Rabbis protest ban on open-flame Hanukkah candles in Broward jails
Jewish inmates in Broward County jails won’t be allowed to light their own menorahs with open-flame candles for Hanukkah, and local rabbis are not happy about it.
On Monday, a letter signed by more than 20 Broward rabbis decried the restrictions on open-flame candle lighting as the latest affront to Jewish volunteers at Broward jails, and stated that the jails are violating both Jewish law and a federal law that protects prisoners’ religious freedoms.
The rabbis said they had spent months helping prepare Jewish volunteers to assist with lighting the candles at the jails, only to find out last week that it would not be allowed.
Lighting menorahs with actual candles is allowed Florida State prisons and Miami-Dade County jails, for example.
The letter asked local politicians to reach out to the Broward County sheriff to “request that the lighting of Hanukkah candles with real fire be accommodated properly along with a new can-do attitude.”
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony defended the current restrictions Friday, arguing that it is necessary for safety reasons. Tony also added that the decision falls not to him, but under the purview of the two fire marshals where the jails are located — in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
This isn’t the first time Broward jails have become the subject of ire for these restrictions, Tony said in in a letter addressed to Broward Mayor Lamar Fisher as well as all of the Broward County Commissioners and South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who became involved on behalf of the Jewish inmates.
“Each year, the jail is requested to reconsider its decision and allow the use of an open flame within the jail facilities to light a Menorah and is threatened with political pressure if that decision does not change,” Tony wrote in the letter.
Both fire marshals advised that an open flame is not allowed within jail facilities “due to the inherent risks associated with its use,” Tony said. Instead, they recommend an electric menorah “as a safe alternative.”
But electric menorahs violate Jewish law, the rabbis said, which requires the use of a flame to light Hanukkah candles.
“Our counties to the south and north, and others around the state are able to have their inmates light a menorah,” Wasserman Schultz told WPLG-Local10 news.
The rabbis said they couldn’t see how menorah candles, which resemble birthday candles in size, could be a safety hazard. The rabbis also said that there would be an officer close by with a fire extinguisher.
In prohibiting the lighting of menorahs with real fire, the rabbis argued, Broward jails are also violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which forbids unnecessary limits on religious practice in prisons.
Tony disagreed.
“The Broward Sheriff’s Office has fully evaluated this alternative from a legal perspective,” he wrote, “and is confident that its use comports with all legal requirements for the accommodation of religious practices within a jail setting.”
