Friday, September 25, 2009

Max and Erla Strike Back!

Max and Erla Feinberg put a provision in their Wills and in their Trust documents that if their grandchildren weren't to marry a spouse of the Jewish faith, it is as if they were dead and they won't be permitted to inherit from the Estate.

As it turned out, only one of Max and Erla’s five grandchildren married a Jewish spouse and stood to inherit. So what did the others do? It's America isn’t it? So they sued! They sued their own grandparents to get the money.

And last year, an Illinois appellate court declared it illegal, as against public policy, to have such a provision in one's Will.

But on Thursday, in what could not have been better timing, coming between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Supreme Court of Illinois unanimously overturned that ruling and reinstated the Will and its provisions.

Now I'm not going to get into the legal technicalities of the ruling but I do want to quote for you something that the court said because I don't think a rabbi could have expressed it any better.

"Max’s intent was to benefit those descendants who opted to honor and further his commitment to Judaism by marrying within the faith. Max had expressed his concern about the potential extinction of the Jewish people, not only by holocaust, but by gradual dilution as a result of intermarriage with non-Jews."

A grandparent in Max’s situation is entirely free during his lifetime to attempt to influence his grandchildren to marry within his family’s religious tradition, even by offering financial incentives to do so."

And here's my favorite part. Maybe it's the old lawyer in me, but...

"Equal protection does not require that all children be treated equally; due process does not require notice of conditions precedent to potential beneficiaries; and the free exercise clause does not require a grandparent to treat grandchildren who reject his religious beliefs and customs in the same manner as he treats those who conform to his traditions."

"Although those plans might be offensive to individual family members or to outside observers, Max and Erla were free to distribute their bounty as they saw fit and to favor grandchildren of whose life choices they approved over other grandchildren who made choices of which they disapproved."

Friday, September 18, 2009

Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5770

First off let me apologize for not posting lately. Been busy with the holidays.

So Shanah Tovah and Happy New Year to all.

I will post more frequently when things quiet down.

If anyone wants to read my sermons for the holidays just send me an e-mail.

In the meantime, here's an interesting interview with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia from a Jewish newspaper, Hamodia, where he discusses his views on Supreme Court jurisprudence as it relates to the Establishment Clause -

http://www.hamodia.com/inthepaper.cfm?ArticleID=370

(thanks to Prof Howard Friedman for the link)

May We All Be Blessed With a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!