Lender Threatens To Grab Five Torahs In F'closure Action Against Synagogue; "Oh, Too Bad!" Says Bank Pres When Told It Was Holiest Time Of Jewish Year

In Boynton Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• When Jews at Congregation Chabad-Lubavitch west of Boynton Beach gather Friday for the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, they will be under a cloud of uncertainty.

• A bank is seeking to grab the Chabad's property and assets to pay off a delinquent loan. Among those assets are the congregation's five Torahs. Threatening to seize the Torahs is "a desecration," said Howard Dubosar, a Chabad attorney. "This is a bank playing hardball." David Seleski, president of Stonegate Bank, said the bank isn't trying to attack the Chabad through its religion. "We just want to get paid," Seleski said.

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• Stonegate is seeking to proceed with a foreclosure of the Chabad property, despite the synagogue's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in June. Normally, Chapter 11 puts a halt to all litigation. But earlier this month Stonegate filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to allow its foreclosure lawsuit to go ahead anyway, arguing that the Chabad's bankruptcy filing was done in bad faith and was simply a bid "to stall for more time." The motion was filed on Sept. 10, which was Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

• Phil Landau, the Chabad's bankruptcy lawyer, said it was "disrespectful" for the filing to be made on this day. "It could have been filed a few days before or a few days after," Landau said. Dubosar went even further, saying that the filing was "calculated to harm the psyche of this religious institution. This is the holiest time of the year. It's like foreclosing on a church on Christmas Eve."

• Stonegate's Seleski said the Rosh Hashana filing date was not deliberate. But he was not bothered by charges that the filing was inappropriate. "Oh, too bad," Seleski said. "I don't think it's appropriate that they're not paying their loan back. I'm not aware of any holiday. My job is to collect as much money as I can for our shareholders."

For more, see Bank sues Boynton synagogue over delinquent loan; threat to seize Torahs spurs outrage.