Westlake Village Turns Down Menorah Display

A Jewish center’s request to display a Hanukkah menorah next to the Westlake Village City Hall Christmas tree has been denied by officials, who said the eight-day celebration is not a national holiday and that it lacks the secular appeal of Christmas.

City Manager Larry Bagley, who rejected a request earlier this month to display the menorah, said the City Hall reception area is too small to accommodate decorations for cultural holidays not endorsed by the state or federal governments

The decision prompted dozens of concerned telephone calls from Jews to Chabad of the Conejo, a community group with synagogues and cultural centers in Westlake Village and Agoura Hills, associate director Rabbi Yitzchak Sapochkinsky said Wednesday.

Sapochkinsky said he did not think the city’s motives were anti-Semitic, although he called the decision by Bagley “a shameful thing” and said city officials “should be embarrassed by it.”

Bagley said he knew of the U.S. Supreme Court decision last July that a menorah, like a Christmas tree, was a secular symbol and, therefore, could be publicly displayed without violating constitutional bans on governmental endorsement of religions. But he said the decision simply allowed--but did not require--such displays.

Sapochkinsky said several thousand Jews live in the Conejo Valley, mostly in Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills--two cities that approved Chabad center requests for permission to display a menorah.

Westlake Village Mayor Bonnie Klove said the City Council will not reconsider Bagley’s decision before the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration Friday.