The Boca Grove discrimination lawsuit was a $50 million Fair Housing Act case filed in May 2025 by Isaac Scharf, an Orthodox Jewish father of five, against the Boca Grove Property Owner’s Association in Boca Raton, Florida, after the club suspended his entire family over a viral social media video showing him wrapping tefillin in the clubhouse. A federal judge dismissed the complaint in August 2025 for failing to complete mandatory pre-suit mediation under Florida law. Scharf refiled in January 2026 and then voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice in March 2026, ending the federal litigation for good.
The Video That Started It
In December 2024, Scharf invited Jake Adams, a Jewish comedian and golf influencer with close to two million followers, to play golf at Boca Grove. Adams runs a social channel called “Country Club Adjacent” that reviews Jewish country clubs with roast humor and golf commentary. During the visit he filmed a 90-second clip that included the two men wrapping tefillin, the small leather boxes and straps worn during traditional morning prayers, inside the clubhouse. The video also featured Adams sampling a pickle from the kosher market, calling the kosher café the “Starbucks of David,” and giving the club a 9.2 out of 10.
Adams posted the video to Instagram on January 6, 2025. It accumulated more than 962,000 views. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that the club’s official Instagram account initially liked the post and left a positive comment, which was later removed. Adams said staff had known about his visit, given him branded merchandise and food, and asked when the video would go up.
The Suspension
In March 2025, a three-member hearing committee at Boca Grove suspended Scharf from all community amenities for 90 days. The notice of penalty stated the video “contained references to religious practices that have been deemed offensive to a reasonable person.” A week later the association extended the suspension to Scharf’s wife, Danielle, and their five children, barring the family from the clubhouse, gym, pool, golf course, playground, pickleball courts, and community events. The club also deactivated the family’s car transponders, forcing them to enter through the visitor lane. The suspensions ended on June 9, 2025.
The association defended the discipline in a statement to The Forward, saying it “followed feedback from multiple members, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, who felt the behavior depicted in a publicly circulated video mocked sacred traditions in a way they found deeply offensive.” In its later motion to dismiss, the HOA pointed to video content it considered objectionable, including references to “Jew Daly,” “Jew-ber Eats,” the “Starbucks of David,” a scene with a flushing toilet, and a moment where the tefillin-wrapping was described as turning someone into a “Jew-nicorn.” The club argued the penalty was for conduct, not religion.
Scharf called the suspension “punishment for practicing his faith, and for doing so publicly” and told the Sun Sentinel the three-month ban was “traumatic” for his wife and children. Adams, who is not a party to the lawsuit, said he believed the club had approved of his visit and had no plans to return.
What the Lawsuit Alleged
On May 30, 2025, Scharf filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, under case number 9:25-cv-80675. The complaint, brought by the Dhillon Law Group, alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act along with civil rights violations, emotional distress, and economic harm. It sought $50 million in damages.
Beyond the video itself, the complaint described what it called a broader pattern of discriminatory treatment of Orthodox Jewish residents at Boca Grove. According to the filing:
- Anti-Orthodox board members and residents had worked to cancel or reduce kosher amenities. In 2021, one non-Orthodox member publicly declared the community should “never offer full kosher dining options” and labeled it “avowedly secular.”
- In 2022, then-board president Mark Gilman led a vote to rescind permission for residents to walk along the 15th hole on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, a route Orthodox families used because their observance prohibits driving on those days. In 2024, board member Larry Cohen pushed to destroy a walking path near the 14th hole, forcing families onto a longer route that crossed a busy road multiple times.
- Other Orthodox members faced similar discipline. Jerry Abramson received a 90-day family suspension in 2022 for communicating with a kosher supervisor about compliance failures. Warren Lent received a $500 fine and a suspension in 2024 after complaining about what he described as excessive security screenings of Orthodox families walking to the synagogue. Josh Light and his family were suspended for 30 days in 2022 after he sent a WhatsApp message wishing “good luck” to board candidates, which the board treated as a campaign rule violation.
- The board used a hand-picked hearing committee to impose harsh penalties on Orthodox members while issuing lighter consequences to non-Orthodox members for more serious conduct, including verbal abuse and sexual harassment.
How the Case Was Dismissed
On June 26, 2025, the association moved to dismiss. It argued that Scharf had failed to comply with Florida Statute § 720.311, which requires property owners to request pre-suit mediation before filing a dispute against their homeowners’ association. The motion also contended that state law barred courts from conducting fresh reviews of private organizations’ disciplinary decisions and that the complaint amounted to improper “shotgun pleading.”
On August 22, 2025, Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks granted the motion. The court ruled the Scharfs had not met the mandatory mediation requirement and rejected their argument that the Fair Housing Act preempted the state procedural rule. The dismissal was without prejudice, allowing a refile after mediation. HOA president Brandon Rippo notified members that the case was “now closed.”
Attorney Matthew Sarelson of the Dhillon Law Group said the family initiated the required pre-suit mediation within a 90-day window. That process is confidential by design. Scharf told the Sun Sentinel the family remained “100% on board with the strategy” to continue the legal fight.
The Refile and Voluntary Dismissal
Court records show the lawsuit was refiled on January 12, 2026, under case number 9:26-cv-80028 in the Southern District of Florida. The case was terminated on March 19, 2026, following a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice. The with-prejudice designation means Scharf cannot bring the same federal claims again. Public records do not indicate what prompted the voluntary dismissal or whether the parties reached a settlement.
About Boca Grove
Boca Grove is a private, members-only golf and country club community established in 1983 in Boca Raton, Florida. The gated community consists of seven subdivisions with fewer than 450 member families and includes a Jim Fazio-designed 18-hole championship golf course and a $11.5 million sports and wellness center opened in 2021. Jennifer M. Jolly serves as general manager and COO.