The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky. He gets the award for the following.

SEA-TAC Airport - All 15 Christmas trees inside the terminal at Sea-Tac have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi.

A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.

Sea-Tac public affairs manager Terri-Ann Betancourt said the trees that adorn the Sea-Tac upper and lower levels may not properly represent all cultures.

She said that since this is their busiest time of year and they don't have time to add a fair representation of all cultures, her department decided to take down all of the decorations, review their policies, and decide if they need to make a change for next year.

"You know, our focus is on customer service, getting our passengers through the airport, and we thought if we could take the trees down and avoid litigation because we don't want to littigate with this individual, we want to reach some kind of solution," Betancourt said. "But that is going to take some thoughtful discussion and we would like to have time to have that thoughtful discussion."

Until then, no Christmas decor at Sea-Tac.

The same decorations have been put up for at least 10 years, she added.

A wonderful display of religious intolerance by someone who probably spends little time in airports. Just say Merry Christmas Rabbi and move on.(Happy Hanukkah to you too)

The Seattle Times identified the Rabbi in question.

Elazar Bogomilsky, the rabbi who last month asked that a menorah be displayed, said he was "appalled" by the Port's reaction to what he believed to be a simple request. There are public menorah lightings at the White House and cities across the Northwest, he said. Next week, Gov. Christine Gregoire will help light a menorah under the Capitol Dome in Olympia.

Why not the airport?

"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 at Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation headquartered in the University District.

Now the Rabbi is appalled rather threatening a lawsuit. Maybe because he looks like an intolerant idiot who has to file a lawsuit to get his views accepted by others.

Oh why don't we all tell what we think of Rabbi Bogomilsky. Here's the foundation's address and telephone number.

Address:
3502 65th NE AvenueSeattle, WA 98115
USA
Phone:
206-290-6301
Fax:
206-729-3445
Web:
http://www.chaiseattle.com/
Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky rabbi@chaiseattle.com
Mrs. Esther Bogomilsky

Feel free to let your opinions be known.

Happy Hannukah Rabbi Elazar Bogomlisky, you are today's Knucklehead of the day.

Update- The trees will be going back up. I still stand by my knucklehead, the Rabbi's threat of a lawsuit is what sparked this.

Hat tip- Kim at Wizbang
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