Posted on 12/11/2006 8:14:08 AM PST by beaversmom
There’s an outrageous story out of Seattle (my home base) that shows the way that good intentions can occasionally produce disgusting results. Because of the prevailing climate of political correctness, a decent guy and honorable clergyman looks like a horse’s rear end and has provoked appropriate indignation from millions of people.
According to misleading news stories featured prominently in newspapers and on TV (including KING 5 TV News): “All 15 Christmas trees inside the main terminal at Sea Tac Airport (Seattle-Tacoma International) have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi. A rabbi wanted to install an eight-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.”
Who is this wretched rabbi who, apparently, wanted to spoil the holiday joy of his Christian neighbors out of pique and selfishness simply because he didn’t get the right to erect his own Hanukah display?
As a matter of fact, I know and like Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, the now notorious clergyman at the center of this swirling controversy. He’s a good guy, a young father of five (including new-born twins), and the son-in-law of the wonderful Rabbi at the synagogue I attend each week. I know that Rabbi Bogomilsky harbors no animus whatever toward Christians or Christmas. In fact he told the Seattle Times that he felt “appalled” by the airport’s decision to remove all its Christmas trees without warning on Saturday night. According to Rabbi Bogomilsky, “Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season.” According to the rabbi’s lawyer, Harvey Grad, “They’ve darkened the hall rather than turning the lights up.”
I spoke to Rabbi Bogomilsky less than a hour ago and he may join me on my radio show tomorrow to apologize to the community at large for the totally unintended consequences of his desire to include a large menorah along with the airport’s holiday decorations (according to various stories there were either 22, or 15, or 9 different Christmas trees before the airport cleared them away in the dead of night). When I asked the rabbi directly whether he would want the trees removed if the airport refused to put up his menorah he insisted, “Absolutely not.” He has no problem with the Christmas trees, which have brought seasonal joy to the airport (and provoked no complaints) for more than a decade. He would greatly prefer that the airport restore the trees – even if they fail to include the requested menorah alongside the seasonal greenery. In fact, another local rabbi and close personal friend, Daniel Lapin, has begun soliciting Jewish signatures on a petition to demand the return of the trees – and we will gladly recruit Jewish volunteers to provide free labor if that would help get the job done.
Those of us who are comfortable and secure in our own religiosity (which would surely include the rigorously observant Rabbi Bogomilsky) don’t feel threatened by public displays of faith by our Christian neighbors. Generally, it’s secular fanatics (of both Jewish and Christian background), militant separationists, who have waged war on Christmas trees, ten commandments monuments, crosses, and other benign symbols of the nation’s religious heritage.
So what went wrong with this whole miserable affair?
After two months of indecision from the Port of Seattle (the quasi-governmental agency that runs the airport) concerning the request for a menorah, the rabbi’s lawyer made the mistake (yes, it was a mistake) of threatening a federal lawsuit and the airport people panicked and ordered the removal of the trees. “We’re not in the business of offending anyone and we’re not eager to get into a federal lawsuit with anyone,” said Craig Watson, chief lawyer for the Port of Seattle. Patricia Davis, head of the Port Commission said, “We didn’t have other cultures represented and rather than scramble around to find representations of other cultures at this late date, we decided to take them down and consider it later.”
This is ridiculous, of course. “Other cultures” do not observe popular holidays at precisely this time (the Islamic month of Ramadan is over) and in thousands of public and private locations across the country the abundant, prominent and very beautiful Christmas decorations are harmlessly complemented (if hardly balanced) by menorahs.
Of course, in the current climate of hyper-sensitivity regarding public expressions of religious commitment, Rabbi Bogomilsky and Harvey Grad should have avoided the chilling, unnecessary phrase “law suit” at all costs --- even if the Port of Seattle refused to give them a timely answer on their menorah request. As a result of the threatened litigation, the whole world is witnessing a horrible situation in which the religious enthusiasm (however well intended) of one individual has led to the removal of decorations enjoyed by literally hundreds of thousands.
In addition to apologizing to those masses, and working conscientiously to restore the Christmas trees, I hope that Rabbi Bogomilsky and his colleagues in the sincere and warm-hearted Chabad-Hasidic movement in Judaism will reconsider their menorah strategy next winter. They’ve already succeeded in magnificent terms in installing some 6,000 highly visible menorahs in public places across the country (including, by the way, the Washington State Capitol in Olympia) – and even at unlikely sites like Red Square in Moscow. This is a singular, even inspriring, achievement. If, however, local authorities prove unwilling to accommodate the menorahs, it’s a terrible idea to try to force their hands by comparing our candelabra to Christmas trees or wreaths or Santa Claus effigies already in place.
Though some of my fellow Jews may howl in protest when I say so, there are strong arguments to be made against public menorahs that can’t be made against Christmas trees. It’s not just that Christians outnumber us in this society by about 40 to 1; it’s that Christmas trees reasonably can be construed as a secular symbol but a menorah (despite some prior court decisions) emphatically cannot. The eight-branched “Hanukiah” or “Menorah” that we light every year for the holiday specifically recalls the seven-branched menorah that was a sacred element in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem up till 70 A.D. Though the big menorahs with bulbs that are prominently displayed in public places are not, strictly speaking, sacramental objects (because they don’t use candles or oil), they distinctly resemble the smaller menorahs we use at home and over which we recite blessings (citing the Almighty, of course) every night of the holiday. In fact, the chief mitzvah (holy commandment) of the Hanukah holiday requires the lighting of these candelabra and reciting the blessings, so it’s deeply misleading or, at best, a stretch, to call the menorah a secular symbol. Christians do not routinely pronounce blessings or recite prayers over Christmas trees.
This doesn’t mean that I think that menorahs should come down from public places: they belong in parks and plazas and airports, shedding the light of their message, but so do nativity scenes and other holiday symbols that bear unmistakably religious trappings. When the founders prohibited “an establishment of religion” they did not mean to banish all faith-based imagery from the public square.
Nor, for that matter, did Rabbi Bogomilsky mean to banish Christmas decorations from the Seattle airport.
Spokespeople for the Port of Seattle say they’re “not in the business of offending anyone,” but when did Rabbi Bogomilsky ever say, or even imply, that he was offended by Christmas trees? As a matter of fact, he welcomes the trees, as do I, as do all people of good will – Jewish and Christian alike.
What offended the rabbi and should offend all of us is the banning of religious symbols, not their presence. The airport may not be “in the business of offending anyone” but they’ve just offended just about everyone with their stubborn, wrong-headed, and utterly misguided decision.
Again, I don't care if Christians do it or don't do it. It's not my business. It was a response to Philoponus' ridiculous suggestion that I participate in orgies and human sacrifice as my ancestors did. I say...."After you!"
Superb point!
Perhaps the Menoarah should simply be referred to as a Holiday Candelabra, or Holiday Candle Holder.
I have to ask what is wrong with that expression?
No, refusing to put up the Menorah puts the port authority in a bad position. For better or worse, this issue has been resolved for over a decade. You can't limit a public display to one religion and bar others. A competent administrator would be aware of that.
I know, so when I am with that group again, I must figure out a way to work cotton into every topic I can. :)
For better or worse this is long settled, public displays can't include one religion and bar others. There are public religious displays all over the country with Christmas Trees and Menorahs, even Crescents, without the purported problems Sea-Tac envisioned. The ACLU is far beyond this, they'd be measuring tree size and Menorah size.
Reading these threads, I don't think anyone wants to hear that.
It's also not required that anyone get drunk, participate in group sex or sacrifice humans to enjoy the season.
I respect your personal beliefs but I find your attitude towards others most un Christ like. May I suggest you spend more time comtemplating the reason you celebrate this time of the year?
"bitch-slapping a lady." Well, if STFU is a ladylike comment, I suppose you are right. But I fear we differ on our assessment of Hildy's virtues.
"He made no such ultimatum. The airport management came up with the idea to take the trees down."
He sure did. You need to get your facts straight.
"This spun out of control but the statement is more than a triviality. Try being a Jew 50 years ago in the U.S."
I was a Jew in the US fifty years ago, and it wasn't really much worse than it is today, which is pretty good. In the 50's, my public school teachers told Jesus stories, and other students made ignorant remarks. So what? My folks told me what we believed, and to ignore what the teachers and bigots said, to get a degree, and make something of myself. I'm 57, and still working on that last part.
Now, teachers are teaching much worse than Jesus stories.
Overall, even a hundred years ago, it was much better than what my grandparents left behind in Eastern Europe. This country has treated us better than any other in history, and if we wish for Christian Americans to respect our beliefs, perhaps we shouldn't stomp on theirs.
After hearing her comments it looks like she just wanted a reason to take them down.
What a load of cr-p. Are you so hateful of the United States that you believe that 50 years ago - the Eisenhower Administration - Jews were denied rights? Prove it. The Supreme Court had already had at least three Jewish justices by then. Go live in Iran if you want to hate America, bub.
It is not stated if and when it was celebrated. Then again, the ending of John states that all the things that transpired regarding Christ are not contained in the Gospels and that it would take many books to record all He said and did. As for the date, I have seen a number of estimates with some falling in March while an article some years back pointed to a date near late December. It is a small point as it is an anniversary, isn't it? It IS celebrated since it marks the point at which the Word became Flesh (manifestly as an infant) marking the Divine becoming Human and thereby recognizable to all outside His mother's womb as God-Man.
My facts are straight. Yours are still from the now-discredited original media report.
Should I admit that I looked for cotton sprigs to put on my "tree" this year? I had to settle for berries and poinsettias. The tractors are mowing down the last of the cotton plants as we speak.
[Try being a Jew 50 years ago in the U.S. or 5 minutes ago in many other countries and see who gives a * about your rights.]
Or perhaps we can deal with the here (United States of America) and the now (2006). Just a suggestion.
I agree. "Nice Try", Michael Medved.
Some PC'ers think you're slurring Chinese, somehow. LOL
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.