Court Rules Against City Over Menorah

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the city of Beverly Hills and a Hasidic Jewish sect can face trial for their display of a menorah in a public park.

In reversing a lower court, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stated that the American Jewish Congress and four Beverly Hills residents raised “substantial challenges” to the city’s actions and that there are triable issues involved in Chabad of California’s installation of a 27-foot menorah in a municipal park for the religious festival of Hanukkah.

The ruling also gives the plaintiffs the opportunity to petition for a judicial review of the case and to have a court make a legal determination without going to trial.

The appeals court ruling comes after years of emotional debate and legal battles over the seasonal menorah displays.

Since 1986, Beverly Hills has allowed Chabad to erect the nine-stemmed candelabrum in Beverly Gardens park for almost two weeks a year. The American Jewish Congress and plaintiffs Eve Slaff, former congressman Alan Sieroty, Devera Lurie Waldman and Charles Waldman have long contended that the city violates the separation of religion and state with the display.

Friday’s court ruling overturns a 1992 summary judgment by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter that the city could continue to permit Chabad to display the menorah provided it was close to a Christmas tree of similar size.

Hanukkah is the eight-day Festival of Lights commemorating the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BC. A bulb is lighted on one branch of a menorah during each of the eight days.

American Jewish Congress co-counsel Douglas E. Mirell said the appeals court ruling is an important first step in removing the 5,500-pound menorah from public property, by allowing a full trial or a summary judgment by the courts. The ACLU argued the case as co-counsel.

“We have seen a clear and unmistakable preference for the Jewish religion [by Beverly Hills], and we have seen discrimination against other religions, and non-religions,” said Mirell, a former regional president of the American Jewish Congress.

According to the court’s summary, Chabad and the city are the only two entities that have been allowed to install large objects in the public park, and the city has denied all applications since at least 1986. The argument can be made, the court said, that the menorah “conveys an impression of governmental preference” and favoritism.

The court noted that during Hanukkah, Chabad organizes ceremonies at the menorah that involve ritual lighting and Jewish prayers. It also noted that Beverly Hills City Council members--who must approve the menorah’s permit--attend the event. All the council members are Jewish.

City Atty. Greg Stepanicich said the council will need to meet and consider what action to take because of Friday’s ruling. When placed in its permanent, concrete foundation the menorah stands about 450 feet from City Hall across busy Santa Monica Boulevard.

Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, West Coast director of Chabad, said it was a “waste of time, a waste of energy, and a waste of resources” for the American Jewish Congress to continue fighting the menorah’s placement.