Dear Sticky Wicket:
Is it true that more and more Jews are becoming Christians and celebrating Christmas?
~Curious In Texas
Dear Curious,
Jews in California have celebrated Christmas since the 1850s according to Frances Dinkelspiel in a Jewish New Weekly article. But they never regarded the holiday as a celebration of Christ’s birth. Instead they saw it more as a winter festival where they even exchange presents.
She says in fact, the celebration by Jews of Christmas was so widespread that Rabbi Jacob Voorsangwer, the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, gave it his blessing in a 1904 editorial.
Dinkelspiel said her research has assured her that her family isn’t rejecting Judaism when they put up Christmas trees and lights. “We are not celebrating Jesus. We are celebrating a winter holiday and continuing a tradition rooted in the early days of California,” she says.
But Walter Zweifler, Chief Executive Officer of Zweifler Financial Research in New York, says the participation of Jews in the Christmas holiday is a response to the commercial hype and the promotion of the non-religious aspects of the holiday.
“Christmas is a wonderful time for eating, celebrating, family get-togethers, but not going to church — especially if you’re Jewish,” he says.
Zweifler said the men’s club at his synagogue has several events that focus on helping the disadvantaged on Christmas Day. The group also provides non-religious support services for their Christian friends. “Jews are not becoming Christians in their secular celebration of Christmas. The ascendancy of sporting events at the cost of religious observation is more pronounced than the involvement of Jews,” he says.
Rabbi Levi Brackman in a Jewish World article on the ynetnews.com website says that for the sake of preserving their identity Jews should not celebrate Christmas in any way. “By celebrating Christmas we are offering up our own and our children’s Jewish identity on the altar of conformity. If that is the message we send, why are we surprised when our children do not see the importance of marrying Jewish?” he says. “Making a point not to celebrate Christmas is a powerful way of emphasizing our Jewish identity.”