"If local governments can shut them down with a cease-and-desist order before anyone can challenge them in court, every single one of those
by Mathilda Heller
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of an Orthodox Jewish man in Ohio who was ordered by his city to stop hosting prayer services in his home.
As covered by The Jerusalem Post in April 2026, Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew living in University Heights, Ohio, invited a minyan, the quorum of 10 men that Jewish law requires for communal worship, to his home in January 2021.
Since Orthodox Jewish law forbids driving on Shabbat, Grand could not travel to a synagogue. The home minyan was his only way to fulfill this religious obligation, and he added a 700-square-foot recreation room to his home in order to host the gatherings.
However, one of Grand’s neighbors complained, and the city issued a cease-and-desist order prohibiting Grand from using his home for prayer. The city warned him that using his home for religious assembly violated local zoning laws.
Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan then publicly encouraged Grand’s neighbors to watch his home and report any sign of Jewish worship to the authorities.
