Noise complaint or antisemitism? Ultra-Orthodox family ejected from hotel by police on Shabbat

Incident marks the second time in recent months that upstate New York hotel has thrown out Haredi families on the Jewish sabbath, according to report.

By World Israel News Staff

A hotel in upstate New York is facing criticism for expelling an ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) family on Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, and calling the police to force the family to leave the premises.

Three generations of a Haredi family, comprising a group of about 40 people, booked a block of rooms last weekend at Hunter Lodge in the Catskills, a popular vacation spot for Jewish families.

According to a Yeshiva World News report, the member of the family who made the reservation told staff that the group included many small children, and the hotel did not raise objections or concerns regarding their presence.

But once they arrived at the hotel, staff appeared to have an issue with the children, a family member told the outlet.

On Friday night, after Shabbat began, an “angry” staff member reportedly told the family that there had been noise complaints from other guests regarding the children. The family apologized.

Several hours later, on Saturday morning, staff again aggressively approached the family, claiming that there had been an additional guest complaint about children allegedly playing unsupervised in a common area.

The family reportedly denied that children had been left to play independently, but apologized once again.

Members of the family told YWN that they were skeptical regarding the legitimacy of the complaints, as they had no unpleasant interactions with other guests.

Shortly after the second complaint was made, staff announced that the entire group was being ejected from the hotel and would be forced to leave the premises immediately.

The incident marked the second time in recent months that Hunter Lodge had demanded a Haredi family leave the hotel on Shabbat, YWN reported.

After the family explained that they could not leave due to religious concerns, which bar them from driving on Shabbat, the hotel called authorities.

“A large [number] of local, county, and state police officers…showed up at the hotel and threatened the entire family with arrest….if they did not vacate the premises immediately,” according to YWN.

However, the police were more sympathetic to the religious observance of the guests, eventually calling up a public bus with a non-Jewish driver to transport some members of the family to a nearby home.

Other members of the family walked about a mile to the home, whose ultra-Orthodox owners hosted the group for the remainder of Shabbat.

American JewsAntisemitismHaredimhotelsNew YorkUltra-Orthodox