A California rabbi is threatening legal action after he says the city of Irvine has unlawfully fined him for months for hosting private prayer meetings in his home.First Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the city of Irvine on June 12 demanding the city immediately cease its enforcement actions and revoke past citations against its client, Rabbi Rafi Dadon.Dadon, an Orthodox Jew, regularly invites friends to his home for prayer, Torah study, and Shabbat and holiday meals.His attorneys say these gatherings are private, by invitation only and central to his faith.First Liberty attorney Ryan Gardner told Fox News Digital that Dadon has been fined approximately $5,000 since the city began fining him in August 2025.First Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the City of Irvine, CA demanding it stop penalizing Rabbi Dadon.
(iStock)ORTHODOX JEW ASKS SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE AFTER CITY ALLEGEDLY TARGETED HIS HOME PRAYER GROUPAccording to the letter sent by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and First Liberty Institute, the city's justifications for the fines have frequently changed.The city initially claimed that Dadon was engaging in unpermitted "Church activities" that required a Conditional Use Permit, under local zoning regulations.Later, officials dropped the reference to "Church activities" and alleged Dadon was violating zoning rules related to "Accessory Use" and "commercial activity" and suggested his home was operating as a "place of worship," according to the demand letter."The City's shifting and inconsistent characterization of Rabbi Dadon's activities...
raises serious concerns that the enforcement action is pretextual and directed not at any neutrally applied land-use issue, but rather at protected religious exercise," the demand letter states.The letter suggests the city could be violating the Free Exercise Clause, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the Fair Housing Act with its actions and says it must preserve any...