The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has never been quoted in an Agudah legal brief – until last Friday. What changed? “In this case,” said Mr. Nathan Lewin, who wrote and filed the brief on behalf of the Agudah, “it was important to bring to the attention of the court that cloaked anti-Semitism is infiltrating the court room, and must be called out.”

The case at hand is one where the East Ramapo Central School District is being sued for alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Without taking sides in the case, the Agudah noted in its brief that the plaintiffs in the case used coded language in their arguments that perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes.

Mr. Lewin’s legal presentation cites portions of the plaintiff’s brief that contend that a “white slating organization” led by “religious leaders” in East Ramapo purportedly convened secretly to devise racist election tactics to dominate the Black and Latino residents of East Ramapo. Clearly, given the demographic of East Ramapo, these references are to religious leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community of East Ramapo.

This conclusion, that Jews conspire in secret to dominate over non-Jews, mirrors the libels contained in the infamous anti-Semitic book, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and contradicts the evidence given in the case. And by using code words, such as “religious leaders” and “white slating organization,” when the implicit meaning is actually “Orthodox Jews,” the Agudah brief argues, the plaintiffs are trying to camouflage what would otherwise be perceived as naked anti-Semitism.

“We must now be on guard in the courtroom – yet another front in the growing catalog of anti-Chareidi stereotyping,” said Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of the Agudah. “We are grateful to Mr. Lewin for calling this out, and we trust that the court will take it into account in their review of the case.