant to celebrate the harvest,” said a resident.

The building association sent out a letter to every resident giving them a warning, but residents said the majority of the building is Jewish and find this very wrong. “I think it’s a big disappointment for the people here, and again it was not bothering anyone, and we feel like we were persecuted in Russia, and now they are doing the same thing here,” said Debbie Zomlinsky, a concerned resident.

For residents in the building, this is very important because they are now concerned that a precedent will now be set up.