California rabbi says city fined him for hosting home prayers
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A California rabbi is threatening legal action after he says the city of Irvine unlawfully fined him for months for holding private prayer meetings at his home.
First Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the city of Irvine on June 12, demanding that the city immediately cease enforcement actions and rescind past citations against its client, Rabbi Rafi Dadon.
Dadon, an Orthodox Jew, regularly invites friends to his home for prayers, Torah study, and Shabbat and holiday meals. His lawyers say these meetings are private, by invitation only, and form the basis of 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, California, asking it to stop punishing Rabbi Dadon. (iStock)
ORTHODOX JEW ASKED THE SUPREME COURT TO HEAR THE CASE, ALLEGEDLY TARGETED ŞEHİR’S PRAYER GROUP AT HIS HOME
According to the letter sent by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and First Liberty Institute, the city’s justifications for penalties have changed frequently.
The city initially alleged that Dadon was conducting unauthorized “Church activities,” which required a Conditional Use Permit under local zoning regulations. Authorities later removed the phrase “Church activities” and claimed Dadon violated zoning rules regarding “Accessory Use” and “commercial activity” and claimed his home was operated 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 impartially enforced land use issue but rather at protected religious practice,” the demand letter states.
The letter argues that the city may be violating the Free Use Clause, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and the Fair Housing Act with its actions, and says it should preserve any documents and communications regarding the matter in anticipation of potential legal action.
Rabbi Dadon hosts a religious meeting at his home. (First Freedom Institute)
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“It is chilling that City of Irvine officials resorted to fining a small group of Jewish residents who gathered together for worship, prayer and religious services,” Gardner said. a statement. “Rabbi Dadon has a constitutional right to engage in religious observance at home with family or friends, free from the burden and interference of the government.”
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The City of Irvine claimed Rabbi Dadon used his home as a synagogue in a residential area, according to the First Liberty Institute. (First Freedom Institute)
Dadon’s case mirrors a similar case in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio; Daniel Grand, an orthodox Jew, said city officials targeted the prayer group at his home, accused him of violating local zoning regulations and demanded that he apply for a permit that would turn his home into a commercial house of worship. Although the city later lifted the permit requirement, Grand’s lawyers argued that his rights had been violated and petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his religious freedom case.
The city of Irvine did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
