Let there be light
A replacement for Haddonfield's stolen menorah was illuminated Thursday
A 10-foot menorah has replaced the six-foot one stolen earlier this week from a Haddonfield park.
The new menorah was illuminated Thursday evening as police continued to investigate the theft, which may be the latest involving scavengers stripping metals such as copper from the exterior of borough properties.
The menorahs are made of aluminum; Haddonfiled police Chief John Banning says there's no evidence the theft was motivated by bias.
The lighting ceremony was "a great celebration of right over might, good over evil, light over darkness," said Rabbi Mendel Mangel, of Chabad Lubavitch.
The Cherry Hill congregation has placed an electric menorah at Haddon Avenue and Tanner Street for several years; earlier this month a Christian organization installed a Nativity scene as well.
The borough allows private groups to erect displays in the public park, where an evergreen is currently decorated with Christmas lights.
Meanwhile, the controversial "Keep Christ in Christmas" banner erected by the Knights of Columbus and suspended across Pitman's Broadway between a utility pole and a privately owned building will become the site of carolling on Christmas Eve.
And to all my readers: Happy holidays!