Kept From Keeping the Sabbath

Late last month, several Orthodox Jewish residents of a New Jersey apartment building -- all elderly, some handicapped -- filed a federal lawsuit because their co-op board would not let doormen press the elevator button for them on the Jewish Sabbath. That these residents had to take such an extraordinary step is astonishing, given that both law and common decency require the co-op board to grant this modest request. But the case is far from just another squabble among neighbors; it is an important reminder.