What to Know
- Religious rules prohibit Orthodox men and women from swimming together
- An attorney told one resident at the complex that as long as individuals aren't denied access to the pool completely, the rules are legal
- City-owned pools in Brooklyn went through a similar controversy and expanded their mixed-sex swim times
A 69-year-old former postal worker and his wife are among the non-Jewish residents of a New Jersey condominium complex frustrated by rules that limit mixed-sex swimming to two hours per day Sunday through Friday.
Jewish law prohibits men and women from bathing together, and the rules at A Country Place were implemented to accommodate the majority of Orthodox Jewish homeowners at the 376-unit Lakewood adult community, according to The Asbury Park Press. Anyone who violates the rules on mixed-sex swims faces a $50 fine, which was what Steve Lusardi encountered when he went for a swim with his wife earlier this summer, the newspaper said.
During the summer, the pool is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, but mixed-sex swimming is permitted only 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday through Friday. There is open swimming on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
Lusardi and the few other non-Orthodox residents in the community have protested the pool rules, but Lusardi says the board won't listen.
βIβve been told, βThis is a Jewish community. Get used to it,ββ Lusardi said.
Another resident who got fined for swimming during men-only hours told The Asbury Park Press she spoke with a lawyer who told her that, under state housing non-discrimination laws, the board's rules were acceptable as long as they did not deny pool access to anyone based on sex or religion altogether.
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The board declined comment to The Asbury Park Press.
City-owned pools in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, another area densely populated with Orthodox Jews, came under fire this summer over similar sex-specific swim schedules. The city added more mixed-sex swim times as a compromise.