Menorah requested again for holiday display
At the most recent meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees, former trustee Tom Lamberti spoke during the final public comments section to urge the board to reconsider an issue that he fought for when he was a member himself in 2007. For years, Lamberti has argued that the village should erect a menorah alongside its Christian nativity scene during December. The board made no comment on the issue at January’s meeting, though members of the community got up to voice their opinions on the subject after Lamberti spoke.
Resident Tara Christie Miner addressed the board during Lamberti’s tenure there asking if a menorah could be added to the holiday display because her young son noticed that the current decorations only represented one faith.
According to Lamberti, the village’s decision to display only a crèche created an “unavoidable impression of favoritism” for the Christian faith.
“It does not serve Garden City well,” he said.
“It meant something. It meant you had to be Christian to live here,” Miner said, speaking again at this January’s meeting. “And that from the eyes of a child.” She informed the board that she would be buying a menorah that she plans to gift to the village to be put up next December. Although not fighting explicitly to have the crèche taken down, she asked the board to consider doing so if they decided not to accept her gift.
In 2007, a similar offer was made to present the village with a menorah, but the board decided against it after consulting with Rabbi Stephen Wise Goodman who penned a letter on behalf of his congregation.
“The Reform Jewish movement, of which of congregation is a member, has long and consistently opposed any religious displays on public property,” the letter reads. The Board, at the time, took this to mean that Goodman did not feel the menorah was necessary.
Lamberti suggested at this January’s meeting that the rabbi’s words had been twisted by the board and that what he was actually suggesting was that no religious displays of any faith be erected, including the crèche. Lamberti maintained that once the Village put up one religious symbol, they had to be open to others.
Goodman spoke at January’s meeting as well, reiterating his stance against any religious displays and made a counter offer to put up a well-lit sign with a simple, inclusive message of “Peace and joy to all.”
When reached for comment by the Garden City Life, Mayor John Watras indicated that there was no plan one way or another just yet for how the board would handle this situation surrounding the decorations.
“The village recognizes the issue and plans to carefully consider the decorations for next year’s display,” he said. “It’s important to recognize that the rabbi doesn’t want it. If he wanted it, he’d have it. We’re trying to be respectful of everyone’s wishes.”
In other board news, Watras honored Garden City crossing guard Luciana Resende for her hard work and recognized newly-approved volunteer firefighters Jason Rocha and John Nelson.
