Outreach and Public Displays of Jewish Symbols

12/13/06

There was a very widely covered flap between a Chabad Rabbi and the Seattle Port Authority about the display of a Menorah at the Seattle International Airport. The Rabbi threatened a lawsuit to get the Port to put a Menorah at the airport along with the Christmas Trees that were already there. The Port, wanting to avoid the suit, removed the trees which in turn created an uproar that made its way to national news outlets.

Many have already commented about the issues about the separation of religion and state. I want to focus on the outreach goals of Chabad in its effort to put Menorahs in public and prominent private spaces. Chabad's main goal is to bring Jews back to a life of observance. One of the ways they do this is to appeal to Jewish pride. They are saying, "We are not afraid to proclaim our Jewishness in public." Jews in these public spaces see the Menorah and feel pride that their symbols.

Chabad is not interested in creating a public dialogue about religion. This is the key criticism I have of their outreach. Chabad does not engage Christians. Their views about non-Jews are not clear, yet a reading of their main sources shows a traditional outlook that views Torah as an exclusive truth and that other religions are false. This is a widely held belief of fundamentalists from many different religious perspectives. Chabad is unique because of their exceptional ability not to judge other Jews and to play down their fundamentalist views regarding non-Jews and the choseness of the Jewish people.

I am committed to outreach like Chabad, but do not feel it is necessary to place Jewish symbols next to Christian ones. I favor an approach that engages people of different religions in a true sharing of our faith traditions and wisdom. We live in a truly multicultural world in which intermarriage and the mixing of culture is the norm, not the exception. That means that Jews can prouldly share Hanukah with their non-Jewish friends and family in ways that reveal the teachings of this holiday and its particular insights.

Synagogues and Jewish homes should invite non-Jews to experience our Hanukkah celebrations. And Jews should graciously accept invitations to be guests with Christians in their churches and in their homes to share their experience and joy of their holiday. This means an open validation of the wisdom of other traditions outside our own and the capacity to share religious experience while accomodating difference.

Judaism has much to offer to the general culture, but I think the foisting of Jewish symbols into the public square is an ineffective approach and can backfire as we recently saw.

Another Observation unfortunately I think the focus of Jews should be responding to the Holocaust Deniers Conference in Iran rather than pushing for Menorah's at the Seattle airport. This is an extremely serious development and reveals a growing trend to stoke Jew hatred and deny Israel's right to exist. Holocaust education and fighting anti-Semitism while fostering real dialogue with other communities should be very high on the agenda of all Jewish groups and individuals.

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg