A Chicago mother who has become an observant Hasidic Jew is seeking sole custody of her son because her ex-husband does not keep kosher. The father, Nelson Derbigny, says he should have custody of the 8-year-old, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He says when he was married to Lisa Margolina she did not insist on a kosher kitchen and that her strict religious practices are driving a wedge between him and his son. The trial opened Wednesday.

Derbigny was managing the Admiral Theater in 1995 when he met Margolina, an exotic dancer at the time. By the time the couple divorced in 2007, both were in different lines of work. Joel Brodsky, Derbigny's lawyer, said he will show Margolina "tends to extremes," going from working as a dancer to becoming a Hasidic Jew. Louis Kraus, a child psychiatrist testifying for Margolina, said she should have sole custody. Kraus said Derbigny seems to be going out of his way to violate Jewish practices by feeding the boy bacon.