SEATAC, Wash. -- The Christmas trees are back up at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Maintenance staff worked overnight to restore the 14 plastic trees that had been removed during the weekend because of a rabbi's threat to sue over the lack of a menorah in the airport's holiday decor.
Airport managers believed that if they allowed the addition of an 8-foot-tall menorah to the display, as Seattle Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky had requested, they would also have to display symbols of other religions and cultures. Airport workers didn't have time to do that during the busy travel season, Airport Director Mark Reis said.
The rabbi "never asked us to remove the trees; it was the port's decision based on what we knew at the time," Patricia Davis, president of the Port of Seattle commission, said in a statement late Monday.
However, port officials learned on Monday that Bogomilsky's organization would not file a lawsuit over this year's display, Davis said.
"A key element in moving forward will be to work with the rabbi and other members of the community to develop a plan for next year's holiday decorations at the airport," the port statement said.
...The rabbi offered to give the port an electric menorah to display, said his lawyer, Harvey Grad.
"We are not going to be the instrument by which the port holds Christmas hostage," Grad said. He said the rabbi had received "all kinds of calls and e-mails," many of them "odious," over the issue.
Grad said the rabbi never sought removal of the trees, only addition of the menorah.
Rabbi Bogomilsky shouldn't be criticized for holding Christmas hostage.
He didn't want the decorations ripped from the airport.
It's horrible that he was subjected to hate mail and calls.
The threat of a lawsuit by Bogomilsky is probably what prompted the rash reaction by airport staff, but if he didn't throw that possibility out there, his request for a menorah display most likely would have been dismissed.
What a mess!
All this uproar and for what?
Secularists and the lib elite are the ones trying to hold Christmas hostage, not Bogomilsky.
I think it's important to remember that Christmas isn't a tree or a carol.
The best expression of Christmas is living out the message of Christ.
We can battle over nativity scenes on public land or the inclusion of Christmas carols in public school concerts.
I understand that it's frustrating when radical secularists obstruct the free expression of religion and infringe on the civil rights of others. I don't like it.
However, it's important to realize that those scrooges have no control over what's in one's heart.
They can have trees removed and purge the public square of religious symbols, but they can't keep anyone from bringing joy and hope to others in the name of Christ.
When all is said and done, isn't that what really matters?
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