November 24, 2025

To Ms. Jolly and Boca Grove Board Members:

We, the undersigned, are writing to bring a grievance against Mr. Jim Perilstein pursuant to Boca Grove rule #3, “Members shall treat everyone with civility and in a manner that would not be offensive to a reasonable person.”, and rule #12, which prohibits use of the membership roster for unauthorized use. This grievance relates to Mr. Perilstein's November 23, 2025 email message (attached) to many members of the Boca Grove community.

We are reasonable individuals from all demographics within the Boca Grove community and we are all offended by the remarks made by Jim Perilstein in his email.

Guised as a letter of thanks to three board members, Mr. Perilstein’s remarks turn quickly to promote classic antisemitic tropes and stereotypes which insult and denigrate the upstanding individuals of our community who proudly maintain an observant Jewish lifestyle. He writes, “We have a very vocal minority who want to change our lifestyle and have the rest of us adjust to their personal needs.” This is a baseless claim which promotes fear, hostility, suspicion, and isolation. He brings nothing to substantiate his assertion, which is typical for the empty antisemitic rhetoric espoused against the Jewish people for thousands of years. His claim that observant Jews are secretly attempting to take control and force the residents of Boca Grove to conform, is blatantly offensive. It is offensive to those targeted, and it is also offensive to their friends and neighbors in the community who are sympathetic and recognize that this is a malicious and false stereotype.

Mr. Perilstein suggests that he can’t understand how a community with a Jewish majority could be antisemitic. This is a feckless attempt to shield himself from being labeled as such, even while his words openly encourage the isolation and suppression of the orthodox “newcomers”, who moved here because of “what was outside our gate.” Long before an orthodox synagogue opened outside of Boca Grove, you could ask any real estate agent and they would tell you that Boca Grove’s prime location is highly desirable, with close proximity to excellent schools, shopping, and easy access to both the turnpike and I-95. Location and proximity to amenities matters when deciding where to live, but Mr. Perilstein twists this by making a thinly veiled reference to Boca Jewish Center, an orthodox synagogue located “outside our gate”. He impugns this motivation to live in Boca Grove, and stereotypes individuals who were attracted to the community for close access to the synagogue “outside our gate”, calling them the “newcomers” who “somehow expect the majority of members to adjust our lifestyle while they show little, if any, willingness to adapt to the traditions of Boca Grove.” These words which stereotype members of the Boca Grove community based on their motivation to move here are offensive to those targeted, and they are also offensive to their friends and neighbors in the community who are sympathetic and recognize that this is a malicious and false stereotype.

Mr. Perilstein paints a picture of the orthodox community members as being clannish and exclusive, unwilling to integrate into the broader Boca Grove community. This is another false stereotype which has historically been used to foment opposition against orthodox Jewish families, in an attempt to discourage the expansion of home ownership within a community. He references that there is a WhatsApp chat group, and describes this chat group as “One of the tools that many in the observant community use…which excludes most, if not all of the secular community.” He insinuates that this is an example of the observant Jews being clannish by sarcastically saying, “Not sure how you build an inclusive community, as they say they want, when you communicate in this way but it’s their right.” He then links this chat group with another chat group which “discusses the Scharf lawsuit pending against us.” Earlier in the email Perilstein stated that the lawsuit is “against us”, setting the stage as an Us against Them fight. He goes on to define THEM by drawing the connection between the “Walkers Chat”, Scharf, the lawsuit and the Legal Chat. His facts are completely distorted, and promotes a stance which isolates the Orthodox members of the community as being the opposition and a threat to the lifestyle in Boca Grove.

We are deeply offended by Mr. Perilstein’s email to a large segment of the Boca Grove Membership which casts the Jewish Orthodox community in a negative light, pits neighbor against neighbor, and breeds fear and distrust about the Orthodox members of our community, a clear violation of Boca Grove Rule #3. At a time like this, when we should be trying to build bridges and work together, he is trying to pit people against each other. As a former board member who has insisted on grievancing people for matters much less offensive than this, he should know better. His email is an afront to the ethos of Boca Grove, and disgraces the traditions of its past.

We applaud the three Board of Director members who distanced themselves from Perilstein’s vile email, “From Richard Buch, Geoff Newman and Curt Smith: The three of us would like to make it clear that we did not approve the letter before it went out….”. As Perilstein’s email was unauthorized and offensive, its dissemination is a violation of Boca Grove Rule #12.

Accordingly, we request that a grievance be brought against Mr. Perilstein as soon as possible. There is precedence for grieving based on email communication and private communication. If the grievance is not pursued we will interpret it as selective enforcement. Additionally, Jim Perilstein should be required to take sensitivity training if and when considered for re-entry into club matters or any formal positions at the club.