An Orthodox Jewish rabbi and his family are suing a Florida homeowners association (HOA), alleging repeated instances of antisemitic discrimination. The family, represented by First Liberty Institute and Jones Day, says they were mistreated after they approached the HOA board about acquiring land on which to build a synagogue.

Rabbi Naftaly Hertzel, his wife Henya, and their five children have lived in Loggers’ Run for 14 years. The father runs a local Jewish nonprofit organization.

The family reportedly never experienced any issues until they discussed the synagogue idea with the HOA. Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, released a statement saying that the HOA’s leadership “has engaged in open antisemitism against Rabbi Hertzel and created a hostile environment for Jewish residents living in their community.”

The Rabbi did not believe his request would be a problem since the association had previously given property to Christian churches or sold them land. The Hertzels drafted a preliminary design for the facility and met with HOA board members in 2012. They presented another version of the proposal in 2015. The lawsuit contends that the HOA never bothered to consider the proposal.

The suit alleges that the Hertzel’s proposal “triggered a decline in their relationship with the HOA that has since devolved into ongoing, open antisemitism and discrimination” and claims that when the family met with lawyers for Loggers’ Run and HOA board members, they were told that the community “didn’t want Jews” in their neighborhood and were later told that “a synagogue would be constructed over then-HOA Board President [Ronald] Harp’s ‘dead body.’”

The Hertzels, along with other Jewish members of the community, decided to try a different strategy: Seeking election on the HOA board. However, Harp and other board members “responded by consistently acting to prevent their election.’

When the Jewish candidates arrived at the election meeting with enough proxy votes to secure seats on the HOA Board, the HOA and incumbents on the Board, including Harp, functionally cancelled the election by leaving the meeting and denying a quorum, leading the HOA’s representative to declare the election postponed until the next year. In later elections, Harp and other HOA Board members whipped residents of Loggers’ Run into an antisemitic frenzy by openly campaigning against electing Jews, sending letters asking residents to “read between the lines,” and warning residents that the “Jews are trying to take over.”

After that didn’t work, the family decided to purchase the Chabad Israeli Center, the nonprofit run by the father. The objective was to “house an assistant Jewish rabbi and use the house for in-home religious services for the community.”

Even further, the suit alleges that the association “preemptively threatened the Hertzels with legal action if they hosted Jews at their house for prayer and service, and withheld approval from the Hertzels for developing the house in a manner that would facilitate hosting Chabad events and, thus, housing a Jewish rabbi.”

The lawsuit comes against the backdrop of a troubling rise in antisemitic sentiment in American society that cropped up after the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Much of the anti-Jewish bigotry has come from the hard left. However, in this case, the political leanings are hard to ascertain. Loggers’ Run is in Boca Raton, Florida, an area where former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden received almost an equal amount of votes.

Nevertheless, this incident reflects what is happening across the country, with those harboring antisemitic views appearing to be more emboldened to display their bigotry.