Didan Notzach: Menorah to light up common

After legal pressure, Shrewsbury [Massachusetts] officials will allow all holiday displays on the town common and in front of Town Hall, no questions asked.

That’s the latest decision by the Board of Selectmen, which last week reversed its decision to deny a request to place a menorah on the common.

”If they’re exercising their First Amendment rights, they can do whatever they want to do,” Town Manager Dan Morgado said. ”The board’s position is they don’t endorse, approve, or disapprove” any activity on the common.

In August, the Chabad Jewish Center in Westborough asked Shrewsbury for permission to erect a menorah on the lawn of Town Hall or on the town common for eight days starting Dec. 25, the first night of Hanukkah.

Officials at the time said they did not know how to handle the request; until then, the only requests had been for a holiday tree in the gazebo and Christmas caroling on the common.

Some officials questioned whether there was enough time to draft a policy; others raised concerns about the ownership of the common, asking whether it belonged to the two-century-old Congregational Church next door.

Last month, town officials denied the menorah request, ruling that only Shrewsbury organizations and residents could use it.

A phone call from the Chabad Jewish Center’s lawyer, Rob Meltzer of Framingham — and a check on Google — changed all that.

Morgado said Meltzer told him the Jewish center ”intended to exert its First Amendment rights.”

”He indicated this was an issue of previous litigation,” Morgado said. ”A Google review indicated that was the case.”

The Shrewsbury selectmen voted to rescind their vote against the menorah last week, acting on the measure in a quorum at a Finance Workshop.

Rabbi Michoel Green from the Chabad Jewish Center said he had experienced similar resistance several years ago in Westborough, where the menorah lighting has since become a town tradition involving public officials.

”In these old-time towns, sometimes change is difficult,” Green said. ”They don’t adapt easily to modern times where there are people of a lot of religions living there.”

Last year, Wellesley town officials rejected a request by the Wellesley-Weston Chabad House to display a menorah on town property. Chabad leaders, including Rabbi Moshe Bleich, who is also a lawyer, threatened a suit.

The selectmen agreed to allow the menorah for one night in front of Town Hall. This year, the board passed a policy that welcomes all holiday symbols. In addition to a menorah, the common will be decorated with wreaths from the Wellesley Garden Club and a Muslim crescent donated by a family.

Bleich said the menorah will go on display for at least a month, but the chabad house has agreed to the town’s request not to read prayers at the site. ”Life is about compromise,” Bleich said. ”We’ll make our Hanukkah party elsewhere.”

As to who owns Shrewsbury Common, Selectman Maurice DePalo said the board believes the town does but that the issue should be resolved this year. DePalo also said the town should establish a policy for the common ”to keep it from turning into a zoo.”

”I have no problem with them putting up a menorah, a creche, something for Kwanzaa or Ramadan,” he said. ”I think it’s kind of neat.”

Green said the menorah would be up for all eight nights of Hanukkah. He said he hoped to have a public lighting celebration.

”My hope is that there won’t be any resentment,” Green said. ”I hope that it will be something everyone will appreciate.”