Lakewood community to unlock electronic gate on Shabbat for observant Jews

A Jewish man who lives in The Enclave filed a state discrimination complaint in December 2017 claiming that The Enclave’s pedestrian gate prevented him from walking to synagogue.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pomeo (R), and National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat (C) light Hanukkah candles during a meeting in Brussles, December 3, 2018 (photo credit: GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pomeo (R), and National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat (C) light Hanukkah candles during a meeting in Brussles, December 3, 2018
(photo credit: GPO)
Lakewood’s Orthodox Jews won a case against a homeowners’ association that will allow them to keep a pedestrian gate open on Shabbat and holidays, according to a report by the Lakewood Scoop.
A Jewish man, Nathan Reiss, who lives in The Enclave, a 55-and-over community in Lakewood, filed a state discrimination complaint in December 2017 claiming that The Enclave’s pedestrian gate prevented him from walking to synagogue because it required an electronic key card.
Earlier this week, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office announced a deal had been struck between Reiss and The Enclave and that the pedestrian gate would remain unlocked on Shabbat and holidays. Observant Jews don’t use electricity on what they call “yom tov.”
According to the Lakewood Scoop report, Orthodox Jews constitute an ever-growing majority of the 25-square-mile township’s roughly 100,000 residents.