Posted on 12/11/2006 6:37:44 PM PST by kellynla
SEATAC, Wash. — The official Christmas trees may still be missing from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, but a few individual airline employees have decided to try to put some spirit back into the holiday.
Employees at both Delta and Frontier airlines took up a collection on Monday and bought a few foot-tall decorated trees for the check-in counter.
The airlines employees' move came after airport officials removed all nine Christmas trees in the building in response to a rabbi's request to add an 8-foot menorah to the holiday decorations.
Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky made the request weeks ago, when he demanded officials add a menorah next to the trees and threatened to file a lawsuit if his request wasn't honored.
Instead, officials decided to remove holiday decorations as a whole. Maintenance workers boxed up the trees during the graveyard shift early Saturday, when airport bosses believed few people would notice.
"We decided to take the trees down because we didn't want to be exclusive," said airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year."
Bogomilsky said he was appalled by the decision.
"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," said Bogomilsky, who works at Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation headquartered in Seattle's University District.
After consulting with lawyers, port staff believed that adding the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures in the Northwest. The holidays are the busiest season at the airport, Betancourt said, and staff didn't have time to play cultural anthropologists.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
exactly lol.
You must have quite a loose and fluid defintion for that word.
I completely agree.
OTOH, I just don't see how hard it would have been to comply with such a request...8^)
Earth to Rabbi......
You want another Decoration put up at the Airport???
DONATE IT.....
Situation solved. I'm sure the staff would be more than happy to hang it up...
But NOOOOooooo.....
No it doesn't. Public airports have deep pockets (the public.) I'd put the Christmas trees and this jerk at the curb at the same time for trash pickup.
I wonder if Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky will sue? If not, I'm sure some other athiest ACLU scumbag will.
if you have a point, make it if you can
otherwise don't waste my time
Odd me, I thought that a CHRISTmas tree may have something to do with CHRISTmas.
No doubt it will be the same lawyer as in the Minneapolis airline case. Cross my palm with silver and it will all go away.
???
Please tell me you realize that "holiday" is a contraction for "holy day".
what I am TALKING ABOUT is that there should be TRUCKLOADS of CHRISTMAS TREES being delivered to airports all over America by Jews showing their support for the birthday celebration of the most famous JEW in history, Jesus Christ.
yet, there hasn't been one word of support by Jewish for the Christmas trees and outrage by what this rabbi has done!!!
gezzzzzzzz...I'll post a picture next time!
I for one am fed completely up with people who are looking to be insulted or hurt by traditions we have had in this country for hundreds of years. The rabbi was and is a jerk. He spent the day on TV demonstrating the fact.
Misdirection doesn't answer the question...
Why are you angry at the Jew for forcing the issue, instead of the Port Authority director who actually made the decision?
And yes, your misdirection is telling, as well...
I couldn't agree more.
It seems like everything the Democrats and their allies in the athiest ACLU do in pursuit of their agenda to turn America into a French-style, secular-socialist welfare state revolves around belittling and destroying American traditions and the traditional family unit.
It is a "culture war", alright. It is most definitely war. And incidents like this one, instigated this time by some lawsuit-happy rabbi, do just a little bit more to wake up the American public.
What's about Michael?
Earth to tcrlaf...
Chabad was going to pay for it, the Rabbi just wanted the permissions to go ahead.
But NOOOOO, the Port Authority director had to go ape-sh@t over it.
And then we get posters like kellynla who blame the Rabbi for the actions of the director.
You smoking crack? The scumbag rabbi threatened a lawsuit. In today's litigious society, what was the Port Authority director expected to do at this late (and busy) date but take the path of least resistance and cost?
There's an on-going discussion on the Washington portion of FR - here's an interesting comment:
Rabbi Lapin Knows the guy who demanded the Christmas trees be removed from Seatac. Here's what he says:
Here I disclose that I know the rabbi involved, am friendly with him, and am sure that he didn’t intend this outcome. I like him, which makes it painful for me to point out that when one throws a punch (which is what bringing a lawyer and threatening to sue is equivalent to) and one gets decked in return, one cannot plead that one didn’t intend that outcome.
The outcome, whether intended or not, is that now vast numbers of passengers, most of whom are probably Christian, will be deprived of the cheerful holiday sight of pretty Christmas trees. What is more, they will know that their deprivation was caused by a Jewish rabbi. The rabbi’s lawyer told a television reporter, “There is a concern here that the Jewish community will be portrayed as the Grinch.”
No, Mr. Lawyer, it is not that Jews will be “portrayed” as the grinch. Sadly, now we are the grinch. You made us the grinch.
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