הדלקות חנוכייה במקומות ציבוריים (חלק 2)

00:01 This is Icarus. We're continuing our discussion of public Menorah lightings. The way we got into this mess in the first place is that, uh, we were talking about Mivtza Chanukah because it began exactly fifty years ago in our year. We're studying the years of the Rebbe's Icarus from Tav Shin Lamed Daled, and Tav Shin Lamed Daled was the year that the Rebbe first announced Mivtza Chanukah. It's the first year we have a sipah pushing that there should be a Menorah in every single Jewish person's house. And the natural outgrowth of that is because shluchim were now doing things for Chanukah, not just putting tefillin on people on Chanukah, but making big Chanukah efforts, they started putting together big Chanukah parties. And part of those big parties was giant Menorah lightings. And as far as we can tell, the Rebbe did not directly encourage this himself. A- as far as I can tell, and I- I've looked at a bunch of different places where there's, uh, Reshimas and the like, uh, it looks like shluchim came up with this all by themselves. The shluchim thought it'd be a good idea to put Menorahs on public property, and big ones ideally, and the Rebbe heartily encouraged it. But I think this was an initiative that really came from, uh, from the Hasidim rather than from the Rebbe, which is strange. Most of our major initiatives, the Rebbe kind of kicks off. This one seems to have been started by Hasidim. We talked about the fact that the

00:59 first public Menorah lighting, or one of the first ones, was in Philadelphia. Avraham Shemtov, that was in 1975 in front of Independence Hall. We saw it was kind of a rickety little Menorah, but it was the original step in the direction of public Menorah lightings on public property. Uh, Chaim Drizin in San Francisco, uh, put one up in, uh, in the-- in, uh, San Francisco's Union Square in 1976. And we have, uh, the giant Menorah lighting in Manhattan. That's, uh, Shmuel Butman, who will put it up, uh, in on Fifth Avenue. That became a big deal. We talked about that last time too. And then we talked about how, uh, Reform pushed back a little bit. We saw a letter from the Rebbe to the Union of Reform Rabbis explaining his shitah and explaining why he wasn't concerned about these sorts of things. And, uh, and after that, we talked about the White House, of course, the White House lawn. That, uh, by 1980, we had a Menorah on the White House lawn. Jimmy Carter lit it. Uh, he, he came out after a hundred days of not seeing anybody, came out specifically to light the Menorah. We saw the Rebbe's letter to Carter that I thought was unusually warm and personal, uh, also thanking Jimmy Carter for participating in the first public Menorah lighting on the White House lawn. So everything's going well for us, right? We, uh, up at this point in the story, we're putting Menorahs everywhere. Reform didn't like it, but

02:03 the truth is Reform doesn't usually like a lot of our ideas. The Rebbe did write a letter back to them, but there's not a whole lot of, uh, not a whole lot of pushback. Uh, governors and, uh, senators and the President of the United States all seem excited about this idea of giant Menorahs on public property. The next big backlash, uh, came in 1981. In 1981, Yisroel Brog, who was the shliach in Bergen County, New Jersey at the time, he decided to set up a giant Menorah in front of the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, and they lit it every night with a cherry picker. And, uh, and it was by all accounts, a lovely event. People came, and people enjoyed themselves, and, uh, he didn't think much of it. That summer, the Jewish Federation of Teaneck called him, and they said, "We saw what you did in Bergen County. Uh, fine, don't do it in Teaneck." So the, uh, the Jewish Federation of Teaneck called him and told him, "You are not to do this in Teaneck." Uh, I've read this story in a sanitized way. Uh, Der Ha'ar has it. I have a strong suspicion that Der Ha'ar sanitized this story a little bit, because the way that Der Ha'ar tells it is that, uh, is that he decided that he was going to move forward. I know shluchim, and you know shluchim too. The Jewish Federation called and told him, "No Menorah." I'm sure that he very firmly said, "There will be

03:07 a Menorah." In any event, he pushed back and said, "There's gonna be a Menorah anyway." So they went directly over his head and wrote to the Rebbe. They wrote to the Rebbe and said, uh, and said, "We do not want this. Call o- call off your shliach." And the Rebbe wrote back, and we have the record. We have the Rebbe's letters to them, their response, the Rebbe's response to that, their response, and the Rebbe's response to that. So we have three letters in total from the Rebbe and two letters from them where the argument is laid out very clearly why they didn't want the Menorah. Now, a lot of these are from Yidden. A lot of the people writing are, are religious Jews, uh, people who normally are very involved in Jewish life, specifically in Teaneck, where there were a lot of Yidden. And we really have this back and forth where the Rebbe, uh, explains why he wants public Menorah lightings. And in there, the Rebbe himself says in several of these letters that it reveals his overall shitah about how to deal with Judaism in the public, how to deal with the separation of church and state, how to deal with, uh, public and private properties. So what you get from these letters is a, a very unique insight into the Rebbe's shitah on a very major issue. You don't just get public Menorah lightings out of these letters. You get how the Rebbe understands the separation of church and state, how the

04:04 Rebbe understands the lingering concern that many frum Yidden have had and continue to have about having Judaism in the public sphere. Uh, we really get a lot from these letters. They're all in English, and we are going to look at them today. That's gonna be our major discussion. I do wanna tell you the, uh, the end of the story because I'll probably forget to tell you. So the end of the story is that, uh, it didn't end up working out. The, the Rebbe wrote to them. The Rebbe explained himself. The Rebbe explained our shitah. And the end of the story is they did not put a giant Menorah in Teaneck that year and instead put it in a lot of other places in New Jersey, including Trenton, the capital of New Jersey. They put it literally like everywhere but Teaneck. And the following year, he and Rabbi Herschen asked the Rebbe what to do. Uh, Rabbi Moshe Herschen, who was the head shliach of New Jersey. They asked the Rebbe, "Should we try to fight the Teaneck fight again?" And the Rebbe told them sort of a vague response. He told them, "Only put it up in places where you think there's a reasonable chance of success." So they took that to mean that we're not putting it up in Teaneck, and, uh, they, and they didn't do it. They were told by the Federation of Teaneck and by the local county or the board of Teaneck, I don't know what it was. It was

05:01 like a town council of some kind. They were told that they could not put it up until there was an official court ruling from some higher court saying that it was constitutional. Now, obviously, that was a ridiculous bar because as we saw, they were already doing it on the right-- White House lawn. They were already doing it in, uh, in county courthouses everywhere, so it was ridiculous. They, they had it in Trenton, but they said they wouldn't do anything until there was a Supreme Court decision. And as we will hopefully see by the end of the class, there was eventually a Supreme Court decision in 1989, so Teaneck does not actually get its Menorah until 1989. However, we're going to go into the letters. This first letter is a letter from the Rebbe to a, Mr. Jaffe, who it looks like is a, a lawyer, and, uh, it's a relatively short letter The Rebbe says, "No doubt you received my telephone message in response to your letter of November 18th on the matter of putting a Hanukkah on public property in Teaneck. For the record, I'm also going to reiterate it in writing briefly at any rate." So the Rebbe says, "I made a phone call." I don't know, I don't know the exact timeline was, but the Rebbe at one point, uh, sent a phone message. I'm sure the Rebbe didn't make the call. I'm sure that it was the Maskiros making the call, but the Rebbe puts it in writing as well what

06:00 he thinks in case the message was lost over the phone. Said, "First of all, the subject matter in general is not a new idea requiring investigation as to constitutionality, public reaction, etc." This is the same approach the Rebbe took when talking to the vice president of the Union of Reform Rabbis. The Rebbe says to him, "First of all, this is not something where we don't know the outcome. We're not sure about whether it's constitutional. We're not sure how the public's gonna react. It's a new thing. We don't know what's gonna happen. This has been fully weighed years ago, resulting in overwhelming support for the idea and in the actual erection of a giant Hanukkah menorah on public property in Manhattan, in the city of New York, the largest in the USA. Also, in Washington, the nation's capital. Philadelphia, the birthplace of American independence. Hanukkah menorahs are on display in cities throughout the union." So the Rebbe starts off by saying, "You're, you're making trouble where there isn't. We've had no problem anywhere else. I don't see why Teaneck is the one place upholding the Constitution of the United States. We did this in New York, we did this in Washington, D.C., we did this in Philadelphia. Teaneck is where they're gonna--" Fine. He continues, "Thus, it has been long recognized in the United States that the erection of a public Hanukkah menorah is a positive thing because of its universal message of freedom of the human spirit, freedom from tyranny and oppression, and the ultimate

06:57 victory of good over evil, just as a little light dispels a lot of darkness." Once again, very similar to the letter that he sent the lawyer. "These fundamental human aspirations and principles, as visually symbolized by the kindling of the Hanukkah lights, are surely shared by the vast majority of Americans." So the Rebbe's argument number one is that we've done this and it works. The Rebbe's argument number two is that these are American values as much as they are Jewish values. Is that the Hanukkah menorah, while it is a religious symbol and while it's our religion, this part of our religion speaks directly to everything that America stands for: freedom from tyranny, the posit-- freedom of the human spirit, the victory of good over evil, little light dispelling a lot of darkness. It's not gonna be unconstitutional because this part of our religion is just pure Americanism. Is that there's, there's a strong American streak to the, to Hanukkah. As a matter of fact, total, total aside that I didn't plan on talking about at all. Uh, I'm-- I, I-- every day when I've been going to work this week, I brought in, um, mitzvah menorahs to give out to people at work. I put out an email saying anybody could come by the office and pick them up. A very smart young man, uh, came into my office, and he said, uh-- he's Jewish, very clearly Jewish. I mean, the, the curly hair, the glasses, the entire, the entire persona of a Jew, but, uh,

08:00 but clearly not frum. And, uh, and he says to me, he clearly knows a lot of stuff. He grabs a menorah. He says, "Thank you very much." He took some chocolate, and he said, uh, we had the chocolate coins. And he said, "You know, I know a little bit about, a little bit about Hanukkah, and I think I'm the bad guy." This is what he says to me. He said, "I think I'm the bad guy of the Hanukkah story. The whole Hanukkah story is against the, uh, the sort of enlightened secular Jews who thought that the most important thing was the science of their day, and I'm pretty sure what we're celebrating is the-- is, is our defeat." So he said, "I do find it a little weird that I'm taking a menorah given that we're celebrating-- given that it's a holiday celebrating the defeat of me." And, uh, I told him it-- that, that is one of the things it celebrates, but you know what else it celebrates? And I pulled directly from these letters. I said, "The victory of good over evil and a little bit of light dispelling a lot of darkness." Said, "Even if you're not ready yet to get on board with the whole Hanukkah message, there's a piece in there that really does speak to directly things that you believe in. You know, the idea of a little light dispelling a lot of darkness and, uh, freedom of, uh, human spirit, freedom from tyranny and oppression." So it's good

08:53 to know these other reasons. It's not-- there's not just one Hanukkah story. This is also part of the Hanukkah story, and for someone who can't relate yet to the other part, uh, there is something for them in Hanukkah. Anyway, continuing. Indeed, so enthusiastically welcome has the public Hanukkah menorah been that its inaugurals have been graced by the personal participation of the President of the United States and the highest city and state officials and dignitaries wherever the Hanukkah menorah makes its appearance. The Rebbe goes on to appeal to authority. He says, "Not only is it great and not only does it speak to American values, I have the president lighting it on the White House lawn. What do you want from me, Teaneck?" I mean, just, it's just, if you're from New Jersey, this makes so much sense. It had to be a small town in New Jersey that is just going up against the president. As an attorney of law, the Rebbe says, we're talking to a lawyer, you know of course the force of the pre-- of precedent, especially one that has recurred many times even in a court of law. The Rebbe says, we have ample precedent that this is okay. Incidentally, the said public Hanukkah menorah has already become a familiar sight, and it usually receives good coverage from the media. The Rebbe's bragging. We have this all over the place. It's in the newspaper. If there was a problem, somebody would have said something. Uh, your personal effort is much appreciated,

09:51 with esteem and blessing. So the Rebbe asks him to get involved. It sounds like he didn't. It's December second now, nineteen eighty-one. We're getting close to Hanukkah, and the Rebbe writes a letter to the Jewish Federation. And the Rebbe writes-- I'm sorry, I got this backwards. I'm sorry. This is to the Rebbe from the Federation. So this comes to the Federation, the previous letter, and now the Federation writes to the Rebbe. And they write, "Dear Rabbi Schneerson." And, uh, actually, they throw, you know, uh, it, it's good to look down below the line. They have the, they have the photocopy. They're more respectful than it sounds. They, uh, they address it to Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, and then they put in Hebrew, shlita, 'cause in-- uh, in the typewriters, I guess they didn't have a Hebrew typewriter. So you'll notice every now and then they throw in a Hebrew word, and they write it in, like, down there, shalom bayis. It's cool to see the, uh, the original typewritten letters. We have them printed here. They write to the Rebbe. Rabbi Broad, that's the shliach who was, who was arguing with them, has told us that he has written to you about the placement of a menorah on town property. Because this issue is so important to our community, wanted to contact you as well. So this is Teaneck writing to the Rebbe. They say the Teaneck Jewish Community Council has existed for twenty-five years, and that when they started off, uh, Christian observances in the

10:51 township were an enormous problem. They were offensive to Jewish children and parents. Jewish children weren't able to participate in things that were held on school. There were orchestras that were held on Shabbos. Over the years, though, we were able to, uh, get Christianity out of the public school. This is what they're telling the Rebbe. We were able to work very hard to get them to finally get Christianity out of the public school. Jewish children can participate. We got rid of nativity scenes. We got rid of the Christmas symbols on the highway. They said we've been spending years getting rid of Christianity from the public under the claim that the public eye shouldn't have to deal with religion. What we have left is an evergreen with no lights, no Christian symbols, um, some of the candles in the windows of the mus- mu- municipal building. We've really gotten it down to almost nothing. We essentially killed Christmas. So we have here Teaneck Jewish Community Council is the actual, is the actual antithesis of Christmas. I mean, I think, I think the Goyim tell stories about things like this, but the Jews killed Christmas in, in Teaneck. This is what they did. So, uh, we're aware of the continued nature of the work that we do, they say. Uh, we know that it's important for us to keep on fighting the good fight and keeping, and keeping this religion out of Teaneck, and since we have to keep the Goyim out of Teaneck, uh, part of this

11:50 is-- Uh, so I'm sorry, I wanna-- Let me continue making their case. They don't then, they don't then come full circle. They say, "Also, we've helped with Judaism. So we got rid of Christianity, we've strengthened Judaism. We, uh, we were able to calm people down enough that we were able to build m- build a mikvah. At the time, there was opposition to a mikvah, and we feel that we were able to, uh, through our diplomacy, we were able to get ourselves a mikvah. We sponsor a Purim carnival, uh, every year." So they're saying, "Rebbe, you just don't understand the full picture. The full picture here is that we've been working for many years to get religion out of the public sphere, and because we've been able to garner many years of goodwill with our Goyish neighbors, we've been able to get a lot of Jewish programs off the ground. We got a mikvah off the ground. We were able to get a Purim party off the ground. Uh, you might think putting a menorah up is a good thing, but it's actually going to ruin all the work that we've been doing for years. Uh, it would, it would undermine the thing that we did when we removed all the Goyish symbols from the public, and it's also going to undermine the acts of diplomacy that we've been involved in for years that have allowed us to have good relations with our neighbors and assemble these and, and put together mikvahs and things like that."

12:44 So, uh, they said the town council officially voted against the menorah on town property, and its decision was in accordance with the position that we've had from the beginning. We told them from the beginning, no religious symbols on town property, so obviously the town council voted against it. Uh, it would've been appropriate, they say, for the JCC to write an official statement saying that we agree with what they did, but we didn't wanna come out directly against Rabbi Brode. We don't wanna make a big fight. So, uh, we didn't do that in public 'cause we don't wanna isolate anybody, but if this continues to be an issue, we might have to, we might have to fight. We might have to fight him. If he's-- If, if we get along with the Goyim and we figured out how to make this work, and Rabbi Brode is the only problem, Chabad's the only issue, we're gonna side with the Goyim and take out Brode. That's what they're essentially saying in this letter. If the menorah placement continues to be an issue, we fear the present status of a peaceful house will be disrupted. We don't want this to happen. How can this in any way benefit the Jewish children or Jewish even-- Jews of any age in Teaneck? Uh, we regard this matter with great concern. We know the holiday season is the worst time in which to discuss such an issue in the community. Uh, thank you for what you can do to help us maintain

13:39 the Shalom Bayis in our community. Uh, signed respectfully from the Jewish Community Council of Teaneck, Linda Gissen, I don't know how to pronounce her name, who was the president of this council. It included many different synagogues, including some Orthodox ones. So this is a group of Yidden who are, uh, seemingly for pretty good reasons, upset about the idea of public menorah lightings. The Rebbe writes back. The Rebbe writes back. And he says, "I'm acknowledging that I got your letter on December second." That's the one we just read. He said, "Since this, uh, since this is time-sensitive," the Rebbe's writing back on December ninth. It is still before Hanukkah. So the Rebbe says, "I wanna write back an urgent message I did by special delivery, although I'm only writing a prelim- preliminary reply at this point. The reason that this matter, placing menorah on town property, seems to have made an issue in your community, it's not a new idea, it's not a new problem, constitutional, legal, proper, or otherwise, that has to be weighed and determined." He said there's a lot of precedent, and the Rebbe in this paragraph, I'm gonna summarize so we can keep on moving. The Rebbe in this paragraph again does the thing that he did in the letter to the lawyer and in the letter to the Reform, uh, vice president, telling them that we've been doing this for years. It works in the White House. It works in, uh, uh, the, the, the, the, the president's involved in lighting

14:41 the-- We-- We're, we're sure this isn't an issue of constitutionality. "Let me emphasize," says the Rebbe, "that the menorah in the nation's capital was introduced without anyone making an issue of it. It is self-evident in the public interest. That it was also constitutional, legal, and proper goes without saying, since the President of the United States participated in it." The Rebbe says, "I don't have time to explain to you why you're wrong, but let's just start with the basics. We did this at the White House with the president, and no one raised a problem. It's not an issue." The Rebbe says, "I confess that the failure to take into account any of the above by the JCC has left me perplexed and amazed," says the Rebbe. "I'm perplexed and amazed that you think that you have an idea that the president didn't think of. After r- after receiving a clarification of this point, I will be able to address myself to the contents of your letter." The Rebbe says, "I'm not really prepared to answer your questions until you answer me why you think you know more than the President of the United States. With esteem and blessing for a bright and inspiring Hanukkah, the Rebbe." So they write back to the Rebbe, and we have the letter where they wrote back, but they didn't write back until after Hanukkah. So now Hanukkah's over. Uh, they write back and they say that, uh, the fact that the president was involved in the r- in the lighting

15:40 of the menorah does not necessarily mean anything. They write back and they say to the Rebbe, we're gonna summarize this letter so we can really get to the last letter, which has a lot of the Rebbe's shit in it. They, uh, they write back to the Rebbe and they say, "We don't think the president being involved is any sort of precedent." They say, "Yeah, he did it once, but the following year, he did not do it. Instead, he sent two Jews to do it. This year, he didn't participate, neither did his representatives." They say to the Rebbe, "Look, the first time the president did it, you might have had a claim, but the prior, next, in the next two years, the president was not involved in lighting the menorah, so I don't think you could bring a proof from there." They say, "The Rebbe's right that they didn't make an issue of it in the nation's capital, but, uh, also there's often a Christmas tree in the-- on the White House lawn. We've been working for many years to get rid of religious symbols in Teaneck. It's, uh, comparing apples to oranges." They, they push back. In response, the Rebbe gives them a very long letter, and this very long letter reveals the Rebbe's shitah for, uh, everything, for all, for all influence and, uh, and discussion about Judaism in the public sphere. This is the Rebbe's key letter of that topic. And, uh, in this letter, the Rebbe writes on Gimmel Tebet. This is

16:37 already December twenty-ninth of nineteen eighty-one. And the Rebbe says in the beginning that, "The subject matter of our correspondence, which is the placing of a Hanukkah lamp on public property, has no relevance now. Uh, Hanukkah's passed, so it tou-- but it touches upon a fundamental principle which has ramifications beyond the immediate issue." So this is an important line for us. Here, the Rebbe's saying that I'm writing to you after Hanukkah. Why write about after Hanukkah? Why, why write about putting up a menorah on public property after Hanukkah has passed? Because this touches on a fundamental principle which has implications and ramifications beyond the immediate issue. So the Rebbe's telling us his shitah on how to deal with Judaism in the public sphere. The Rebbe says, number one, to begin with, it should be noted that when it comes to a relationship between two differ- different ethnic or religious groups, uh, it's not enough when one of the parties decides that they're going to keep a policy in order to avoid the other side from breaking their policy, because it has no control of what the other party may react in one of three ways, favorably, unfavorably, or indifferently. So the Rebbe in this first note says, if, if the Jews and the, if the Jews and the other Goyim living in Teaneck are trying to make a sort of peace, and the idea is that if you don't post your religious symbols, we won't post ours, that's sort of a silly way of doing things,

17:39 because all we can be sure of is that we're going to keep our end of it. We can't be sure they're gonna keep their end of it. So we might for years not have a menorah lighting, uh, under the assumption that this will ensure that they'll never have their religious symbols up, and one year they put them up, and suddenly we've been-- and now at this point, we've been missing years of using our religious symbols. So it's just not a way to negotiate. Point number two. Since the Galus, following exile from our land, we've always been a minority, uh, often a very small minority, and, uh, the problem of coexistence has always been an issue when we've been out-- ever since we've been in the diaspora. And although things change from time to time, how we relate to the non-Jewish minority, we've al-we've always had a back and forth on this. There has been a common denominator that applies to all Golus. To every one of the times and places of Jewish dispersion, there is one common denominator, and this is the fact that the Goyim do not usually live up to the divine moral precepts of the Noahide laws, and they don't usually, uh, they usually think that they're, uh, entitled to everything, and anything granted to the minority is considered an act of charity, an act of grace. So much so that when it comes to regarding the minority as having fully acquiesced in this relationship, even if we call it request, demands

18:40 or privileges considered itself entitled to it. The Rebbe's saying in this letter is that in Galus there's one, there's one, uh, there's one solid thing that we see in Galus all the time, and it's that if they give us anything, they sort of throw it to us, uh, throw it to us over their shoulder. They kind of give it to us, uh, give it to us begrudgingly, and, uh, and anytime they let us even feel like we're getting the upper hand, it is really them giving in rather than us demanding privileges. The Rebbe says you think you're getting something from them, but you're not really getting anything from them at all. Number three, under such circumstances, if the minority voluntarily gives up certain privileges that it once enjoyed, for example, the right to put up a menorah, then it could be regarded as a sign of weakness and an admission that it really isn't entitled to anything at all. So the Rebbe's saying here, he's building a case. He's saying that if the non-Jews that we live with have decided we're allowed to have a menorah, and we then say back that we give up our right to a menorah in-- so that you will give up some of your rights, that we're, we're, we're imagining we're on equal footing, that there's the Jews and the Christians, that they're two equal powers in the country, and that we're making negotiations. The Rebbe says that's not the way this really works. This is the, this is

19:37 the super majority. There's an enormous majority of non-Jews. They agreed to give you certain rights. When you say you're going to voluntarily give those rights up, all you're doing is saying that you're not really entitled to anything in the first place, and they're gonna go on doing whatever they wanna do because they're the majority. So you're not going to-- th-this is not a way, this is not a way to interact with your non-Jewish neighbors. You think you're gaining ground, but all you're really doing is that every time they tell you you can do something, you're saying, "Actually, we don't need it," on the hope that they won't need it either. The truth is they're gonna take it, and they're gonna leave you out to dry 'cause you already told them you don't need it. This applies directly to the Rebbe's, uh, shita on taking, on taking financial aid from the government when it comes to religious schools. The Jewish schools wanted to make the claim that we don't need any religious aid from the government, and hopefully the Christian schools won't take any aid from the government either. And the answer was no, the Christian schools still wanted to take aid from the government, and they would. All you did was tell us you're one group that doesn't need it. All you're doing is disenfranchising yourself. You're not going to disenfranchise them. They're the majority. Number four, there is a directive in the Torah that we're not allowed to taunt an adversary, but this has

20:33 to do with taunting. It doesn't mean we have to surrender positions we've won over the years. This is very important and very subtle. On one hand, we are not supposed to be poking the Goyim in the eye and trying to upset them. At the same time, if they've given us a right, that doesn't mean we're poking them in the eye when we exercise it. So when the-- when America gives us a right to practice religion in a certain way, then when we use that right, we are never taunting them by using that right. We're using a right that was given to us. Taunting them is doing beyond what they allowed us to do. Number five, even if there is a, uh, some sort of a concession tactic like what you guys have been doing, and it seems to have been working for a while. What you-- what Teaneck reported, that they've been giving in, and therefore they were, they were able to get a mikvah off the ground. E-Even if this seems to be working for a while, there's no assurance that this will always be effective. It's a democratically free country like the United States. There's elections all the time. You never know who the next public official is going to be. You don't know what the policy's going to be. You can't rely on things like this lasting forever. So the Rebbe says, "These are-- this is my introduction," says the Rebbe. I think we're gonna go over time a little bit today,

21:28 although I know on Thur- on Thursdays, I think Sruly has a, has a hard out, no? Yeah. Sruly, you might miss the last, the last bit of this. Uh, with the above prefatory remarks in mind, the Rebbe says, "This is my introduction. Let's talk about the practical implications." The Jewish community in the United States is as old as the United States. I say this a lot. I like that, I like that the Rebbe says in the letter, I didn't know it was in a Rebbe letter, but, uh, we are as old as the United States. Um, m-many of the white supremacists who tell people-- who tell Jews to go back home have not been here as long as the Jews have been. We, we had Jews here during the Revolutionary War. We had Jews here among the times of the colonies. So, uh, we are a very old community in America. Well, we know the problems it faced. We know the discrimination it suffered until it won its place. We know how hard it was to be a Jew in America until America started recognizing us and giving us our privileges. Even in these days, uh, antisemitism exists. Can you imagine? Even in the '80s, they had antisemitism, not only latently, but also overtly. Under these circumstances, we can never relax our alertness to any sign of erosion in our hard-won position. Says the Rebbe, "There is still antisemitism, and as long as there is antisemitism, we can-- we have to be, we have to

22:27 be alert all the time that we might lose some of the ground that we've gained." One of the grounds that we've gained is lighting a Hanukkah menorah in public places. And as-- and then he goes again to mention all the places we got to light them. There have been some Jews who did raise objections in several places out of fear that it might call attention to the fact that there are Jews living in that city, Jews who would apparently be willing to forego the claim that public places belong also to them as part of the public. The Rebbe says, "We, we need to defend, we need to defend the practice of lighting the menorah in public to fight antisemitism," which is the opposite of what the Teaneck Council was saying. They were saying, "We need to keep a low profile." The Rebbe is saying, "If we relax any of our claims that we've earned in America, that gives an opening for antisemites to say, 'Oh, the Jews don't really belong here.'" If we're part of the system, if Hanukkah menorah is part of what happens at the White House every holiday season, if a menorah in public is what happens every year around the time they're celebrating their holidays, there really isn't a voice for antisemitism because we're part of the story. If we give that ground up, that creates antisemitism because now they can say, "Look, this religion, it comes out of nowhere. It's not even recognized by the government." So recognition by the

23:24 government and being in the public sphere protects Jews, which is a counterintuitive way of doing things. Uh, it certainly is not the way that a lot of Jews see interaction with the government. Gonna go right to here. In light of the above, when a Jewish community anywhere in the United States publicly raises objections to placing a Hanukkah menorah in a public place on whatever grounds, even well-intentioned grounds, you're jeopardizing the Jewish position in general. These are strong words here. The Rebbe says, "If you in Teaneck say you don't want a Hanukkah menorah, you're jeopardizing the Jewish position in the entire United States because you're making a claim that Jud- that Judaism doesn't belong in the public space, and therefore you're making a claim that Judaism is alien to what America does. And if Jews, if Jews are aliens, then Jews are targets." So the Rebbe says, "You're putting a target on our backs by trying-- by, by opposing this menorah." Very strong words. Jeopardizing the Jewish position in general. It's also undermining its own position in the long run. Not only are you hurting, not only are you hurting the entire Jewish people, you're hurting yourselves. With all due respect to the claim that this has, uh, reduced all Christological elements in public life, I doubt whether these have been eliminated completely. And the Rebbe's right. As they said in their own letter, there's still candles in their windows. They still have a tree. They just got rid of something. They said, "For the sake

24:25 of an argument, let's say that this happened in Teaneck. This is one of the only places where it's ever going to happen. And someday someone's going to say, 'Why should Teaneck be the only town that Jews are preventing Christmas from happening?' And they're going to bring it back." So the Rebbe says, "Even if you're-- I don't think you're right that you succeeded in getting rid of religion from Teaneck completely. But even if you did, how long do you think it is until somebody figures out that the Jews killed Christmas? Do you want that on us?" So the Rebbe says, "I, I don't think it's a good idea for you to shut this down. People are gonna say, 'Why should Teaneck be the only American town that doesn't have a public Christmas, and it's only hindered by Jews who won't let them express religious symbols?' You're putting a target on our backs." So the Rebbe says, "Not only are you gonna hurt us, you're gonna hurt everybody, you're gonna hurt yourselves. This is a terrible idea." Let's go to the essential point, says the Rebbe. Why is it so important for Jews to have a Hanukkah menorah displayed publicly? So up until now, the Rebbe has taken down their arguments why we shouldn't have one. Now let's talk about why it's so important that we have one. says, "Experience has shown that the Hanukkah menorah displayed publicly during the eight days of Hanukkah is an inspiration to many, many Jews, and evoked in them in spirit--

25:21 a, a spirit of identity with their Jewish people and the Jewish way of life." The Rebbe says, "When we put up the menorah, Jews get more involved in Judaism. It gives them a pride in their Yiddishkeit, a realization that there's no reason in this free country to hide your Jewishness, um, and that this has nothing... this is not a contradiction to American life and culture. On the contrary, it keeps with the American national slogan of ‘E pluribus unum’ and the fact that American culture has been enriched by the thriving ethnic cultures, its diversity." Um, putting up a menorah adds to diversity, and America is all about diversity. So putting up the menorah teaches Jews that they don't have to be embarrassed by their Judaism in America, and that Judaism works with America. "Certainly, Jews are not in the proselytizing business," says the Rebbe. "The menorah is not intended to bring us converts to Judaism, but it can and does bring many Jews back to their Jewish roots. I personally know," says the Rebbe, "scores of such Jewish returnees." Scores of people, and the Rebbe, remember, is a Rebbe. He's not allowed to exaggerate. He's a tzadik. So when he says he personally knows of scores of Jewish returnees who have come back, Baalei Teshuva, been made by the public menorah lighting, that means he literally knows of scores of Yidden as of the '80s who had already become Frum through the Hanukkah menorah lighting, uh, by what they experienced when they kindled a Hanukkah menorah

26:23 in their city, in the nation's capital, as publicized by the media. In summary, the Rebbe concludes, "Jews, either individually or communally, should not create the impression they are ashamed to show their Jewishness, or that they wish to gain their neighbors' respect by covering up their Jewishness, nor will this ensure their rights. This won't ensure the pr-- including the privilege of public lighting of Hanukkah menorah, a practice that has been sanctioned by precedent and custom and has become a tradition." So it's not gonna help you. All it's gonna do is it's gonna hurt you. You guys are out of your minds. I'm paraphrasing, of course. "I also must point out that I don't think that a Jewish community can disregard its responsibility to other Jewish communities." So the Rebbe says, "I wanna add, you are messing up things for other Jewish communities by taking this stand, and I don't think your job is just to be the counsel of the, the Jewish community of Teaneck. I think your job is also to, uh, think about other Jewish communities, and you're gonna ruin it for all of us." So the Rebbe says with the Seeman blessing, he puts his signature. Then there's a PS. "That I trust you're aware of other instances involving Jewish practices in public, like a beard in the military or a yarmulke in a court of law. Jews insisted upon this, and they won their inalienable rights." Uh, and I think what he's saying in here, first of all, is that, is that

27:21 there's a lot of precedent for us having public display of religion, but also these are some of the rights that we won that could be taken away if people keep on saying, "Maybe we don't deserve a menorah." Is that a lot of the rights we fought for for a very long time are predicated upon this continuing precedent that we are allowed to be Jewish in public spaces, and if you chip away at that by taking away the menorah from Teaneck, you're chipping away at yarmulke in a court of law. You're chipping away at a beard in the military. So you're chipping away at a lot of these things for a relatively small fish, and I-- and for, and for something that you're really not gonna gain from. PPS. There's another PS. "I don't understand your remark about the president coming for the menorah lighting. It shows it's constitutional. You say that he didn't participate the following year, and I don't understand how this is supposed to disprove my point. The president did participate. The menorah is still kindled there. Why he didn't come again? I don't know. Maybe it would be awkward to keep on showing up when we don't let him light the candle, uh, so he chose Jewish representatives," the Rebbe says. Maybe that's why he doesn't come, because he wants to light the menorah. It's a little weird to just stand there while some rabbi lights the menorah if you're the president. Maybe the president of the United States won't always do

28:18 what the prior president did. Maybe he wants to do different things with his public appearances. "But the fact that the president did it once is fine precedent. I don't accept your rejection. The important thing, again, is that a tradition has been established. The president saw fit to inaugurate this. It surprises me that your representatives didn't mention it when the issue came up for discussion in your community." And there is an addendum that says that this letter was delayed after quite a while, so it didn't come out for a long time. And, uh, in-- over Hanukkah, the ceremonies were all well-attended wherever there were, were public menorah lightings. We must read this last line because it's a real kicker. The Rebbe adds, and this is already in an addendum to a PS to a PS. The Rebbe adds a following very harsh note. Says, "It is difficult to imagine that after what happened to Hi- in Hitler Germany, some Jews will still entertain the idea that making themselves as inconspicuous as possible, concealing their Jewishness, they would gain favor with their Gentile neighbors, whereas the opposite view is more widely recognized." The Rebbe says, "I do not understand why people who made it through the Holocaust can think that if they hide their Judaism, they will be safe. They hid their Judaism, and they were not safe. Besides, antisemitism and prejudice require no outside causes," the Rebbe says. "Hating us has nothing to do with what we do. The antisemitism and prejudice does not come from

29:22 our public menorah lightings. It doesn't come from the way that we act. It comes from the fact that they hate us. However, to expand on this topic here would be too much of a digression from our main subject." And so that-- with that, the Rebbe concludes. We only have, uh, five minutes left before the Zoom meeting throws us off, but I do want to end this topic because this isn't enough for its own share. I did mention to you that nineteen eighty-nine, this, uh, the question of, uh, putting a menorah in public property was Allegheny versus the ACLU. This was in, uh, the Pittsburgh area. They had a lawsuit, made it all the way up to the Supreme Court. Are you allowed to put a menorah on a, on government property? Is a, is a private menorah allowed to be placed on government property? And, uh, the court ruled in our favor. It was a six-three ruling, so we had the, we had a nice big majority that the city was permitted to put up the menorah. And when this happened, we put out a press release, and if I can get it on the screen fast enough to show you, we put up, we put out a press release, and the Rebbe was involved in, uh, heavy editing of this press release. Let me see if I can get it on the screen. I'm racing the clock. Where is this? Ah, I think I can pull it up over here. Hang on. There. Here's

30:23 the press release. It was released in a Torah somewhat recently. The press release has some really interesting edits from the Rebbe on it. Well, the press release says that we're pleased with the court's decision. We're not surprised at this ruling. We've always maintained that... And they originally wrote, "The framers of the Constitution of the United States never intended to separate government from religion," and the Rebbe crosses all that out and says, "We have always maintained that the founders of this country believed in God." That's our opening line. "They came here to escape the religious persecution of governments that coerced citizens to abide by a religion." We have notes down here on exactly what things the Rebbe changed and why. I think this is accepted by the government. So basically, they came here to escape religious persecution of governments that coerced its citizens to abide by a religion accepted by the government. They hoped to establish on these shores a life where people would enjoy religious freedom, worship God freely, each according with his own beliefs. For centuries, this has been manifest with the motto, "In God We Trust," engraved on this country's currency, and with the government legislative houses prefacing their deliberations with a prayer to God. And then the Rebbe adds, "The menorah is particularly symbolic of religious freedom." The Rebbe wants that in the press release to tell people that a menorah is a symbol of religious freedom. So going back to the thing that I mentioned earlier with that boy who came

31:25 in, uh, to my office at Rockefeller saying that he felt that Hanukkah wasn't really for him because he's on the other side, note that whenever the Rebbe deals with the public, the Rebbe doesn't really talk about that thing we see in Sikhas, that the importance of Hanukkah is recognizing that, uh, Judaism is not a culture, it's a religion, that there needs to-- you can't take the, uh, you can't take the purity out of the oil. That is what we talk about, uh, in Hasidus. When it comes to our public-facing menorah message, it's very much this. Menorah is a symbol of religious freedom. Menorah is a symbol of light dispelling darkness. And the Rebbe wanted this even in the press release after the Supreme Court decision. It is our fervent hope that the Jewish community will now come together to fully utilize the religious freedom guaranteed and protected by this great country. That last sentence is, uh, essentially a paraphrase of all of the letters that the Rebbe sent Tineck, is that we hope that the outcome of all of this will be that Jews will come together to fully utilize the religious freedom guaranteed to and protected by this great country. There is a really interesting note the Rebbe puts on the side. Let's use our last few minutes to take a look at it. The Rebbe has a note over here. Uh, they wrote that the goal of America was to allow everybody to worship God according to his or her beliefs. And the

32:29 Rebbe takes issue with that from a Halakhic perspective and puts a line through it. It says, "Just say worship God freely. Don't say that people here are allowed to worship according to their beliefs," and here's why. We have a note down here. It's, it's on the side, but it's almost impossible to read, so I'm gonna read it to you in the, in the regular printed Hebrew below. It says, "Christianity is Avodah Zarah." Now, th-this is a controversial statement, but the Rebbe says, "Nasrut hi Avodah Zarah." Christianity is Avodah Zarah. "Hepech shazan mitzvot bnei Noach." It is the opposite of the Sheva Mitzvot. So the performance of the observance of Christianity is the opposite of keeping the seven mitzvot of Bnei Noach. "Ma she'einken Islam." This does not apply to Islam. Now, "El hashanet simushim min hamayaseh avodah zara," the only reason-- the reason why we're allowed to get around this and not treat modern Christians as idolaters is because they're really just doing what their parents always did. "Mayaseh avodah zara," they don't really believe in it anymore. So I think the reason why the Rebbe crossed out this line, that everybody in America is free to worship according to their beliefs, is that if you really believe that Christians really believe in Christianity, then they're actual, uh, then they're, then they're actual idolaters, and that's not a freedom we want them to have. So the Rebbe doesn't want this line here because we want to be able to say that Christians are not, uh,

33:32 worshiping according to their beliefs. They're simply doing what their parents taught them to do because otherwise we have to deal with the real Avodah Zarah problem. It's a really interesting side point that is in this press release. What we get from all of this is that the Rebbe, uh, although he didn't necessarily start public menorah lightings, the Shlokim did, the Rebbe defends the practice so strongly. We saw that the Rebbe doesn't want fights. The Rebbe tells Shlokim to shy away from these arguments if possible, not to put menorahs up in places where they might fail because that does create a dangerous precedent that could harm not just future menorah lightings, but could harm the entire idea of Judaism in the public sphere. But as far as the Rebbe's shaped about Judaism in the public sphere, we really get a lot from this. We can squeeze this, put it into, uh, thousands of different scenarios. I hope it's been helpful. Thank you all very much.