Traffic court Judge Vernon Hitchings has apologized in a letter and in person to a 24-year-old Orthodox rabbi for ordering him to take his yarmulke off in court last week. “I write this letter to express my deepest and sincere apologies for the affront committed to you and your co-religionists,” the judge wrote Joshua Sackett, a teacher at a Hebrew academy in Tidewater, Va. The rabbi, who shook hands with the judge on Monday, said “as for as I am concerned the matter is closed.” Following the incident, there were protests by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and local political officials.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.