Mt. Lebanon nixes Chrismukkah

So much for Chrismukkah.

Anyone hoping to publicly celebrate the convergence of Chanukah alongside Christmas had to do so in a South Hills neighborhood that wasn’t Mt. Lebanon.

That’s because for at least the third year in a row, the attempts by Chabad of the South Hills to bring the holiday’s lights to the township were squashed by public officials.

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“We wanted to do a Chanukah menorah parade with our cars last year,” Chabad Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum recounted. “We actually got approved, and then at the last minute, even though the police department had approved it, the township hadn’t known about it and when they learned of it, immediately canceled it.”

At issue was the need for Mt. Lebanon police to halt traffic and the ability of the parade to proceed without stopping for traffic lights and stop signs.

In an email exchange that began in November 2023, Municipal Manager Keith McGill said one of the township’s concerns was that the event, if allowed, would set a precedent for other groups to request the same police escort.

“We are not inclined to do so,” McGill said in the email, which was obtained by the Chronicle.

He said that while township leaders understand, appreciate and support the desire to spread goodwill and holiday cheer to people of all faith, it couldn’t make value judgements on the “underlying message being promoted in a parade in determining whether to allow it or not.”

An organized procession, McGill stressed, is not prohibited, but would have to be conducted in compliance with all traffic laws.

“I am not ignorant on how that might affect a procession,” he wrote.

The email exchange also touched on Chabad’s request to erect a menorah, similar to ones displayed in Dormont and neighboring Washington County.

Chabad hoped to have the Chanukah symbol represented in a prominent location in Mt. Lebanon, perhaps where the township was holding other holiday events or was displaying a Christmas tree and representation of Santa Claus.

McGill wrote that the township’s Beverly Brite Nite event and its Washington Road Winter Market were intended to promote the respective business districts, not a holiday.

He appeared to take umbrage with Rosenblum’s suggestion that those events included religious displays.

“I am not familiar with any reference in the bible to a Christmas tree or Santa Claus, which in my opinion are secular,” McGill wrote. “It is also my understanding that a Menorah is a religious symbol.”

McGill said that Mt. Lebanon’s solicitor, Philip Weis, informed the township that there is a distinction between municipal events and events run by third parties.

Attempts to construct a public menorah in Mt. Lebanon go back to at least 2022.

In another email exchange, Eric Milliron, the township’s commercial districts manager, told Rabbi Levi Rosenblum of Chabad of the South Hills that a public menorah would not be allowed.

“I have been informed that we do not host any religious oriented displays on Municipal property,” Milliron wrote.

Instead of using public property on Washington Road where the township holds its holiday celebration, he suggested Chabad find a community partner, perhaps the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills, located much further down the road and outside the neighborhood’s business district, or Reform congregation Temple Emanuel of South Hills on Bower Hill Road.

“I am sure that this is not the response you had hoped for, but I truly hope you can find a location for the display,” Milliron wrote.

At that time, Levi Rosenblum questioned the township’s Christmas tree display and was told by Milliron that, according to Weis, that display was secular and therefore permitted.

In another email exchange this year, Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Jeff Siegler told Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum that the township did not approve a request for a public menorah in 2023 because it “did not wish to, nor did it, create a public forum or limited public forum open to third party expression.”

Mendy Rosenblum told the Chronicle that he thinks Mt. Lebanon doesn’t want to open itself to a flurry of requests from third-party, private institutions.

“They don’t want to open Pandora’s box,” he said. “The problem is, they’ve already done that by doing a holiday celebration that’s really a Christmas celebration. Anyone that’s at that event will tell you that’s what they’re celebrating.”

Mendy Rosenblum also questions the term “holiday celebration.”

“What holiday are they celebrating and why can’t a menorah be included?” he asked.

If this fight sounds familiar, it’s because the issue was already decided in 1989 — by the United States Supreme Court — in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against Allegheny County for a holiday display that included a nativity scene, menorah and a salute to liberty.

The court ruled that while the creche violated the United States’ Constitution’s establishment clause — which prohibits the government from establishing a religion or favoring one religion over another — a menorah does not.

A “combined display with a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty does not impermissibly endorse both the Christian and Jewish faiths, but simply recognizes that both Christmas and Chanukah are part of the same winter holiday season, which has attained a secular status in our society,” Justice Harry Andrew Blackmun wrote.

The issue was adjudicated a second time in 1989, when Pittsburgh’s then-Mayor Sophie Masloff decided to not erect the menorah. Chabad of Greater Pittsburgh filed suit alleging a violation of free speech. That case, too, went to the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court found that the denial of putting up the menorah was a violation of Chabad’s free speech rights,” said attorney Charles Saul, who represented Chabad in its fight. He is also representing Chabad of the South Hills. (Saul is also a Chronicle board member.)

Saul said that Mt. Lebanon’s arguments don’t hold much weight, especially in light of the fact that other third-party groups have had public displays in the township.

“They’ve already been inclusive,” Saul said. “They’ve been inclusive to everyone. They’ve just excluded Chabad and the Jewish community.”

Even a compromise suggested by Saul and Rosenblum, which would have allowed Chabad to erect and light the menorah and then immediately take it down, was rejected by the township.

“It’s a special disappointment,” Saul said, “that they do this at a time when there’s so much antisemitism around us. This would be a shot in the arm for the Jewish people of Mt. Lebanon to show that they’re included and that there’s support for the citizens in the community.”

Mendy Rosenblum is clear: He doesn’t think the township officials are antisemitic, but he noted that only a Jewish group has been excluded from having a parade or erecting a holiday symbol.

“It’s not enough to not be antisemitic in today’s society,” he said. “You have to show leadership. You can’t only do what’s convenient.”

And while Chabad of the South Hills hasn’t filed suit against the township yet, the organization is pondering next steps if its requests are denied again next year.

Keith McGill did not respond to requests for comment before press time. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.