This was a grinch like act, inspired perhaps by an over-active sense of diversity- or something.
The request, as well as the threat of a law suit was completely over the top and could add nothing to improving tolerance and diversity. It was inappropriate in the same way as it would be inappropriate for a Christian to demand that Christian crosses be placed next to the symbols of a Jewish celebration- or else - in the name of fairness.
True tolerance is not the demand that all religious symbols get equal space and time at all times. We see this misguided approach in which school Christmas activities now include Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu symbols as well. But this doesn't "turn the lights up" in the hall: it only diminishes the Christian religious/traditional aspects of the event, and makes it clear that the religious expression is only barely tolerated and exercised only by permission.
True tolerance would be respecting each group's celebrations and symbols in their seasons.
It would not be hard to figure out the airport's rational in responding the way they did. In modern North America this is a "lose-lose" situation, the charge of "intolerance" (or even worse, being pro-Christian)being now such a serious one.
The rabbi is out there doing what he can to establish that equivalence the Muslims are always looking for. I hope he is happy with the results. They will be impossible to reverse. We haven't quite gotten here yet but that is no fault of the rabbi's.
Posted at 2006-12-11 17:21:13 [PermaLink]I wonder if Jews and the ACLU ever think about the possibility of a backlash one day.
Posted at 2006-12-11 17:53:17 [PermaLink]A couple of years ago it was Jewish Organizations saying The Passion was "anti-semetic." This year it's a Rabbi getting the Christmas trees taken down.
I think it's time to remember who your friends are.
Jeff Tubin on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" said that, according to the "Reindeer Rule" (1985), the US Supreme Court has ruled that Christman trees, reindeer, etc. were mainly secular, not religious, symbols so there should not be an issue.
[External Link]
Mark
Ottawa
As to why Sea-Tac folded it's simple. Price a lawyer for even a minor suit. Add that they would be going up before a Seattle judge and a Seattle jury. Last, consider that the bunch of Pacific Northwest minor Pols running the SEA-Tac board have little to no interest in a public display of Christmas.
Posted at 2006-12-11 18:00:06 [PermaLink]Banjo, specifically, which? We have one Rabbi in Seattle, moreover, who has since changed his attitude.
Dig the work of Michael Medved, for example, who fully supports the public display of religiousity in American life. He and the ACLU ain't on the same page. Further, his views on the issue is well supported in the Orthodox community.
Right... so what's this about backlash?
Bullshit.
Sea-Tac airport personnel were negotiating with the rabbi for weeks--to no avail--before he finally threatened to sue.
Sea-Tac Airport took down the Christmas trees because they didn't want to have to accommodate any holiday besides Christmas.
Try blaming Sea-Tac for an extremely poor decision and bad-faith negotiations, rather than a rabbi who asked only that a menorah--which Chabad would likely have supplied--be put up as well.
Put the blame where it belongs.
The sheer mean spiritedness of this post takes my breath away.
While it is true that Chabad Lubavitch is not necessarily representative of normative Orthodox Judaism, I would ask; what is? Orthodox Judaism is such a diverse religious group I would be hard press to name one specific group as representative of ‘normative’ Orthodox Judaism.
While I do not doubt for a minute that Chabad Lubavitch are not the sole representatives of Judaism I believe the sheer volume of good acts exhibited by the Chabad Lubavitch in the various communities worldwide should entitle them to a little charity and patience from the rest of us.
There is obviously no lack of Christmas spirit or generosity on this post.
Hanukkah starts on Friday, and since Christmas is the celebration of the birth of a Jew, I fail to understand how hanging a Menorah would violate the spirit of a season though the refusal to hang a single Menorah certainly speaks volumes – at least to me.
Ran, might I suggest a little light reading on what Rebbe Nachman teaches concerning ‘Lashon Hara’ might be in order – I am sure the local Chabad community would be happy to guide you.
I don't blame SEA-TAC for doing what they did. Why let yourself get bogged down in a losing fight when you can just withdraw and let the troublemaker look like the troublemaker he is. Shame on the rabbi, I say.
Posted at 2006-12-11 19:02:32 [PermaLink]SEA-TAC's response is indeed disturbing, whether they were caving to some notion of political correctness or trying to manipulate public opinion against the rabbi. Just put the ruddy trees back already!
Posted at 2006-12-11 19:29:08 [PermaLink]I know, let's go to Tel Aviv's main airport (sorry I forget the name)and threaten to sue if there are not Christmas trees...see how far we get...
Also, why is tolerance always a one-way street?
When I lived in Taiwan, there were symbols of the predominant religion everywhere...funny, I never felt insulted or left out.
Kateland,
Because in this day and age every religious group and their mother would want to include their religious symbols in a Christmas display, regardless of how tangential the religious affiliation.
Certainly Jews are central to Christianity and therefore Christmas, but I suspect that the Sea-Tac authorities don't want to open a Pandora's Box of aggravation. Furthermore, a Christmas tree is not religious. It's secular, as someone pointed out.
I think a better strategy is to ask that a Jewish holiday be celebrated in and of itself. Most people wouldn't have a problem with that.
It is pretty well established in the U.S. that the First Amendment prohibits favoring any religion over any other religion. The display was essentially a government-funded display of a religious symbol, and while "Holiday Trees" are pretty innocuous, wait until the local Wiccans demand their piece of the action, or the Scientologists, or some Devil-worshiping cult.
Madison had it right when he wrote, "Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together."
I happen to be an athiest who loves Christmas. I love the lights, the sounds and the good cheer which abounds. I'm nonplussed by this rabbi's actions. I dunno anything about the words Chubad or Lubavitch; I just know my respect for this rabbi and his advisors just went down a notch. Olbermann should call him the "worst person..."
Posted at 2006-12-11 20:13:22 [PermaLink]Kateland, I've got R' Nachman's book. Great read, thanks. Lashon h'ra deals with unnecessary jabber and rumours, not with discussing facts and dealing with real issues. R' Nachman would be hurt to find an awful, sad lot of issues hidden away and lives crushed by those who avoid lashon h'ra.
I should sanctimoniously avoid dealing directly with the pain and embarrassment some in our community cause? Sorry, I was born with a Jewish soul, not an ostrich's.
Meryl, perhaps the Port authority was being difficult. Consider though: Hauling a huge menorah - to be assembled on-site, erected using rolling cranes, structurally inspected, powered from somewhere, taken down, insured against damage and damage and injury to others, installed by union labor, paid for by whom?... It's not carolling, it's a project. Weeks won't do it. Three months heads-up minimum, but at LAX and JFK they always asked us for more lead-time. (I used to do retail design for airports.)
This isn't a "blame" issue, it's a planning issue. Now that SEA-TAC knows what Chabad of Seattle wants, next year they'll have a ginormous menorah. They'll start in May to schedule for the cranes, the insurance stuff, the labor stuff...
...and I'll still be cranking away at any spoil-sport who sees litigation as the preferred means of winning friends and influencing neighbors.
Solomon comes to mind.
...And Lubavitch got exactly what they asked for; publicity.
Our local crowd certainly don't get unanimous approval from the rest of the Vancouver Jewish community. They (Lubavitchers) remind me of the Hare Krishnas...
This isn't going to win over any friends. How many billions (which I agree with) do we send over there each year? You're welcome, thanks for the appreciation and tolerance!
Posted at 2006-12-11 20:41:09 [PermaLink]"They (Lubavitchers) remind me of the Hare Krishnas..."
Isn't that exactly the point? It seems to me that Sea-Tac was faced with a difficult predicament.
1.) They could agree to put up other symbols at the demand of other religious groups, including the Lubavitchers or Hare Krishnas. Presumably all such symbols would have to be equal in size, etc., in order to avoid favoring one over another.
2) They could choose to favor one or more religions at the expense of other religions, those putting a government agency in the role of endorsing or excluding religion.
3) They could take down the trees.
The Port Authority, the strange troglodytes that run the Sea-Tac airport, have a long history of weird and disturbing behavior. My guess is that they failed to react in any human fashion to the Rabbi.
The fix for this deal was a no brainer.
A obvious example of their inhuman style is Sea-Tac itself. Voted may times one of the worst airports in the US. A unwelcoming, cold concrete slab echoing with obnoxious recorded warnings. Very unfriendly in every way. Their PA police have a unpleasant reputation too.
A local from Olympia.
Heh.. problem solved tonight! The trees are going back up and the Rabbi is eating kosher crow. ;)
[External Link]
Uh, Bruce? I meant the attention seeking behavior (Hare Krishnas & Lubavitchers).
Posted at 2006-12-11 23:11:48 [PermaLink]Bottom line: that rabbi is an ass.
Sincerely: a proud Jewish girl who happens to think that Christmas trees and lights - though not part of her faith - are pretty.
Situations like this truly boggle the mind. Sea-Tac puts up relatively innocuous decorations for a holiday season. Then the religious and other assorted nuts do their level best to ruin it for everyone:
A decorated tree in December is:
(1) for the non-religious a "Holiday" Tree
(2) for Christians a "Christmas" Tree
(3) for everyone else its a "whatever"
The Rabbi needs a lesson in simple civility and common sense. He's a sh*t-disturber who decided (wrongly) to interpret the trees as purely Chritian religious symbols and used his interpretation to attempt to foist a Jewish symbol on Sea-Tac. If he'd succeeded the airport would have been on a slippery slope having to cater to every zealot's demands, not the least of which are certain atheists and the ACLU.
Sea-Tac could have stood their ground but risked being taken to court at potentially great cost and uncertain outcome. Since they put the trees back in the end anyway, they came out on top (this time). Good.
With any sensational story like this, it's always prudent to wait before condemning. The MSM has been known to get it wrong.
Here's the rabbi on Fox:
[External Link]
Less than five months ago, Naveed Afzal Haq, a "mentally ill" Muslim SHOT SIX JEWISH WOMEN IN SEATTLE, killing one. But don't worry, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky has sprung into action. He had the "Christmas" trees at Sea-Tac taken down.
American Christians are really the only friends Jews have left. Somebody should point that out to Bogomilsky.
"Bogomilsky". Love the name, which surely is derived from "Bogomil" ([External Link]which means the guy should have been happy enough with the Christmas trees.
Ho hum.
"Uh, Bruce? I meant the attention seeking behavior (Hare Krishnas & Lubavitchers)."
Hare Krishnas and Lubavitchers aren't the only attention-seeking religious groups. Here in Virginia, a Wiccan priestess decided that if Christians could deliver the opening prayer at a Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, then Wiccans should also be permitted to do so.
The county denied her request on the grounds Wicca is not consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition and lost on Constitutional grounds in court. In the U.S., government simply isn't permitted to include some religions and exclude others. And religious displays are an open invitation to attention-seeking religious groups.
Yes, it's time once again for the annual Christmas cultural wars in which everyone feels oppressed -- either because their religious display on public property has been toned down to meaninglessness or because they feel the dominant religious cultural is being crammed down their throat.
For that matter, is Hanukkah really anything more than Jewish counter-programming to Christmas?
Bruce; Hey, We were there first! And let's not forget where 'the parents' were on Passover, eh?
;)
There is a great article from Chabad regarding this at [External Link]
Posted at 2006-12-13 08:21:42 [PermaLink]IN 2007: NO CHRISTMAS AT SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Will the Lights Go Out on the National Christmas Tree, Too?
This year, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, near my home town of Seattle, there will be no Christmas. A twelve-member holiday decorations advisory committee of religious, academic, legal and business leaders has put an end to it. The commission mandated that decorations would "reflect the Pacific Northwest environment and our diverse community, and convey universal values, such as peace and harmony."
So what will you see at Seattle's airport in December, 2007? A grove of birch trees hung with mirrors to reflect colored lights, surrounded by artificial snow. Above the trees will be a flock of migrating birds cut out of foam.
Isn't it wonderful?
Political correctness is destroying our most cherished Christmas traditions. Our children are losing an important part of their American heritage. Unless we do something now, our children will live in a sterile world of "holiday" presents, "holiday" trees, "holiday" cookies, "winter" school concerts, and "winter" school breaks. Imagine a world in which our children watch the classic 1947 movie, "Miracle on 34th Street," and upon hearing the store clerks say "Merry Christmas" to customers, they think of it as just an outdated and quaint custom. Is that really what we want in America?
My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive who just couldn't sit by and let the mis-education of America's youth go unchallenged anymore. I'm tired of seeing America's next generation being fed a curriculum of politically-correct misinformation, guilt, and shame. I decided to do something about it.
I wrote, photographed, and published an American history book designed to set the record straight, to teach the real lessons of American history, and to prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.
In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels into the great events of the 20th Century. Advanced digital photography places Anthony in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day. Anthony "meets" and "talks with" Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, Charles Lindbergh, Audie Murphy, and many others. But historical accuracy rules every page of Anthony's adventure in time: Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said. My Web site, www.MagicPictureFrame.com, displays some of the book's amazing photographs.
But the book goes beyond dazzling photography and solid historical facts: The book presents the moral lessons of American history. Anthony learns valuable lessons from what he sees in the past. Anthony compares the people and events of the past with the people and events of his own time. Anthony discusses the nature of good and evil, right and wrong, war and peace, what it means to be an American, honor and discipline, success and achievement, courage and destiny, marriage and family, God and purpose.
The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is really about living a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about the benefits of business leadership and hard work. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
The book is written for kids in Grade 6 to Grade 12, and for parents and teachers who want to remember the truth.
In Chapter 9 of the book, Anthony makes this comment about the modern day: "In my time, lawyers take Christ out of Christmas and make it just another Happy Holiday."
Anthony is right.
Every year, there are new efforts to expunge Christ from Christmas, and to remove all mentions of God from public discourse, government buildings, government oaths, American currency, and the Pledge of Allegiance. It's an assault on our American heritage, and our children are the losers. Last year a local public elementary school replaced it's Christmas tree with a "giving" tree, and then even that was replaced with a "giving" counter!
And yet: Christmas is a federal holiday! And, every Christmas season, the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree on the White House Lawn!
When the lights go out on the National Christmas Tree, what will our country be like? Is it the country we want to live in?
Remember, the truth is that for more than two hundred years, Americans have trusted in God to guide them and protect them. The evidence is everywhere, and even inscribed in stone!
Here are just a few examples:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God." That was President Abraham Lincoln speaking to the American people in 1863.
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" That was Thomas Jefferson in 1776. His words are inscribed in stone at his memorial in Washington, DC.
"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, and to be grateful for his benefits." That was President George Washington in 1789.
"And this be our motto: In God is our trust." That is the fourth stanza of the National Anthem, written by Francis Scott Key in 1814.
We must preserve the best of American culture and traditions for our children and grandchildren. We must not forget who we are. This year, say "Merry Christmas" to your fellow Americans: It's an all-inclusive message of God's love for every man, woman, and child.
Truth can not be denied. Christmas is a good time to remember that.
So, when the President of the United States lights the national Christmas Tree on the White House lawn later this month, say Merry Christmas! And thank God.
Merry Christmas!
(You can read more about why I wrote the book here: www.magicpictureframe.blogspot.com.)
Michael S. Class
Author / Photographer / Publisher
E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com
Phone: 425-890-4894
Address: Magic Picture Frame Studio, P.O. Box 2603, Issaquah, WA 98027-0119
Web Site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
-----------------------
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame: The History Book with a Message for Today's Young Americans
Read the book. Remember the truth. Share it with your children.
Web Site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
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Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame was named Outstanding Book of the Year by Independent Publisher (2006); awarded the Parent-to-Parent Adding Wisdom Award for Excellent Books (2007); is a celebrated winner of an iParenting Media Award for Excellent Products (2007), was named Reviewers Choice by Midwest Book Review (2006); and garnered Editor's Pick by Homefires: The Journal of Homeschooling Online (2006). Nationally syndicated talk-show host Michael Medved calls the book "entertaining and educational."
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame helps parents and teachers: The book includes recommendations for 461 books, 595 movies, 217 songs, and 155 places to visit, all keyed to the subjects of each chapter. The recommendations are offered as an exciting addition to any formal history curriculum, and as a way for kids to experience the past. The author's Web site offers a fun final exam.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin says "parents and teachers will appreciate the inspiring message this unique history book holds for America's next generation. I recommend this book to all young Americans, may they take us to the stars and beyond."
Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame (hardcover, 225 pages, $25.00) is available at www.MagicPictureFrame.com, by calling toll-free 1-800-247-6553, at select bookstores, and on www.amazon.com.
Amazon link: www.magicpictureframe.com/buythebook.html
Watch the Magic Picture Frame video: [External Link]