EXCLUSIVE: ‘How shameful, how low can Havering Council go than to limit the public celebration of Chanukah’.

Anger and sadness as Jewish community told they can only celebrate Chanukah-a religious festival openly for one night.

In two weeks our Jewish community celebrate the miracles of Chanukah. Surfacely this involved one day of holy oil burning in the desecrated temple for eight days. The importance here is the underlying universal message- every diverse group should be able to practice their relief, culture or public choice with their heads held high.

In Havering, our Jewish community had began working with members of Havering council, with the purpose of the meeting to forge a covenant between the Faiths and the council.

Romford Rabbi Lee Sunderland told the Havering Daily: “The meeting would guarantee that the Faiths would play a more public role in the providing social services within the borough and in return, the council would actively promote support and facilitate the Faiths bringing their cultural and religious beliefs to the public so that the public can better understand them.”

The first opportunity to do this here in Havering is actually with the Jewish festival of Chanukah which occurs on the second week in December. Rabbi Lee and Rabbi Suffrin from Redbridge had numerous meetings with Havering’s Leader of the Council, Councillor Ray Morgon and the borough’s Chief Executive Andrew Blake Herbert, where they discussed the installation of a special Menorah to be placed outside of Havering Town Hall, as there are across many other parts of the country.

Rabbi Lee continued:”Having been given the go ahead to bring this to Havering the councillor who has the final say, now wishes rather than to actively support and promote it, is now actively putting a stumbling block in the way to severely curtail if not ban or ruin it.

“How can any minority trust that this is not a broken promise to over 60% of Havering residents? It is now easy to muddy the waters by trying to mix religion and politics and assume that the one borough that has given the most support to the Jewish community since October 7, will now turn against it.”

It is believed that the leader of the council, Councillor Morgon has allowed the Menorah to be displayed for one night only, despite the community asking for it to be at least displayed throughout the eight nights of Chaunkah that bring a message of peace to all.

Rabbi Lee is a very well respected member of our community. He is also the first person in Havering to reach out and support all members of our community. He is present at the majority of events that support the borough and its residents and reaches out to all, when they need. Now, Rabbi Lee would have liked to celebrate a religious festival that is over two thousand years old and bring the message of peace to all.

Rabbi Lee added: “This is an opportunity to stand up to the hostility that would silence Judaism or any form of diversity and celebrate it to its fullest. This maybe a Jewish festival but it is a lesson for the whole world and for every generation. Most especially, please let us celebrate this in public and begin to bring the citizens of Havering together now.”

A spokesperson for Havering Council told the Havering Daily:

“The Council has taken the difficult decision to pause the planned installation of the Chanukah Menorah outside Havering Town Hall this year.

“We appreciate this is a hugely sensitive issue but in light of escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East, installing the candelabra now will not be without risk to the Council, our partners, staff and local residents. 

“We would also be concerned with any possible vandalism or other action against the installation.

There will still be a temporary installation and event to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah. This will be taken down after the event and we will look at a longer-term installation next year.

“However, due to an increase in the number of hate crimes in Havering, both towards the Jewish and Muslim community, and after consulting with the Leader of the Council, we believe it would be unwise to move forward with the installation which could risk further inflaming tensions within our communities.

“When we started work on the installation no one could have foreseen the recent international events and we have been fully committed to installing the candelabra with a number of council teams working to support it.

“Sadly, there are some who are politicising this and making accusations of anti-Semitism. This is categorically untrue and such statements are likely to incite further unrest in our communities. The Council flew the Israeli flag in solidarity following the heinous terrorist attack against the people of Israel and we continue to stand by our local Jewish communities.

“However, while the war is ongoing we feel we must postpone the planned installation. This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we will revisit next year when we hope that community tensions will have subsided. Havering Council does not take sides in the current conflict and regrets the loss of life, injury and distress on both sides.

“We have informed our community and faith partners and will continue to provide support to all our communities and work with the local Police to ensure that everyone feels safe in Havering.”

Rabbi Lee continued:

“We have absolutely not the slightest hint that there maybe any unrest here in Havering. Indeed to write in public that there is fear for the safety of staff and councillors is a reckless statement in itself that could give rise to the fact that the very presence of certain minorities in the borough poses a potential danger to the leaders of local government and their employees. That is a reckless comment that in itself causes totally unfounded fear in people.

Tony Klinger, world leading film writer, producer and director who has worked across Havering added: “How shameful, how low can Havering Council go than to limit the public celebration of Chanukah. It is an ancient Jewish religious festival going back over 2,200 years. It is nothing to do with any other religion or anything to do with politics. I ask the question, are other religions to be limited in their public holidays such as Eid or Diwali or Christmas? Is it just our Jewish community who are at risk? There is a name for this – anti-Semitism.”

St Edwards ward Councillor David Taylor told the Havering Daily: “

“I recognise the difficult decision faced by the Council Leader. 

In times of tension, we must continue to foster understanding between communities and reinforce our support for marginalised groups. Havering must become a place where all groups feel seen, heard, and valued. 

The decision to not display the menorah may unintentionally convey a message of exclusion and I sympathise with the feelings in our Jewish community. 

The Leader and I have put aside our political differences and are working together to build relationships with faith Leaders. I encourage everyone to continue dialogue to avoid any future misunderstanding.

It is my hope that we will see Havering celebrate all communities on an equal footing, so that together we can demonstrate Havering as a borough of tolerance.”

Chanukah is an ancient old religious festival that has been celebrated for over 2,000 years. In London, leaders encourage diversity-so why then-are our Jewish community not allowed to openly celebrate?

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