Why the Agudah took Cuomo to court: The story behind the scenes Photos: Itzik Roytman, Mishpacha archives Amid all the personal tragedy and economic hardship the coronavirus pandemic has wrought, it has been difficult to discern points of light and hope in the communal darkness. But they’re there: The emergence with unprecedented speed of several effective vaccines was one such ray of light. And another light has recently shone forth, this time not from laboratories but from the highest courts in the land, lifting the spirits of frum Jews throughout America. Two legal rulings — first by the United States Supreme Court and a month later, by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the New York region’s top federal court — resoundingly affirmed the rights of Americans of faith to practice their religions free of severe, ostensibly health-related restrictions targeting them, even amid the pandemic.