Menorah lawsuit is resolved

December 22, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

LEESBURG, Fla.

The menorah inside the social hall of a Florida retirement community costs more than a flat-screen TV and is taller than the average man.

The 61/2-foot, $1,000 candelabra at Legacy of Leesburg resulted from a legal settlement after a rabbi who lives in the community complained to the homeowners association that the tiny menorah on a table in the hall was dwarfed by a much-larger Christmas tree.

“I felt that it was unfair,” said Rabbi Arthur Grae of Leesburg’s Congregation Or Chayim, who has lived at the Lake County development on U.S. Highway 27 since 2005.

The oversized menorah, which like all others has nine branches for lights or candles, was in place for the start of Hanukkah this week, though hard feelings linger about how it got there.

The disagreement started over decorations. Every time Grae drove over to the social hall, he passed holiday wreathes on lampposts and doors, lights strung on bushes and plywood animals that he referred to in the lawsuit as “cavorting reindeer” on the front lawn.

In August, the homeowners association rejected a proposal from Grae and others to purchase a 61/2-foot aluminum menorah that lights up when plugged in and place it outside the social hall. Board members thought that buying and moving it there would necessitate hauling out the Christmas tree as well so equal attention is paid to both holidays.

They also insisted that most of the decorations, such as the wreathes and reindeer, were generic seasonal items and not religious symbols. Instead, the association voted to buy a standard-sized menorah, usually a little more than a foot high, to replace the one already on display.

Todd Koechlein, the homeowners association president, viewed the decision as a good compromise that would please everybody. Grae, who before retiring spent his career as a New York lawyer specializing in labor and constitutional law, didn’t see it that way and filed suit in circuit court.