Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • August 21, 2013 A vote to cover all holidays The Ridgewood Village Council has to vote on some pretty tough issues. One of the easiest votes should be the one on whether to permit a menorah on public property for Chanukah. Ridgewood is expected to discuss the issue on Sept. 11. Rabbi David Fine and some members of his congrega- tion spoke before the council a few weeks ago and urged that the menorah be displayed in such a way as to be visible from Ridgewood Avenue. The proposed holiday display has the solid endorsement of the Interfaith Clergy Council, a respected group of Ridgewood clergy members of many different faiths. Chanukah, sometimes called the Festival of Lights, celebrates the victory of Jewish freedom fighters over a pagan tyrant who attempted to force the Jewish people to relinquish their religion and convert to the worship of Zeus Ammon, a fusion of the most important Greek and Egyptian gods, whose representative on Earth the tyrant claimed to be. The tyrant’s ancestors also appear to have picked up the pharaohs’ habit of preserving the royal bloodlines through incest. King Tut’s wife was also his half-sister, and he was not the first or the last pharaoh with those bloodlines, which is probably why their dynasties did not last very long. The Graeco-Syrian tyrant, however, used terror and tor- ture to try to force his will on the Jewish people. After a tough fight, the Jews defeated him. This took place in 146 B.C., so there was no question of any rivalry between Juda- ism and either Christianity or Islam. The fact that the Jews won was a good thing for everybody whose religion had a future. Hinduism was a closed club due to the caste system, Sikhs did not yet exist, and Buddhism had no scripture in those days. Had the Jews lost, the world might have lost the religion that proved to be the matrix of Western civilization as we know it. Perhaps because some people love team sports to excess, we tend to think of the world as divided into “their team” and “our team.” Western religion, however, is a progression, and the “teams” tended to develop not according to belief but according to the will of mortal member who were the key players of their era. Here are two of my favorite quotes about how the reli- gions should regard one another. In Mark 12, starting with verse 28, a Jewish scribe asks Jesus, “’Which command- ment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’ And the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher: You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are nor far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to ask him any question.” The second quote comes from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 5, starting with verse 34. The disciples and other early Christians were being persecuted “but a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a while. And he said to them, ‘Men of Israel, take care what you do with these men. For before these days Theudas arose, giving himself out to be some- body, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was slain and all who followed him were dis- persed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you: Keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this undertaking is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” Clearly, the wiser men on both sides opposed violent religious persecution and the early Christians respected the traditions of Judaism. The Chanukah celebration was among these traditions, and there is no reason the general public should have to be shielded from a symbol of Cha- nukah. Rabbi Fine pointed out to me that the menorah and Ridgewood’s traditional Christmas tree would not be in competition because Chanukah this year is very early and the menorah will be taken down about the time the Christmas tree is put up. Rabbi Fine is very knowledge- able about Germanic culture, reads the German language, and has written an excellent book about Jewish soldiers in the Kaiser’s army, but here’s one he may have missed -- though it is entirely possible he simply thought it was off topic. The Christmas tree may be an emulation of the menorah. The sentimental legend has Martin Luther inventing the Christmas tree to show his children how beautiful a fir tree looked with snow and stars. The first forensic evidence, however, shows that lighted Christmas trees were first seen in the Rhineland about a century after Martin Luther’s time, and the oldest surviving example from Strassbourg -- now part of France -- was arranged in stages with candles on each of the stages. The Rhine- land was the principal area of Jewish settlement in ancient and medieval Germany, and remained so until the Prus- sian electors and later kings, who were Calvinists rather than Catholics or Lutherans, organized the most tolerant Giving girl Ellie Chisholm, a first grade student at Saint Elizabeth School in Wyckoff, donated her hair to the charity Locks of Love in honor of her mother, grand- father, and cousin, all of whom are cancer survivors. administration in Europe except for the Netherlands, also largely Calvinist. The lighted tree was not originally a Christian symbol, nor was the Easter Bunny, which origi- nally had to do with pagan fertility rites and was prob- ably kept on after Europe converted to Christianity so kids could enjoy Easter without too much emphasis on the suf- fering and death that led to the Resurrection. The Nativity scene, however, is very definitely a Christian symbol and should also be a part of any holiday display. Jeff Eilender, an attorney, presented the council with a letter explaining the status of various objections to the display of religious objects on public property. I thought Wyckoff settled that account many years ago when they took on the American Civil Liberties Union, which had warned them to take down their Nativity scene. The Judge, Dickinson Debevoise -- a World War II combat veteran of Europe -- ruled that as long as objects from other religions or from the mainstream culture were not excluded, the Nativity scene was lawful and could stay. Wyckoff now displays a menorah and several items without a specific religious provenance. The ACLU’s finances took a big hit when they defended a self-styled Nazi of mixed Jewish ancestry who later turned out to be a child molester. Trying to recoup your losses after a blunder like that by attacking various reli- gions is extremely disreputable, and ignores what the so- called Establishment Clause was supposed to do. The intent was not to suppress religious free speech, but to prevent any particular church from taxing the entire population to support a particular clergy. In some European countries at that time, Jews and Protestants were officially excluded, and certainly kept out of the administration. Gustav Mahler had to formally convert to Catholicism in Austria-Hungary in 1897 before he could conduct the national orchestras in Vienna. That was a long time after Thomas Jefferson drafted the Establishment Clause in the United States, which would have covered that issue with- out banning days of public prayer like the ones that took place -- lest we forget -- after that other event of Sept. 11. America should avoid persecution based on religion and it should also avoid persecution of religion, which is usually the previous step. Putting up a menorah is a good way to remind people of the diversity of the Ridgewood community and it is a good way to inform people of the Judaic background of Christianity. This is one vote that should not require an endless or angry debate.