Stapleton has a large Jewish population and community leaders certainly make efforts to ensure Jewish holidays and traditions are not left behind. Overall, Stapleton is also considered to be very tolerant of different religions, ethnic backgrounds and sexual preferences. But even with all its political correctness, Stapleton still didn’t give Hanukah a fair shake. “They put a menorah up on the far side of the Green,” said Jewish Stapleton resident Jill Farkas. “I guess they organized a little lighting, but did you see the Winter Welcome? Come on, that was all about Christmas. I saw a dancing Christmas tree, but I didn’t see any dancing dradles.”
Other Jewish residents agree. “I mean, this celebration in the town center was huge,” said David Maimon. “Lights, trees, Santa Claus. Thousands of people, celebrating in the only town center we have. But then the Jewish population gets this quiet little lighting in almost a private unseen area by the green? I just think SUN and the MCA can do a little better than that.”
“We definitely want to make sure everyone is included,” said MCA President Liza Kampstra. “Obviously, we did not want to offend anyone, and did our best to be inclusive. Next year, we plan to include some Jewish people on our committee to give feedback on what we can do to make the large and tremendous Jewish population in Stapleton happy with what we are doing to celebrate their traditions.”
Jewish residents certainly feel it can be a lot more. “I mean did you see the size of that tree,” exclaimed Elijah Slonimsky. “That thing was huge. It’s a good thing they put the menorah so far away from the tree, as we would feel even worse about how bad we were slighted.” Some Jewish parents are concerned with the message it is sending their kids. “We take them to the menorah lighting which was fine,” said Rachel Rosenweig. “But then, we go to the winter welcome which is very Christmasy, and just a huge party. Smores, candy, Santa Claus, etc. How can I expect to keep them Jewish when they are directly comparing it to the fun-time party of Christmas?” “Next year, we plan to do a whole lot more to make the winter welcome more festive for all religions,” said Kampstra.
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