Rabbi Feels Wrath Over Removal of Yule Trees

SEATTLE, Dec. 11 -- A local rabbi is receiving hate mail and angry phone calls, his attorney said Monday, after officials at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport removed Christmas trees over the weekend.

Airport officials undertook the action after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky threatened to sue the Port of Seattle, which operates the facility, if a menorah was not added into the holiday decorations. The rabbi works on behalf of Chabad-Lubavitch, a branch of Hasidic Judaism and an Orthodox Jewish movement.

The removal of the trees sparked a public outcry over what some say was political correctness run amok and part of a trend to adopt a secular tone toward Christmas.

"We are not part of the war on Christmas," said the lawyer, Harvey Grad. "All we asked for was inclusion, and now we're getting hate mail and angry messages."

The Chabad of Greater Seattle asked the airport to put the trees back and will not pursue any legal action even if a menorah is not part of the decorations.

In response to the trees' removal, airline workers put Christmas trees on ticketing counters.

Customer service agents with Frontier Airlines pooled their money Monday morning to buy four one-foot-high Christmas trees.

Atop a Delta Air Lines counter, workers placed a tree several feet tall.

The airlines lease space for ticket counters from the airport and can display trees there if they want, said the airport's director, Mark Reis. He said he didn't mind the merry rebellion one bit.

Grad said it was never Bogomilsky's intention to have the trees removed and that the rabbi was "saddened" by the port's decision to remove all holiday decorations instead of including the menorah for Hanukah.

In a statement, the Port of Seattle said it removed the trees to avoid litigation with a religious group.