Posted on 12/25/2005 7:53:41 AM PST by Alouette
PEABODY Mayor Michael Bonfanti will not attend tomorrow night's menorah lighting ceremony at City Hall, as part of a compromise between the city and local religious leaders.
The practice of lighting a large menorah in front of City Hall to mark the start of Hanukkah began last year when Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman of Chabad of Peabody, a Jewish outreach group unaffiliated with a Peabody synagogue, approached Bonfanti about placing a menorah at City Hall and asking him to light one of the candles. Chabad had a public lighting ceremony on the first night of the eight-day holiday last year.
But members of the city's interfaith Clergy and Ministerial Association which includes the city's Jewish temples raised concerns that holding a menorah lighting at City Hall muddied church-state relations and improperly took religious symbols into the secular arena.
"How many years of using a menorah as a civic decoration before the menorah is seen as a civic decoration?" asked Rabbi David Klatzker of Peabody's Temple Ner Tamid.
The mayor reached a compromise with the groups this fall, deciding to make the menorah lighting private and place a sign on the menorah showing that it belongs to Chabad and not the city. In addition, instead of a one-day lighting, the menorah will be out for all eight days of Hanukkah this year.
"For the greater good, you make compromises that don't interfere with your essential beliefs," Schusterman said. "For this year, this is what it is, and I'm happy."
Bonfanti said everybody wanted to do the right thing and not offend anyone.
"This is the season to have good will," he said. "And that's what it's all about.
"I'm just pleased with the caliber of religious people that we have that we can sit down and work out sometimes touchy issues."
But some still feel the deal doesn't hit all the marks.
"I'm not entirely satisfied with it," Klatzker said. "But it's a step in the right direction."
Klatzker said he has no problem with putting a menorah on private property like the mall, a lawn or even a car. "My only problem is City Hall or a public school," he said.
Schusterman disagrees with the Clergy and Ministerial Association's take on church-state relations. He said the lighting ceremony also has a broader, secular meaning like light pushing away the darkness and spreading the light of freedom in general.
Chabad of Peabody will hold another menorah lighting on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at the Northshore Mall. The mayor has been invited and is expected to attend.
"The idea is to be respectful to others' beliefs and even unbeliefs, I guess," Bonfanti said. "Again, it's difficult."
Typical of the fight Chabad gets nation wide on lighting menorahs on public grounds. There are many menorahs lighted publicly this year than ever before and fewer fights like this.
How do Catholics breed?
Howarth suggests/implies that De Molay et al regretted Beziers and all the destruction upon southern France and Aragon. They certainly didn't see the same thing happen to them later by Philip.
O'Shea and Weiss painted a picture of relative harmony in the regions controlled by the Cathars and the Templars. There was secular republicanism. Jewish and oriental thought flourished. They all made a fortune economically, which is probably the true reason for the invasions and the double-cross.
Isn't that always the case for such dark adventures: Greed, jealousy, and power. Thankfully, out of the ashes of Beziers and the double-cross rose the Phoenix of the United States, which ironically is the greatest contributor to Catholic wealth. What goes round goes round and round and round and...
Aubrey
Howarth suggests/implies that De Molay et al regretted Beziers and all the destruction upon southern France and Aragon. They certainly didn't see the same thing happen to them later by Philip.
Very well said.
Mr. Klatzker would be very happy in Saudi Arabia. I am sure that putting Hanukkah Menorah in public display is a big NO, NO over there. Maybe we need collection for one way ticket for him?
Apparently its not a menorah anymore but an ACLU-friendly "Winter Holiday Candelabra."
Gee, isnt someone complaining about anothers faith Hate Speech? How come Hate Speech laws never apply to the hateful, but only to the people of faith?
Yay! You got it! Wanted more children; happy to have the one we have, but wanted more. Spouse had more birth control techniques than Lees in a Chinese phone book. That's Protestantism in the sack.
It is a leftist belief that for a communist revolution to happen in developed countries, first the old order has to be destroyed. That is why the left pushes for things that inevitably lead to chaos. If people have a tolerant, live-and-let-live attitude toward religion, that does not help the "revolution." So you get everybody condtioned to be offended at everyone else untl people do not feel like they have citizenship in common. Then when people start fighting and blowing up things, in march the neo-communists who will offer "peace" by banning all religion or by making up a pseudo-religion that everyone must belong to.
Your town sounds great - everybody getting along. Maybe it's something in the water. We should all be so lucky.
How sad this is.
America is a Nation of faith, its "Founding Fathers" wanted the nation to be a place where faith could be openly practiced.
At what point do we rise up and ask the nations leaders to enact legislation that allows the open expression of our traditions?
Have a blessed holiday my friend
"As I understand it, the Jewish holiday was a rather minor one that was invigorated solely as a political act to counter the unity that would result from untrammeled celebration of Christmas"
Not so.
Observant Jews always celebrated Chanukah.
The current emphasis on gift giving is newly minted and has for some otherwise non-observant Jews become the be all just as it has become so for non-observant Christians celebrating Christmas.
Chanukah was always about celebrating and publicizing the miracle God made for the Jews by lighting the menorah and displaying it.
read more here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1546989/posts
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This aspect he's right about.
"How many years of using a menorah as a civic decoration before the menorah is seen as a civic decoration?"
Rabbi David Klatzker of Peabody's Temple Ner Tamid.
That is very well put, FRiend. You know, a lot of this crap wouldn't happen as fast if we didn't have sellout religious leaders, like one of the Rabbis mentioned in the article above, although he could just as easily be a priest, minister or whatnot, and that "holiday candleholder" a "holiday tree" or some BS like that.
Aw jeeze, not some yahoo getting all "offended" again!!! Not another "compromise" by a bunch of Neville Chamberlains cowed by an annoying loud-mouthed minority whose major malfunctions are forgetting to use Listerine twice a day and not getting enough fiber in their diets!
What I'd like to see.....a huge creche with a huge lighted menorah right next to it. With the mayor, the city council, and whoever, attending without fear, shame, or being intimidated. When I was a kid nobody got their undies in an uproar over nativity scenes or menorahs in public schools. These Gritches of both genders who spoil things for everybody this time of year need to hush up or go live in an atheistic "paradise" like the PRC, Cuba, or North Korea where they won't have to see some "religious" display, get "offended" and wet their drawers about it!
Yep. A big ol' Christmas tree, next to a big ol' menorah. You could even throw the atheists a big ol' patch of nothing nearby, just to keep them happy.
Nah, that would not make them happy. The only thing that makes them happy is to spoil things for everyone else, making everyone else unhappy. Sort of a variation on the sterotype of Purtians, who cannot abide it that somewhere, someplace, someone is happy and enjoying themselves.
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