How the Rabbi beat City Hall

Fair Lawn, Dec. 9 – An 8-foot-tall menorah has been placed in a yard across from Borough Hall, but even after all its electric candles are lighted, it will not outshine the Borough Hall and its tree, which have hundreds of lightbulbs.

A sign on the menorah – symbol of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which began Tuesday night – reads, “There will be liberty and justice for all when I am across the street.” Rabbi Levi Neubort of the Anshei Lubavitch Outreach Center in Fair Lawn has erected what he calls a “defiant menorah” on private property facing the municipal building, because borough officials have consistently refused to allow the menorah on town property.

I found this story so delightful! My family happens to know personally the “rabbi who beat borough hall,” but we didn’t know all that his fight entailed. Eventually, the rabbi was able to begin lighting a Chanukah menorah on city hall grounds in 2006. And The Wei family was there for the first lighting!

Jump to full Beliefnet article. Originally appeared in The Record.

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