Did A Lone Rabbi Mean to Ban Christmas Trees?

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.

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.

But Christmas trees, Hallowe'en costumes, jack-o-lanterns, etc., are not celebrations of our pagan background. They are fully Christianized traditions now, incorporated into the symbology of the Church. They were once pagan, but they are not longer, and when we use these symbols on holidays, when we understand what we are doing anyway, we are in no sense returning to our pagan roots. Those roots may have inspired the rituals originally, but they've been "Baptized" so to speak, and are now Christian. In truth, most of these things have been Christian now far longer than they were pagan before that.

re: You misunderstand me. I never made that claim against the Airport. What motivated the Airport was that they were cowards.)))

If you call the airport admins being a lot smarter than the Rabbi and his dumb lawyer cowardice, yeah. I guess a loser at poker needs some cover for playing a stupid hand.

All this whining because the bluff got called and a bet was lost.

Hanukkah is certainly not in the same league with Passover or even Rosh Hoshanna, which could be comparable to Easter and Christmas in importance. But I didn't mean to imply that it was a made up holiday; however, its prominence in the US is basically seen as a counterweight to Christmas.

There's nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't mean that a small group of citizens gets to knock out a symbol of a traditional holiday celebrated by the majority. And if the rabbi really felt the Christmas tree was some dread symbol of Christianity - which it really isn't, but has become a cultural symbol of winter, and in fact is objected to by many Christians - he should have approached the airport months earlier and discussed this, rather than storming in with his attorney.

Incidentally, the Lubavitchers have done this elsewhere in the US, most notably in New York (where they displaced Christmas symbols and got their menorah, while Christians - the majority of New Yorkers - got a snowflake!) and some towns in Florida.

From the story:

"“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.”

Maybe it was misreported?

we somehow fail to see the Christian forgiveness and charity that is so pronounced and celebrated around such trees. Why is that?

It's too bad you don't see Christian charity and forgiveness around you.

BTW your screen name is Sabramerican. Why not AmericanSabra? Or American?

This is the bitterness of a loser, not a victim, although I see a lot of ersatz martyrdom in the Rabbi's supporters. It is to chuckle, not to be manipulated.

The Rabbi and his lawyer were arrogant and stupid and the aiport admin smart and prudent.

They tried to hold a Christmas decoration hostage--the airport outmaneuvered them and now they look ...well, petty and mean and small-minded...for some reason...(g)

It is hard when someone whose work you admire disgraces himself. Makes you all defensive and whiny.

re: Incidentally, the Lubavitchers have done this elsewhere in the US, most notably in New York (where they displaced Christmas symbols and got their menorah, while Christians - the majority of New Yorkers - got a snowflake!) and some towns in Florida.)))

Is that so. Maybe they managed to get the manger scenes replaced...with Winter Festival Trees.

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.” Give me a break. He tried to extort and demanded action with a threat to sue. That says it all and that is what prompted the airport to do without ANY display. This rabbi is not a nice guy, he attempted extortion and he made threats in an attempt to get the airport to do something they had not considered. It wasn't a request, it was a demand. End of story.

impossible to know the truth

pretty clear just by what we do know. The rabbi is now trying to do damage control. We do know that the airport took the trees down and that the rabbi was involved in some way. Not too hard to put the dots together on this.

I think we have gone PC nuts.

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We haven't. He did. It's about time those PC nuts are challenged agressively and with a take no prisoners approach. This rabbi needs to get experience the wrath of those of us fed up and outraged by those who look for every opportunity to be victims of being offended.

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?

Mr.Medved words mean things. When the good Rabbi's lawyer threatened with a federal law suit all bets are off!
I do understand your desire to soften the impact, but the damage is already done!

He made no such ultimatum.

He threatened to sue. That threat brought the trees down.
I'd say threatening to sue was an extortion attempt to demand an action from the airport that it hadn't considered and which would have given blessing to a religious ceremony which the airport had never done. What in the world did this jerk think would happen?

If his intentions were so PURE, why did he hire a lawyer? That's suspect, to me!

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Exactly!!!! The minute the lawyer appeared on the scene all claims of "just making a request" are silly. Common now, GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!

The airport management made that decision.

Ofcourse the airport made it. What choice did they have but to give in to an extortion attempt. The rabbi made a demand or bad things would happen, giving days notice of intent to sue. Enough said??

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