Suffern – Village officials and neighbors, call the yellow two-story Bikur Cholim house at 5 Hillcrest Road an illegal transient motel and say it should be shuttered.
But in response, Bikur Cholim has filed a federal lawsuit, claiming its religious rights are being violated.
The village denied a zoning variance for the home in November on the grounds that it was located on a residential block. Village Attorney Terry Rice said nowhere in the village is there zoning that would allow the Monsey-based nonprofit group Bikur Cholim, a house.
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Dr. Michael Lippe, director of emergency services at Good Samaritan, told the village Zoning Board that without a place to stay on the Shabbas, he feared Orthodox Jews might forgo coming to the hospital if it means breaking Shabbas laws.