Posted on 01/17/2007 8:50:22 AM PST by Nachum
American Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld was ordered by the court to pay a Sabbath-observant realtor her fee, which he withheld due to her not having answered her phone on Saturday.
The realtor, Tamara Cohen, was unavailable when Seinfeld tried to reach her on a Saturday in February, 2005, according to the New York Post. The comedian and star of the highly successful sitcom bearing his name wanted to see a luxury apartment on 82nd street but could not get in touch with Cohen.
Seinfeld’s estate manager had visited the apartment with Cohen in January 2005, when the listing broker for the townhouse agreed to co-broke the house with her. On Friday, February 11, the estate manager and Seinfeld’s wife Jessica were shown the property by Cohen again. The next day, after Cohen did not answer her cell phone due to it being the Sabbath, the Seinfelds visited the apartment on their own, buying the home for $3.95 million without a broker.
Seinfeld testified that Cohen did not deserve the payment as she had been unavailable when he and his wife wanted to see the home. Both Seinfelds said they had not known the reason Cohen did not return their calls was that she was a Sabbath-observant Jew.
New York State Supreme Court justice Rolando Acosta ruled that the Seinfelds must pay Cohen at least $98,000 for her role as co-broker – a ruling that is seen as a positive defense of religious worship for Sabbath observers.
Acosta said that notwithstanding Cohen's failure to immediately return the Seinfelds' calls, "[T]he evidence clearly indicates that she served as the Seinfelds' real estate broker."
"The only real issue here . . . is whether the broker's fee was 5 or 6 percent," Acosta said, meaning Cohen may get as much as $118,500.
Richard Menaker of Menaker & Hermann, the law firm that represented the Seinfelds, said he intends to move to re-argue. "Not a single one of the [six] arguments we made was addressed," Menaker said, according to Law.com. "At the oral argument I pointed out that Ms. Cohen is not licensed. You can only recover on an oral agreement if you're a licensed real-estate broker," he added. Cohen’s lawyer said that she is in fact licensed and that the court apparently agreed.
Maybe the agent could have changed her voicemail message to reflect that she won't answer the phone during the Sabbath.
So all Jews follow the same rules ?
Glad we've got that figured out.
you seem to have mixed the servile work with complete stopping of work. the yom tovim, ie. festivals fall under the language of kol melechas avoda lo ta'asu (no manner of servile work should be done, ie. meaning cooking{from an existing flame, not a new one}, carrying in public and some other things which are okay for the festival (and all for immediate use only) vs. kol melacha lo ta'asu (no work shall be done, in reference to shabbos and yom kippur). but then again, you must follow your Catholic doctrine and I must follow Torah & Halacha l'Moshe MiSinai.
in regards to sin due to labor on Shabbos for us, well those who know better, need a darn good excuse. everything is measured by the One who can judge and all is measure for measure.
interesting discussion....
When He commands us to worship Him it's like a parent telling a child to "sit up straight, don't slouch, tie your shoes, do your homework, take out the trash, clean up your room, and NO BACK-SASS!" Ultimately it's for the child's own good, but the child may not see that at the time. Yet looking back the adult is glad their parent made them do all those things because they see that they would never have been as good of a person as they've become if they hadn't been disciplined. That's the word. The Lord Disciplines us.
You're right - Catholics don't take the Sabbath as seriously as the Jews. Or as seriously as some protsies either. I mean, we do, but we allow for a lot of pragmatic exceptions. It's not one of the top points of our religion. Abortion and remarriage are probably the things we're most scrupulous about. But there are a billion Catholics, and I'm sure someone will be along to tell me I'm not a good Catholic, that GOOD Catholics take the Sabbath every bit as seriously as the Orthodox Jews.
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