December 15, 2020 - 29 Kislev 5781 News from the Agudah:
- Agudath Israel joins in friend of the court brief defending religious freedom in a case before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. See below for more information.
- "On the eve of the 25th of Kislev you kindle the first Chanukah light in your home, and for eight days with greeting of the ever-increasing light, the memory of an old story, of ancient times crosses the threshold of your mind. Is it still the same old story? Do, then, the Jewish dead never die? Does the Jewish past never fade away?" See below to continue reading this article by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch published in the Jewish Observer in 1964, where Rabbi Hirsch explains the difference between Greece and Rome, and why it is still relevant today.
- Last week Agudath Israel held a webinar on End-of-Year Tax Planning in the Covid Era. The webinar addressed estate planning, Medicaid lookback, PPP loan forgiveness, SALT deductions and opportunity zones, as well as potential tax changes. See below for more information and to watch a replay.
- The Torah Projects Commission's special shiur series in honor of Chanukah continues this week. Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 16, Rabbi Avrohom Schorr will be giving a shiur on the topics of mocher k'suso and pirsumei nisa. See below for the entire week's schedule.
| | Agudath Israel Joins in Friend of the Court Brief Defending Religious Freedom | | Photo Credits: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com | | Agudath Israel of America and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty filed, yesterday, an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in a case before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The case has significant implications for religious freedom.
Under what has come to be known as the "ministerial exception," courts may not interfere in employment disputes involving employees who hold religious positions in religious institutions, in order to preserve the religious freedom of those institutions, one of the protections of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This case, DeWeese-Boyd v. Gordon College, involves defining who exactly is a "minister" for the purpose of determining whether that employee may sue his employer, a religious organization.
The United States Supreme Court has broadly defined who qualifies as a minister for purposes of this exception, most recently earlier this year in the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru. In the Gordon College case, the Superior Court of Massachusetts, adopted a narrower test, which held that to determine whether an employee of a religious organization is a minister, the courts should consider whether the position required proselytizing; whether the employee used his or her title in a manner that would indicate that he or she was authorized to speak on church doctrine; and whether the employee's functions were essentially liturgical.
The brief submitted yesterday argued that adopting the test suggested by the Massachusetts Superior Court would discriminate against Jewish organizations by barring Jewish religious employees from being considered ministers, because: 1) Jews do not proselytize; 2) most Jewish teachers at schools do not have the authority to speak on religious doctrine as the courts have defined that term; and 3) most rabbis and teachers do not engage in primarily liturgical functions. Instead, the brief urged the court to defer to religious organizations' good-faith determinations that their employees' duties are "ministerial."
The amicus brief submitted by Agudath Israel of America and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty was authored primarily by a team of attorneys at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who took on this case pro bono for the Jewish organizations. Attorneys at both organizations, including Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel's Vice President for Government Affairs, Mordechai Biser, Special Counsel for Agudath Israel, and Howard Slugh of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, also contributed to the brief.
Rabbi Biser thanked the attorneys at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for their work on the brief. He said, "We hope that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejects the narrow definition adopted by the Superior Court and instead adopts a broader test that defers to religious organizations in defining whether their employees' duties are considered ministerial for the purposes of the ministerial exception." | | Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Chanukah | | Click here or on image below to view the full article | | Agudah Webinar Shines Light on End-of-Year Tax Planning Under COVID | | Taxes. Not one of everyone's favorite topics, but that didn't stop some 750 people who signed up to participate in an end-of-year tax planning webinar focusing on pandemic-related issues.
Held last week, the webinar addressed estate planning, Medicaid lookback, PPP loan forgiveness, SALT deductions and opportunity zones, as well as potential tax changes that may be implemented under a Biden administration.
Rabbi Naftali Miller, national director of development for the Agudah, host of the webinar, said that the webinar drew participants from 60 major accounting firms. A recording of the hour-long session is being released to the public, giving an even larger audience an opportunity to better understand the tax ramifications of this year's unusual circumstances.
The panel of CPAs featured Benjamin Berger, a partner at Bernath & Rosenberg; Abe Schlisselfeld, partner in charge of the real estate group at Marks Paneth; Zacharia Waxler, co-managing partner at Roth&Co; and Shulem Rosenbaum, a manager at Roth&Co. The panelists also answered questions submitted in advance by participants, who earned CPE credits for taking part in the webinar.
Being able to address continuously evolving issues such as PPP loans was crucial, noted Mr. Rosenbaum, as updates on all aspects of the program continue to emerge. "One mistake can cost you a lot more money than consulting first with a professional," said Mr. Berger.
"So many timely topics that affect local business owners were discussed and this strong collaborative conversation could have gone on for hours, but in reality, so much was accomplished in a single 60 minute lunch break," said Mr. Waxler.
"Now more than ever, it is crucial for people in the financial world to stay on top of the latest developments," added Mr. Schlisselfeld. "It has been an unprecedented year and kol hakavod to the Agudah for taking the initiative to give people an opportunity to acquire the financial and practical advice they need as the year 2020 comes to a close."
Click here to view a full replay of the webinar. | | Iyunim B'hilchos Chanukah | | The shiurim continue this week with the access information as follows: | | | | | | |
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