Nice to see some unity among the Abrahamic faiths.
U.S. Jewish groups back Muslim teen in case against Abercrombie & Fitch
By Haaretz and The Associated Press | Dec. 14, 2014 | 11:37 AM
Orthodox Jewish groups in the United States have thrown their support behind a Muslim teenager who was denied a job at retailer Abercrombie & Fitch because she wears a head scarf.
Seven Jewish groups joined a Muslim civil rights group and a public interest law firm in filing briefs supporting the teen, Samantha Elauf, this week at the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Elauf was turned down for a job at the Tulsa, Okla., branch of the youth-oriented clothing store because her hijab didn’t conform to the company’s “look policy” of what is calls “classic East Coast collegiate style of clothing,” according to court filings citing by the Times.
“This is a common experience that a lot of other Sabbath observers or people wearing yarmulkes have had in terms of applying for a position and being turned down because it is just a nuisance to employers,” Nathan Lewin, who filed a friend of the court brief for the Orthodox Jewish groups, told the paper.
“It is important that these Orthodox Jewish groups express support for this Muslim woman who has had a similar experience,” he added.
Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, director of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, another group that joined the brief said that the case could be “a possible infringement of the freedom of religion.”