City Allows Menorah Display

The City Council last night passed resolutions allowing a Jewish organization to place a menorah in Harvard Square, calling for a hearing to discuss the city's anti-smoking ordinance and commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of a city school.

Open Forum

Last year, amid controversy over the placement of creches in public places, the Council designated Cambridge Common an open forum for religious expression.

But last night, Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci sponsored a measure that allowed Chabad House of Greater Boston to place a menorah near Out of Town News in Harvard Square. Wolf, the Council's only Jewish member, said she feared Vellucci's proposal might violate the separation of church and state.

But Wolf said she supported the order, so long as Chabad House made it clear that the menorah was a private form of self-expresion and not officially sponsored by the city.

Another resolution, sponsored by Councillors David E. Sullivan and Sheila T. Russell, called for a hearing to discuss the findings of a recent Harvard study on the effectiveness of the year-old city ordinance that banned smoking in most public places.

The two are the original sponsors of the anti-smoking ordinance, which took effect last March.

The study found that nearly two-thirds of city retail stores have not posted "no smoking" signs, as required by the law.

Vellucci also sponsored a resolution congratulating the Cambridge Rindge Technical School on its 100th anniversary.

The order called attention to the career of Frederick Hastings Rindge, the philanthropist for whom the school was named. Rindge's grandson, John F. Rindge, was on hand to receive a copy of the resolution.