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.
There are all sorts of cultural traditions that have been incorporated into modern culture, religious culture included. The days of the week and names of the months, planets, major stars and constellations, for starters. The names of countries and regions and oceans and seas. People's names, in many cases.
And, of course, foodstuffs.
Cocoa was a sacred drink among the MesoAmerican god-rulers. Is it therefore pagan to drink cocoa?
When coffee drinking was introduced into Italy, a popular saying among churchmen was "Coffee is from the devil, but we have baptized it."
There was, no doubt, a Germanic tradition of the evergreen tree, which is a great symbol in the dead of the Northern European winters of something that remains green and promises the renewal of life with the spring. Baptize the notion, and put a star and an angel on the tree, and it becomes a great metaphor for Christianity itself.
There's no problem taking old pagan rites and turning them into tools of Christian learning.
LOL!! Priceless!
Dear Rabbi,
As I'm sure you've realized by now, Seattle is under the control of leftist atheists who have much sympathy for the palestinians and hate Jews and Christians equally. It's unfortunate that it took this for you to realize that they would turn your request to their own ends.
Maybe now you understand that the Jewish people have far more to fear in the modern world from the left than from the right.
I have yet to hear him apologize. I would acccept that if he did it in a sincere way and not through his lawyer. It has not yet made the national media. The fact is that he insulted 95% of the citizens of this country and a lot of us are getting fed up with this.
Just a thought: without the miracle of Hanukkah there would be no Christmas.
If Antiochus had succeeded in forcing ALL Jews to assimilate, there would be no Jewish people (well, maybe some Sephardi), and thus no Joseph, Mary, or Jesus.
Ergo, it is quite stupid for any Christians to complain about the Menorah.
Indeed, I am candidly surprised that they do not celebrate the miracle --- they certainly accept that it literally occured, possibly more than most Jews.
Attorney Harvey Grad is a Democrat donor. (newsmeat.com)
good point... sort of like someone saying... the Egyptians suffered too much during Hotzias Mitzraim...
I trust you can make your points without dissing in terms of Christian precepts. Like Judaism, which is practiced by a minority of ethnic Jews in the U.S., not all Gentile ethnics practice Christianity, even some who attend churches. It is offensive to continue to imply hypocrisy on the part of Christians if you don't know the religious convictions of the airport administrators.
That said, being a Christian, I won't be suing you over it. Lighten up, dolling!
Knowing the holiday and the motivation of this Rabbi, I would assume he would ask for a Menorah also in the absence of any tree.
The Rabbi has every right to file suit if he chooses.
He is not suing to remove the trees. I doubt he and his organization would be suing to remove any Christian display.
To defend themselves, the Airport choose to remove the trees.
Put the blame where it belongs. If the Airport believed it had a case to deny the Menorah, it should have called the Rabbi on the suit. If it didn't, why did it deny the Menorah?
A Menorah is not contraindicated for Christmas. There would have been no Christmas but for the story of the Menorah and the Books of Maccabees is a Catholic Deuterocanonical book.
The Rabbi had every reason to believe the Airport would respond as have numerous entities in the Nation. No one reasonable would have expected them to go nuts.
I think the whole thing got out of hand, but I think if he had seriously been interested in just getting a menorah up there, he would have written a request that could have been examined next year - before the trees were up.
I'm a Christian and I do not consider the "Christmas" tree to be a Christian symbol, except in the German/English cultural context, where it has now become more of a shopping season symbol than anything else. It has no religious resonance with people who don't already believe, and in fact has so little religious resonance in general that most Catholic countries reject it and many Protestants here in the US do not accept it.
The Lubavitchers are an odd group. When I lived in NY, they were always out in the streets asking you if you were Jewish or not. I'm not, and I'm also a woman, so I never found out what they'd do if I had been Jewish. But one time I was walking with a Jewish male friend, and when he said he was Jewish, they asked him if he'd like to put on tefillim and step into the "mitzvah tank."
This is not a bad thing, but they are often way too aggressive in their actions vis a vis the rest of the (non-Jewish) world. In New York, just before I left about 6 years ago, we had two things hanging over 5th Avenue - a giant menorah, courtesy of the Lubavitchers after a threatened lawsuit, and - snowflakes. This may have changed, but somehow, if one group (the Lubavitchers) get to put up an undisputably religious symbol for something that was not even a High Holy Day, and the other group (Christians, the majority of New Yorkers) gets to put up snowflakes, I think we have a problem.
This was not done in a way that was really seeking accomodation. It was done to stamp out the majority culture, even if they weren't religious, since as I have pointed out, the "Christmas" tree is not even considered religious by most Christians, and to offend. Otherwise, he wouldn't have hired lawyers and he would have simply contacted the city in the spring and asked for a menorah next year.This is something that could have been discussed, and he would have had to present reasons for which the menorah should be accepted, even though it is not a general American cultural feature, but clearly a religious symbol.
This would make sense. The actions of the attorney and the Rabbi are right out of the ACLU's "hate America, hate Christians" handbook.
What's wrong with displaying the holidays of those who are citizens of America?
I doubt that Seattle would make this much fuss if a Buddhist had asked the Port Authority for permission to set up a display in honor of Buddha's birthday in late January or early February.
But heaven forbid a Jew be granted the same.
---
(Possibly from the mind of the Port Authority director)
What's this? A request to put up a Hannukah display? I dunno... I know, I'll just dither about and push off the decision until after Hannukah is over, whenever that is.
What's this? A lawsuit? D@mn Jews, forcing me to make a decision! Who do those uppity snots think they are! Don't they know that this is a Christian country! You all need to shut the h@ll up... upgrateful SOBs.
I know - I just get rid of all the 'Holiday Trees' and blame the Jew... heh, heh, heh...
Re-read this and several of the other threads on the subject and get back to me about what's offensive.
Well, the Egyptians did recently try to sue for the "stolen" gold.
Seriously.
Seattle Imam says "Inshallah" about Rabbi's threatened lawsuit resulting in Christmas Holiday trees being removed at SeaTac Airport.
Actually, you and I agree that putting up a Menorah is a non-issue; I wish the airport had just done so. That post I responded to seemed to put the issue on a "who pays the piper calls the tune" footing, which I reject.
I also very much resent the use of the legal system to suppress Christianity, and sympathize with the many Christians who have felt persecuted within this country by secularists, atheists and over-zealous members of non-Christian religions who are trying to make equivalency at every turn in the road. It has not been enough that the majority culture has sheltered many minorities. We must also silence our own, which promoted the tolerance in the first place. To me, this is killing the goose that laid the golden eggs (with all due respect to Poultry-Americans), and will backfire.
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