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What Do Jews Do on Christmas?
http://www.jewfaq.org/xmas.htm ^

Posted on 12/24/2011 10:14:49 PM PST by JoeProBono

Christmas is not a Jewish holiday. Many Christians think of Christmas as an American holiday, a secular holiday or a cultural holiday, but most Jews today do not think of Christmas that way. According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, 82% of Jewish households never have a Christmas tree (and the idea of a "Chanukkah bush" is mostly a joke, not anything anybody takes seriously). The same percentage was found in a 2000 survey by the AJC, though I'm sure that survey skewed toward the more Jewishly-involved. Even among those who are intermarried, only half have a Christmas tree in the home and only 75% give Christmas presents (see Intermarriage and Jewish Journeys). A 2007 survey by InterfaithFamily.com found that only 37% of interfaith families that have decided to raise the children Jewish have a tree in the home. It has become a cliché to talk about the "December Dilemma," the problems that Jewish parents face when their children become jealous of the presents and the fanfare of Christmas, or when interfaith couples must decide what to do for the December holidays.

Many Jews (even highly assimilated Jews) are uncomfortable about Christmas. We don't object to Christians celebrating Christmas, but we don't particularly want to celebrate it ourselves, and there is enormous social pressure to celebrate Christmas, whether we want to or not. One Jewish writer said it's like being a man in the lingerie department: you feel like you don't belong there. Another Jewish writer said, "just try telling a Christmas enthusiast that the creche in front of your post office makes you uneasy; suddenly, 'frosty' describes more than just the snowman." Many secular Christians have told me that Christmas is my holiday too, and some of them get very angry or even nasty when I tell them that I don't want to celebrate it, calling me "Grinch" or "Scrooge." ......

Go out for Chinese food Many Jews go out for Chinese food on Christmas. In fact, Justice Elena Kagan mentioned this in her Supreme Court confirmation hearings: when a senator asked her where she was on Christmas, she said, "You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant." Someone even wrote a song about Jews eating Chinese Food On Christmas. The Chinese do not celebrate Christmas any more than we do, so most Chinese restaurants are open on Christmas. In Philadelphia and New York, there are several kosher-certified Chinese restaurants to choose from, so that even the most observant Jew can eat Chinese on Christmas............


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To: Oatka


101 posted on 12/25/2011 9:29:32 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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To: Yaelle
"Christmas songs"

You have to remember that a lot of Christians are Christians just for Christmas and the songs. Christmas is the only time of the year many Christians go to church. So ergo if Jews could start writing enough snappy Hanukkah songs, there would be more Jews (ha,ha)? I know Jews don't go in for proselytyzing (more power to them), but more Hanukkah songs might shift the balance. At any rate, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

102 posted on 12/25/2011 9:33:01 AM PST by driftless2
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To: mc5cents

Try http://youtu.be/7I1vgyxJHYg

A parody of That’s Amore that describes what it’s like being Jewish during the Christmas season.

“When.....there’s holiday lights, but you don’t believe in Christ, that’s a menorah.....”

I thought it was kind of funny.


103 posted on 12/25/2011 9:44:12 AM PST by elcid1970 ("Deport all Muslims. Nuke Mecca now. Death to Islam means freedom for all mankind.")
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To: JoeProBono

The Jewish portion of our extended family usually visits us on Christmas eve or Christmas day (they’ll be here later) and enjoy gifting and receiving, and watching our grandkids’ delight as much as the rest of us.

A Blessed Christmas and a Happy Hannukah to all!


104 posted on 12/25/2011 10:12:40 AM PST by JimRed (Excising a cancer before it kills us waters the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: elcid1970

LOL. :)~


105 posted on 12/25/2011 10:14:43 AM PST by Earthdweller (Harvard won the election again...so what's the problem.......? Embrace a ruler today.)
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To: driftless2
Actually, Chanukah is a relatively minor festival, nowhere near the importance of Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur. It is a commemoration of freedom--it has nothing to do with the birth or death of anyone.

The Syrian-Greeks conquered Judea, forbid the practice of Judaism, and were fought by guerrilla bands of Jewish fighters led by Judah Maccabee. They won back Judea from its conquerers, who had defiled the Holy Temple (including having a prostitute ply her business on the altar), smashed all its vessels and looted the valuables. After their successful revolt, the Jews sought to re-purify the Temple. They cleaned it up, ritually cleansed it, but the sacred lights had gone out. Only a single small cruse of oil for the lights, which would normally last only one day, could be found. But this single cruse lasted 8 days, the time required for a round trip to the nearest town to acquire more consecrated oil for the sacred lights, thanks to a miracle wrought by G-d.

The fact that it coincidentally occurs somewhat around the time of Xmas (remember, the Jewish calendar is a LUNAR calendar, not a Julian calendar) has made it mistakenly dubbed "the Jewish Xmas". Jewish children of assimilated homes felt deprived when they saw their non-Jewish friends getting a deluge of gifts (the big gift-giving on Chanukah had formerly been restricted to modest gifts, that not being the point of the holiday), and their assimilated conformist parents sought to quell their whimperings by reassuring them that they had their own "Jewish Xmas"--Chanukah. Thus, Chanukah acquired the erroneous status and made Hallmark et al very happy.

106 posted on 12/25/2011 11:04:17 AM PST by EinNYC
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To: EinNYC

107 posted on 12/25/2011 11:22:19 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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To: JoeProBono

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/23/jews-like-christmas-too


108 posted on 12/25/2011 11:32:46 AM PST by xp38
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To: xp38

109 posted on 12/25/2011 11:44:26 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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Jews aren’t Christians and so don’t celebrate a Christian holiday. Is this news? Why is this even a story? My gosh, we are talking about less than 3 percent of the US population!


110 posted on 12/25/2011 3:11:17 PM PST by Godwin1
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To: Godwin1
Thank you! A voice of sanity in the wilderness! Some (well-meaning, I'm sure) people just don't get it--they insist that elements of THEIR religion belong in MY religion, and that MY religion is somehow "incomplete" without those elements. That's a fine example of chutzpah!
111 posted on 12/25/2011 5:54:22 PM PST by EinNYC
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To: EinNYC

For Christianity, Easter is considered more important than Christmas, but nobody sings Easter songs. The only two I can think of are Easter Parade (curiously enough another Christian holiday song written by Irving Berlin) and Peter Cottontail. My point is that without Christmas and particularly Christmas songs, many Christians would not feel the same. I was being a little cheeky.


112 posted on 12/25/2011 9:29:26 PM PST by driftless2
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To: JoeProBono

Would think it would be a good way for real Christians not the “secular” type described in this article that call people names-but those who have been born by God,

would have a good friendly discussion about Christmas- the meaning of it and their savior, the messiah with their Jewish friends (they need to be saved too)!


113 posted on 12/26/2011 7:39:58 AM PST by JSDude1 (December 18, 2010 the Day the radical homosexual left declared WAR on the US Military.)
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To: JSDude1

114 posted on 12/26/2011 8:06:20 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas gerit)
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