The Nevada Court of Appeals recently had the opportunity to address what constitutes a “Jewish holiday” in the context of a child custody dispute. In the published case of Mizrachi v. Mizrachi, the parties stipulated in their decree of divorce that the mother would receive the “Christian holidays” and the father would receive the “Jewish holidays.” The parties, however, did not articulate what those holidays actually were.
Less than 10 months after the family court entered the decree, the mother filed a motion to clarify the decree as to the holiday parenting time. In particular, the mother asserted that the father was requesting parenting time with the child for the full span of all 12 Jewish holidays when, during the entire 13 year marriage, the father rarely observed any. The mother noted that the father’s expansive interpretation impermissibly invaded her custodial time and created a potential conflict where the Christian and Jewish holidays overlapped.
The district court granted the mother’s request to clarify the meaning of the term “Jewish holidays” and adopted the family court’s religious holiday default schedule. The district court concluded that the father was entitled only on the first day of Hanukkah, Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The father appealed.
On appeal, the Nevada Court of Appeals disapproved of the district court’s adoption of the family court’s default schedule. The Court of Appeals, however, did not take it upon itself to define Jewish holidays in the context of child custody but instead sent the case back to the family judge to determine what the parties themselves intended when they agreed to divide the holidays along religious lines.
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