Posted on 12/09/2006 7:45:53 PM PST by XR7
SEA-TAC Airport - All of the Christmas trees inside the terminal at Sea-Tac have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi.A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.
Sea-Tac public affairs manager Terri-Ann Betancourt said the trees that adorn the Sea-Tac upper and lower levels may not properly represent all cultures.
She said that since this is their busiest time of year and they don't have time to add a fair representation of all cultures, her department decided to take down all of the decorations, review their policies, and decide if they need to make a change for next year.
"You know, our focus is on customer service, getting our passengers through the airport, and we thought if we could take the trees down and avoid litigation because we don't want to littigate with this individual, we want to reach some kind of solution," Betancourt said. "But that is going to take some thoughtful discussion and we would like to have time to have that thoughtful discussion."
Until then, no Christmas decor at Sea-Tac.
The same decorations have been put up for at least 10 years, she added.
What's the Jewish population of Seattle?
The rabbi is giving Jewish people a bad name. Shame on him! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas!
Cultural extortion, pure and simple.
Somewhere along the line we went from a Republic to an Idiocracy.
I see you're familiar with Gatlinburg.
BEWARE! ENTERING SPINELESS COUNTRY-SEATTLE
Interesting. I'm now getting a "page not found" at the url. Wonder why.
Seattle is a sick city, full of socialist, communists and liberals.
Huh.
Tracked it down.
They gave it a new URL
HERE: http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_120906WABxmastreesEL.11b0d0cc.html
"Anybody have the name of the "rabbi" and the denomination he represents?"
Central Organization for Jewish Education
Chabad Lubavitch of the Pacific Northwest
4541 19th Ave. N.E.
Seattle, WA 98105
Director: Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin
Telephone: 206-527-1411
Email address: info@chabadofseattle.org
http://www.chabadofseattle.org/
Nope, not all.
Only one.
American Culture!
BORDERS!
LANGUAGE!
CULTURE!
<< What's the Jewish population of Seattle? >>
Michael Medved and about a dozen others.
Merry Christmas!
menorah=ACLU lawsuit
"Chabad has been putting up public menorahs for years, and they have never sued to remove any Christmas decorations. They have, in fact, been threatened and harrassed many times by ACLU and the liberal Jewish denominations for their public menorahs."
That's why Sea-Tac did away with all of the holiday decorations. They would have gotten an ACLU lawsuit from the Menorah. (The ACLU hates Orthodoxy Jews as much as Christians)
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I question the authenticity of this rabbi.
How easy would it be for someone to pose
as a whiney rabbi? Just as easy as it was
for Jimmy Carter to claim the jews at a con-
veniently unnamed university cancelled his
speaking engagement.
Somewhere along the line we went from a Republic to an Idiocracy.
Somewhere along the line we went from a Republic to an Idiocracy.
Somewhere along the line we went from a Republic to an Idiocracy.
Just wanted to see this again, and again, and again. LOL!!!
Good question.
I agree that this rabbi has behaved in a shameful manner. It is one thing to ask to put up a menorah but does it HAVE to include a public lighting ceremony each night of Chanukah? Maybe because it's a busy airport we Jews could have been comforted just by seeing a menorah there at all - so many places just put up one with all "candles" blazing - I still think it's nice.
And to SUE if they didn't meet his demands, why that is just awful. I love Chabad and it is full of many tzaddikim, but it also has a few Christianophobes in there. He must be one of those.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.