Dad Sues Son's School For Banning Star Of David Necklace: Report

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — A father is suing his son's former Financial District preschool for refusing to let the boy wear a Star of David necklace, infringing on his religious freedom, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday reported by The Daily News.

Soviet refugee Dmitriy Goldin’s 4-year-old son Isaac attended the Bright Minds Center, which according to the school's website provides “European Education” and “Russian Traditions” for kids, through last year. The Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit charges administrators at the school with prohibiting the boy from donning the religious pendant from November 2016 to June 2017, the News reports.

“On multiple occasions in 2016 and 2017 …. Defendant forcefully and purposely removed Star of David from plaintiff's minor son,” the suit says of the Maiden Lane school at Gold Street. “On multiple occasions in 2016 and 2017 … plaintiff's son was denied entry to defendant's care center because he wore Star of David.”

Goldin, who came to the United States from Moscow in 1991 because of religious persecution, said administrators claimed removing the necklace was a matter of "safety."

“They said it was a safety issue,” the 43-year-old tech recruiter told The News. “What safety?”

Goldin acknowledged that he is aware that the school has a no-jewelry policy, but maintains that under the law the school must make religious accommodations.

“Free exercise of religion is protected by law,” Goldin told the newspaper.

He claims he offered to purchase a smaller necklace, but administrators told him, "No, find other ways to show off your religion." After that, when Goldin tried putting the pendant on his son, the boy refused claiming that, "I'm not allowed to wear it anymore," Goldin explained to The News.

Goldin, whose grandfather died in World War II fighting Germany and who lost nearly two dozen family members in the Holocaust, said he is not strict when it comes to Judaism but that he and his family proudly wear the Jewish star as a way of expressing their faith.

“In Russia, if you wore a Star of David back in the day, you could maybe walk 10, 15 minutes with weird looks before they’d spit on us, or cursed us out, or whatever,” he told The News. “In America, being able to wear the Star of David – it’s freedom.”

Bright Minds declined to comment.

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