Fisher v. Congregation B'nai Yitzhok

Rabbi Herman Fisher (plaintiff), an orthodox cantor, contracted to officiate services for Congregation B'nai Yitzhok (defendant), an orthodox synagogue that -- consistent with orthodox Jewish law -- separated men and women during services, though this custom was never written into the contract. After the contract was signed, the Congregation for the first time began allowing mixed seating; Fisher, learning of the change too late to secure other Holiday-season officiating work, told the Congregation he could no longer perform because the new seating practice violated his beliefs, and sued to recover what he would have earned under the contract. At trial, the Congregation's own rabbi testified he had told Fisher, before the contract was signed, that the Congregation followed segregated seating.