According to misleading news stories featured prominently in newspapers and on TV: “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.”The airport panicked and ordered the removal of all trees in the dead of night. “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.”
In fact the rabbi 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.”
Michael Medved says: 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 phrases remaining with me are:
1] ‘didn’t have other cultures represented’ Come again? It’s Christmas for goodness sake. It’s not Confucian New Year or some other religion’s high day.
2] ‘take them down and consider it later’ Oh yes? When? After New Year?
Well a school in Norwich is staging a multicultural performance instead of a Nativity, which includes a Jewish and Indian Fesitval of Lights. Interesting to see it is not just the UK which gets these PC wobbles.
ReplyDeleteI think we're at one on this:
ReplyDelete...a multicultural performance instead of a Nativity...
Absolutely fabulous to run a multicultural festival and we'd support it 100% but not right on Christmas, not in competition and not instead of.