Discrimination in Housing: My father, Joesph B. Robison, worked for the American Jewish Congress from 1947 to almost the end of his life in 1983. He was instrumental in the development of state law prohibiting discrimination in housing. His legal language was adopted first by New York State, and then by many other states as well. Today, discrimination in rental and sales of housing in the United States is generally illegal.

Haredi communities in the United States and Israel like to raise men who dedicate their efforts to Torah-true study, to the neglect of almost everything else. If you think it is admirable for more than a few, gifted members of the community to spend their lives this way, please consider that people who turn only toward our Talmud and Torah are mentally disabled when circumstances require them to address an important principle: to dedicate to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Here is a quote made by the Failed Messiah Blog. It bgins a thread at COLLive by a resident of the Crown Heights neighborhood:

We would hope that landlords, especially the Crown Heights landlords, would put a priority on our values, but sadly the need to make money is taking precedence for them. Some young agents and landlords will specifically rent to these goyim instead of a fellow Jewish family.

The commenter is quite oblivious that landlords in the area might simply have chosen not to break the laws about discrimination in housing. (In fact, in his statement at COLLive, he says flatly that he intends to discriminate as a landlord.) We religious Jews live in the United States. The laws of our governments give us certain incredibly valuable rights, and restrict us in various ways that, we hope, will be for the public good. How can we consider ourselves useful people, if we are going to blunder around here in the dark, unaware of the secular country that surrounds us and keeps us at peace?