While Rabbi Sholom Leverton of the West Windsor-based Chabad of the Windsors was able to elicit the permission of township officials to erect a lighted menorah at the Ron Rogers Arboretum, he did not meet with similar success in his dealings with Mercer County.##M:[more]##
According to a recent report in the New Jersey Jewish News (NJJN), Mercer County refused a request by Leverton to put up a menorah on the grounds of the West Windsor Branch of the Mercer County Library.
Last month the township allowed the Chabad to place a nine-foot electric menorah next to the township’s holiday tree at the arboretum, located on the Coward Tract at the corner of Route 571 and Clarksville Road. But while West Windsor officials had no problem with the Chabad’s request, Mercer County did. In a letter dated December 16, Mercer County Counsel Arthur Sypek Jr. denied Rabbi Leverton’s request to erect a menorah on county property.
“Although a religious display has been held to be permissible on certain public property, we do not believe that the law mandates that Mercer County permit the display of a menorah at the West Windsor Library,” stated the letter, according to the NJJN report. “As you know, the county has not permitted any religious displays at county facilities. The county library is not a traditional public forum and no other organizations have been granted the right to put up any religious displays.”
According to NJJN, Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Mercer County, of which the Chabad of the Windsors is a constituent, responded with a missive to Sypek from Washington, D.C., attorney Nathan Lewin, who has successfully argued Establishment Clause issues before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lewin wrote that the county’s reasons for denying permission “are unconstitutional and constitute grounds for initiating a legal action against the county for denial of the right of free expression guaranteed to Chabad of the Windsors and Rabbi Leverton by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
