Goodman offers rabbi city’s apology

Stacy J. Willis

Thursday, June 22, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

Mayor Oscar Goodman apologized on behalf of Las Vegas Wednesday to a rabbi who was arrested last week.

But Goodman's apology miffed the rabbi's neighbor, who says the city was justified in taking action against the rabbi.

Rabbi Moshe Omer was handcuffed and driven downtown in a police car after refusing to sign a zoning ordinance on Saturday, the holy Sabbath day on which orthodox Jews are forbidden by their beliefs to write or ride in a car. Omer said the event "horrified" and "humiliated" him in front of about a dozen congregants.

Omer is a leader of the Kabbalah Centre, which is located in a four-bedroom home near The Lakes community, in an area zoned for residential use.

"I apologize for what I believe was perhaps ignorance," Goodman said at a news conference in Omer's home Wednesday, referring to the actions of zoning code enforcement and Metro Police officers.

The arrest was made after a code enforcement officer and two Metro officers consulted their respective supervisors. A supervising Metro officer was called to the scene to assist in the arrest, according to Neighborhood Services records.

The rabbi was not booked and was released several hours later.

The conflict started months before when Omer's neighbor complained about the number of cars parked in the cul-de-sac by people attending Kabbalah study meetings and services.

Kabbalah is the study of Jewish mystical tradition, which has in recent years taken on a New Age flavor in some study circles.

Neighbor Anthony Bock said the mayor was out of line by "apologizing for enforcing the law."

"What kind of message does that send?" Bock said. "I'm not trying to personally attack the mayor, but the people who did their job did it well. I appreciated the officers' work. This was a publicity stunt by the Kabbalah group."

Omer was joined at the press conference by Rabbi Shaul Youdkevitch of the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles.

The city and the Kabbalah Centre forged an "informal" agreement to lay down arms until the group finds a new building, Youdkevitch said.

"We want from the city an agreement that we can practice over here our services and it's not violating anything," Youdkevitch said after the mayor left. "We are going to have services here until we find another place."

The city planning commission denied the Kabbalah Centre a special use permit in April. "We do not need any zoning variance," said Youdkevitch. "How is the mayor protecting me?" Bock said later. "It's galling. The mayor is minimizing the situation. How would the mayor feel if he lived here and there were people parked everywhere coming and going all the time?"

When asked later about the city's history of zoning violation problems with the Kabbalah Centre, Goodman said, "I'm not getting into that. That's not why we're here today. We're going to rectify (the arrest) from ever happening again. An awful lot of lessons will be learned as a result of this."

City Neighborhood Services records show that code enforcement officers visited the home more than six times since March to investigate the zoning code violations.

On May 2, two code enforcement officers cited a Kabbalah employee for operating a house of worship in a residential zone without a special use permit. By May 23, the citation had been dropped "as the result of an agreement to cease operating the structure as a house of worship and a business enterprise."

But officers found worship services and parked cars on several subsequent visits.

Omer told a crowd of media people Wednesday that the center had not been cited since May 2. However, city records show that officers attempted to cite Omer on Friday, June 2, but he "refused to provide positive identification or to sign the citation ... (he) stepped back into the structure, shut the front door and refused to re-open it ...

"Officers called Metro for assistance. Two uniformed officers arrived on the scene, knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. No one answered. All four officers left the scene."

City records also show that code enforcement officers attempted to cite Omer on Monday, June 5, and Monday, June 12, but that no one answered the door.

"We do not want to file a lawsuit, we do not want to fight, we are about bringing human dignity," Omer said.

In addition to conducting religious services, officers also noted that items were being sold in the house without a business permit.

On Tuesday, the center had merchandise such as Kabbalah baseball caps and bottled water displayed for sale.

Much of the merchandise had been taken away Wednesday to make room for the news conference.

Prominent Las Vegas developer Irwin Molasky is a student of the center and called Goodman Tuesday to voice his dissatisfaction with the rabbi's arrest.

Historically, Kabbalah could only be studied by married Jewish men over 40 who were well versed in Judaic law. In recent years it has emerged in more accessible forms and become more widely studied by both Jews and non-Jews.

However, it has drawn criticism from mainstream Jews for its New Age leanings and from some cult-watch groups for the intensity with which some followers devote themselves.

"I will incorporate your ideology into what we are trying to accomplish in the city," Goodman told Omer before he left. "If there is anything I can do for you, call me."