CARY - With its first-ever Jewish festival scheduled for December, Cary has collected a full house of holiday events. A menorah-lighting at the Cary Arts Center joins the town-affiliated Christmas, Kwanzaa, Islamic Eid and Hindu Diwali celebrations scattered from October to December.

The Dec. 20 event will include music, a spread of Kosher foods, the lighting of a large menorah and a dreidel-sculpting session in the town's clay workshop. Like Cary's other religion-oriented events, town officials say, the Hanukkah celebration is meant to spread the culture but not the dogma of the faith.

"It's very unique for a town to do that for the Jewish community," said Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar of the Chabad of Cary.

In fact, the candelabrum in front of the Cary Arts Center will illuminate one of the area's first public Hanukkah celebrations, which will be funded by three religious groups and the town. Cary hasn't set a final budget or decided how it will divide the event's cost.

Cotlar first pushed for a town Hanukkah celebration last winter, hoping to share his culture and make the holiday season a little easier on Jewish children. The town said it didn't have enough time then to accommodate his request, which was the first of its kind.

But Cotlar's request set the town in motion. Soon after the rabbi lit a huge menorah at a local mall, the town's parks and recreation department began planning this year's ceremony. The town sought out the Chabad, the Beth Shalom synagogue and the Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary, all of which signed on as co-sponsors.

"We wanted to make sure that this was a community celebration," said Lyman Collins, director of the town's parks and cultural programs.

Barry Schwartz, executive director of the local Jewish Federation, was unaware of any similar local events and praised the town of Cary.

"Diversity within the town and within the community is what makes us all stronger," he said.

After the celebration, the tall and "very visible" menorah will stand in front of the Cary Arts Center for the eight days of Hanukkah, Collins said. One Christmas tree, meanwhile, will return to town hall while the town decorates a living tree just outside the building.

By erecting the decorations, the town enters a complicated web of court decisions and legal precedents involving the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause, which is interpreted to require a separation of church and state.

The town may also be obligated by law to accommodate a secular celebration of the Jewish holiday alongside its Christmas festivities, and the menorah is an acceptable way to do that, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1989.

Cary's Christmas trees are on solid legal ground; the U.S Supreme Court has defined the evergreens as secular symbols. But the court has found menorahs to carry both religious and secular meaning, meaning a solitary menorah might be less constitutionally acceptable than a lonely Christmas tree.

The town has no plans to place a disclaimer or additional religious or secular symbols near the menorah at the arts center, Collins said. He deferred comment on constitutional law. The town's legal department was unavailable for comment before deadline.

The town's goal is to help its residents share their traditions, Collins said.

"We recognize that many rich aspects of our culture come from our religious roots, whatever they may be," he said. "We don't want to create the impression that we are endorsing a particular religion."