Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: BAH HUMBUG!

A thoughtless, disrespectful display

It wouldn't be December in America without a story like this:

SEATAC, Wash. -- All nine Christmas trees have been removed from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport instead of adding a giant Jewish menorah to the holiday display as a rabbi had requested.

..."We decided to take the trees down because we didn't want to be exclusive," said airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year."

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, who made his request weeks ago, said he was appalled by the decision. He had hired a lawyer and threatened to sue if the Port of Seattle didn't add the menorah next to the trees, which had been festooned with red ribbons and bows.

"Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season," said Bogomilsky, who works in Seattle at the regional headquarters for Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation.

After consulting with lawyers, port staff believed that adding the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures in the Northwest. The holidays are the busiest season at the airport, Betancourt said, and staff didn't have time to play cultural anthropologists.

..."They've darkened the hall instead of turning the lights up," said Bogomilsky's lawyer, Harvey Grad. "There is a concern here that the Jewish community will be portrayed as the Grinch."

Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky's plan backfired.

He didn't want the trees removed. He wanted a menorah added to the airport decorations.

I think it's funny that the Christmas trees or "holiday trees" were taken down because the airport didn't want to be "exclusive."

What do you call EXCLUDING the decorated trees from the airport?

Staff wants to be thoughtful and respectful. How is ripping the trees down being thoughtful or respectful?

Furthermore, adding the menorah wouldn't have required adding symbols for countless other religions and cultures.

How many other groups would have legitimate requests?

My guess is very few.

I don't blame the Jewish community. The intention was to add a menorah, not remove the trees. It was a fair request.

Airport staff wimped out. They "Grinched out."


The Grinch hated Christmas!
The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why.
No one quite knows the reason.