Westlake Village Bans Menorah in City Hall

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 made earlier this month to display the menorah, also said the City Hall reception area was too small to accommodate decorations for cultural holidays not endorsed by the state or federal government.

The decision has ignited fears of anti-Semitism among Jews and prompted dozens of concerned telephone calls 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.”

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

“I wouldn’t want anybody of any particular cultural group to feel we weren’t concerned or didn’t have good thoughts for their religious or cultural symbols,” Bagley said.

Sapochkinsky estimated that several thousand Jews live in the Conejo Valley, mostly in Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills. Both of those cities approved Chabad center requests for permission to display a menorah, and the Thousand Oaks City Council last week held a menorah-lighting ceremony at the start of its regular meeting.

Westlake Village Mayor Bonnie Klove said the council would not reconsider Bagley’s decision before the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration tomorrow night. She said that while a Christmas tree is a secular symbol, a menorah is a religious symbol.

Mayor Pro Tem Ken Rufener agreed in a Dec. 11 letter to Rabbi Moshe Bryski, Chabad’s regional director. “Christmas is a festive season shared by people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds,” Rufener wrote. “Surely you are aware that Jewish families in our community, as well as Christian families, give and attend Christmas parties.”