Mayor apologizes for arrest of rabbi

Thursday, June 22, 2000 | 9:47 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has apologized to a rabbi who was arrested on Saturday for failing to sign a zoning violation citation.

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Moshe Omer refused to sign the citation because his religious beliefs prevent him from a great many activities from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, such as performing manual labor, talking on the phone or even putting his signature on a piece of paper.

So when a city of Las Vegas code enforcement officer showed up during a prayer meeting Omer was leading in his home Saturday morning and asked him to sign a citation for violating zoning laws, he refused.

While a dozen of Omer's congregants watched, the rabbi told the city official and three Las Vegas police officers that he could sign the ticket - issued for conducting religious worship in a home and creating a public nuisance - when Sabbath expired later that evening or on Monday morning. Omer even offered to have one of his non-Jewish congregants sign the citation as an alternative.

When authorities told him that was impossible, Omer again refused to sign.

He was handcuffed, arrested and - though he explained his religion did not permit him to ride in a vehicle on Saturdays - transported to the city jail via a police car.

"I was in shock. It was horrifying. I couldn't believe something like this could happen in this city," said Omer, a soft-spoken Israeli whose English name is Michael Essence. He said the way he was treated brought images of Nazis and the Holocaust to mind.

"My students tell me if this happened to Jesse Jackson, there would be riots," he said.

After a sympathetic desk sergeant called a judge to the Las Vegas jail to sign the citation for him, Omer was released and offered a ride home. Again, because of his religion, he declined the offer and waited at a congregant's downtown office for several hours before being driven home after sunset.

The incident has proven an embarrassment for the city.

Mayor Goodman attended a news conference Wednesday that Omer called at the Kabbalah Centre.

"We pride ourselves on treating all our citizens with human dignity," Goodman said. "I apologize for what I believe was caused by ignorance and a mistake in judgment."

The services are held in a four-bedroom home in an area zoned only for residential use.

Las Vegas city spokesman Erik Pappa said other homeowners have complained to the city's code enforcement office since March, objecting to 25 to 30 cars being parked on neighborhood streets during the Sabbath services each week.

Anthony Bock said congregants' cars are constantly parked on his driveway and property.

Pappa said that since Bock and others complained, code enforcement officers have made nine trips to the Kabbalah Centre in the past three months to cite Omer for his illegal use of the residence.

Rabbi Shaul Youdkevitch, a Kabbalah Centre representative based in Los Angeles, said services will continue at the house until the group can find another location.