Menorah Must Go or Be Placed Next to Christmas Tree : Courts: Federal judge’s decision is based on Supreme Court view that symbols could be together in display of religious tolerance. Candelabrum was placed in Beverly Hills public park.

A federal judge ordered the city of Beverly Hills Thursday to take down a 28-foot Hanukkah menorah or to see that it is displayed next to a comparably sized Christmas tree.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. came after the American Jewish Congress, four Beverly Hills residents and the American Civil Liberties Union asked that the Chabad organization of Hasidic Jews be required to remove the nine-branched candelabrum from a public park diagonally across the street from the Beverly Hills City Hall. The groups filed suit Monday to have the menorah removed.

They argued that the display of the menorah on public property so close to the seat of government violated the 1st Amendment ban on the establishment of religion.

Hatter ruled Thursday on a request for a temporary restraining order. However, the larger suit--to decide on future displays--is pending. A hearing is set for Dec. 21.

In his ruling Thursday, Hatter relied heavily on a 1989 decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court said that the Constitution would not be violated if symbols of different religions are exhibited next to each other as a display of religious tolerance.

Erected earlier this week for the eight-day Hanukkah holiday, which started Tuesday night, the menorah now stands alone in a stretch of parkland along busy Santa Monica Boulevard.

In order to meet the Supreme Court’s standard, Hatter said, the menorah would have to be moved next to an illuminated Christmas tree one block away, or a Christmas tree would have to be erected next to it.

He also said that the lights of the Christmas tree and the menorah could only be lit by city workers, in order to emphasize the secular nature of the display, and that there could be no religious ceremonies at the site.

Chabad has scheduled a Hanukkah party there Sunday, but Rabbi Boruch Hecht, a leader of the group, promised that no blessings would be recited over the menorah.

Beverly Hills officials had no immediate response to the ruling.

Marshall B. Grossman, Chabad’s attorney, said that he would be glad to pay for the decorations required to set up a Christmas tree next to the menorah.

He called the plaintiffs’ efforts “misguided” and said there will be one more Christmas tree in the park.

Douglas Mirell, president of the Pacific Southwest Region of the American Jewish Congress, said that it is up to the Beverly Hills City Council to decide “whether to continue this ludicrous set of circumstances or to do what they should have done in the first place to prevent the display of religious objects on public property.”