http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=540410&category=ALBANY&BCCode=LOCAL&newsdate=12/2/2006

[color="Blue"](Notice the pre-emptive boycott threat and the fact that after painting the
management as anti-semites, the owner of the property turns out to be a
fellow kike. The jew cries out in pain as he slaps you. TJB)

Mall to make room for sacred amid shopping

Amid campaign by Colonie rabbi, official says Colonie Center to have Hanukkah observance

By MARC PARRY, Staff writer

First published: Friday, December 1, 2006

COLONIE -- It wouldn't be the holiday season without a dust-up over religious expression in a
public space. This year, once again, that space is Colonie Center.

And, once again, rumors circulating about the mall muzzling religious expression appear to
be unfounded.

It started recently with a Colonie rabbi who asked the mall to display an 18-foot Hanukkah menorah.

At a meeting scheduled for today, Rabbi Yaakov Weiss figures mall officials will give him the same
answer as last year: no.

So the Jewish leader e-mailed his supporters urging them to lobby General Manager Joseph Millett.
And the response, he says, has been dozens of e-mails and calls.

"I feel it's important that the thousands of Jews who shop there should be able to see THEIR holiday
displayed," wrote Weiss, who leads Chabad of Colonie, part of a worldwide Orthodox Jewish organization.

Not so fast, Millett said.

Customers shouldn't get the idea Colonie Center has said no, he said Thursday, because it
hasn't.

"He's just gathering all this momentum based on what he feels is a safe assumption on his part,"
Millett said, declining to tip his hand further. "And it could prove very embarrassing to him."

It's a touchy subject at the mall. The complex made front-page news last year after a false rumor
got around that a church's Christmas performance had been limited to secular singing.

It is true, Millett said, that the mall refused Weiss's request for an 18-foot menorah display last year.

The mall labeled the menorah a "religious" symbol, Weiss claimed, while the ubiquitous trees and
Santa Clauses and other decorations were "holiday" items.

"It boggles my mind," Weiss said. "I'd like to know how many other Christians in the area would agree
with him that the tree is not a religious symbol. I do not believe the tree is a secular symbol."

Weiss's mind shouldn't remain boggled much longer.

The chairman and CEO of Colonie Center's parent company called the Times Union from an Arkansas
airport late Thursday with an announcement.

Colonie Center would absolutely "have some representation of Hanukkah," said [color="red"]Larry Feldman of
Feldman Mall Properties. The company will work with the Jewish community to settle exactly what
form that will take.

"So please make sure that you run with that story," he said.