Compromise reached over Ft. Collins menorah

A down-to-the-wire compromise has prevented a legal battle between the city of Fort Collins and an Orthodox Jewish congregation over the public display of a Hanukkah menorah.

The Chabad Jewish Center of Northern Colorado wanted to display the menorah on city property in Old Town Square, but city administrators denied the request, despite a precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 that likely would allow the display.

The compromise highlights the work of a newcomer rabbi and a mayor wishing to promote Fort Collins as a city that embraces diversity. But it also means that the menorah will not be allowed to remain on city property throughout the eight-day Hanukkah celebration, which began Sunday.

Instead, it will grace the square for a ceremony, to be attended by Mayor Doug Hutchinson, and then be moved back to the privately owned patio of a brewpub that offered to display the nine-branched candelabrum when word of the controversy hit the local paper last week.

“I’m disappointed,” said Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, who moved to the area four months ago from New York. “You’re saying you need to be more inclusive, but only next year. Let’s have it this year.”

Hutchinson promised Gorelik at a meeting Friday to argue to the City Council that the city’s laws need to make room for the menorah. The council next meets Tuesday. Hutchinson says the council and the public ought to have the chance to discuss how to redraw the rules.

Currently, the city lacks rules that govern holiday displays. In blocking the menorah, the city’s administration is depending on an ordinance that prohibits standing displays of any kind on city property.

The Supreme Court ruled that a menorah stationed alongside a Christmas tree in the city and county building in Pittsburgh was appropriate, as the governing bodies weren’t endorsing either symbol, and also because the centuries-old religious celebrations contain secular and historical elements.

In the Fort Collins dispute, Gorelik had on his side the attorney who argued before the court that the menorah display was legal. The rabbi said he preferred compromise over a court fight.

Currently, Fort Collins displays a Christmas tree in one of its parks and a Santa’s workshop in Old Town Square.

But there are other groups that might want to make displays, so Hutchinson and Gorelik agreed to let the public weigh in before changing policy.

“I believe the path we’ve defined will lead to a long-term success,” the mayor wrote in a letter delivered to the rabbi Tuesday.