Chabad Wins Court Round on Lighting Menorah

Chabad of California may yet again light its 27-foot-tall menorah in a Beverly Hills park after a federal judge ruled as unconstitutional a city ban on displaying the Jewish candelabra for more than two consecutive days.

By granting summary judgment to the Orthodox Jews who contested the ban, U.S. District Judge Terry H. Hatter Jr. gave yet another directive to the city, which has been taken back and forth on the issue for 10 years.

The most recent suit, filed by Chabad, came after a federal appeals court agreed with the American Jewish Congress and the American Civil Liberties Union that Beverly Hills violated the Constitution by allowing the 5,500-pound menorah in Beverly Gardens Park and refusing to grant permits to other religious groups.

Beverly Hills responded by passing the ban.

Chabad attacked the new ordinance on constitutional grounds, arguing that banning the menorah for more than two days was meant to deter the celebration entirely, because Hanukkah menorahs are lit for eight nights.