(JTA) — An Orthodox Jewish man from suburban New York City sued his landlord for demanding that he remove the mezuzah from his apartment’s doorpost.

Arye Sachs of North Babylon on Long Island filed a lawsuit this week in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Post reported.

In the lawsuit, Sachs said his landlord ordered him to remove the mezuzah several times and then evicted him, saying “This is a Christian residence.” The mezuzah was missing after he returned home from a trip last month, according to the Post.

The lawsuit calls the mezuzah, a family heirloom that came from his Holocaust-survivor grandfather, a “priceless, irreplaceable protector.”

Sachs in the lawsuit credits the mezuzah with his successful recovery from three strokes and an amicable divorce.