Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Back to the local. They say they don't want damage to the "green space," but is that what they're really worried about? Menorah's and Christmas trees don't do a lot of damage do they?: Valley Patriot: North Andover Selectmen Deny Jewish Menorah, Christmas Trees on Town Common:
Some North Andover residents say The Board of Selectmen have hijacked the "Town Common" after a vote Monday night that sent shock waves through the town.
Each year Rabbi Bronstein of Chabad House in Andover requests permission from the Town of North Andover to display a Menorah on the Town Common for the eight days of Chanukah.
And each year, the Board of Selectmen in North Andover routinely approve the request without any problems or controversies.
But, when Rabbi Bronstein submitted the same request this year the Selectmen refused, saying a new policy passed by the board last month restricts the use of the common to one day only...
...Selectman Bill Grodon did make a motion to support the Rabbi and asked the board to make an exception to allow the menorah for eight days, but not one member of the board would even second the motion for a vote...
...Selectmen said that the new policy was enacted because they wanted to preserve the integrity of the common and avoid unnecessary damage to the green space with multi-day events and fairs.
However, one selectman said she doesn't believe having a menorah or Christmas tree on the common for eight days would damage the common and is not relevant to the intent of the policy and flies in the face of the founding fathers of the town...
Read more at The Valley Patriot. [H/t: Paula P]
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, p.30
The name of the paper is a bit ironic, nu?
Gaia is back as the new God(ess)....or Atheism....those are your 2 choices. Agnosticism and Deism may be tolerated....and of course cant deny the brown folks Islam.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I think I will give thanks for the Western Left....uh....or maybe Ill contemplate the problem of evil.
Ahh, there's a little more to this story than what the Valley Patriot has to say. Read the Eagle Tribune article on the subject: http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_329230909.html/resources_etp_mobile_story
While the menorah was up for eight days last year, it was only up for one day in the previous eight years, and *never* on common before that. I'm not sure why the North Andover common is the place for an Andover synagogue's menorah. Rabbi Bronstein truly doesn't help the case of public display of religious symbolism when he threatens to sue the town of NA for violating his civil rights. The obvious outcome of that is that North Andover will ban anything from being displayed on the common to avoid costly legal battles. Does that do anyvbody any good? Way to go, Rabbi Bronstein.
Sonewhat ironically, there's a statue of Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) on the NA common, the Episcopalian minister who wrote the carol "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem." How sad if this case leads to a ban on any religious decorations there.
Great points. Chabad does a lot of good work, but they seem to be a little over-aggressive in this case.
You may not agree with Rabbi Bronstein, however, keep your eye on the bigger picture here. The NA selectman have hijacked town property in order to disallow the display of all religious symbols during the holiday season. Our elected officials seem to have forgotten that they work for us, not the other way around. Personally, I want to see the Christmas tree lit up this season, and have many Jewish friends who would like to see the Menorah. This country was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, like it or not, and many residents deserve to have their faith traditions acknowledged this time of year.