For the first time in 20 years, the city of Pittsburgh held a menorah lighting in a public place, in front of the building that houses the Allegheny County government. According to Chabad-Lubavitch, the Hasidic Jewish group that erects menorahs in public places all over the world, the move represents “a new chapter in its sometimes stormy relationship with public menorah displays” in Pittsburgh.
In the late 1980s, a brouhaha erupted when Pittsburgh’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter sued, arguing that the menorah constituted a state sponsorship of religion. The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the menorah could remain standing. But though the city did not take it down, they never lit it either – until this year, when a crowd of 200 people showed up for festivities that included the lighting, music, and sharing traditional Hanukkah latkes.