Posted on 11/30/2005 9:13:12 PM PST by churchillbuff
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Bryan Rudnick, 561-499-3201
News Advisory:
WHAT: Jews for "It's OK to Say Merry Christmas" press conference
WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 1, 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at The National Press Club (529 14th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.) in the Murrow Room.
WHY: To speak out against the War on Christmas -- ongoing efforts to purge Christmas from our schools, public events, retail establishments and the culture, and why this should concern Americans of all faiths.
WHO:
Don Feder -- president, Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation
Michael Horowitz -- senior fellow, Hudson Institute
Rabbi Daniel Lapin -- president, Toward Tradition
Jackie Mason -- entertainer (by conference call)
Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation was organized to combat anti-Christian bias in government, the news media, Hollywood and public education -- and from activist groups. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.jews4fairness.org.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
..........................................
I think the Jews are aware that the PC nonsense could spread to them in worse ways. It's not beyond belief that a certain cult could take to chucking bricks through windows with a Menorah in them. And the lackey media would want us to examine the "root causes" of the incidents and advice Jews to simply remove the "Holiday Candelabras" from view.
Light in Montana How one town said no to hate
—By Jo Clare Hartsig and Walter Wink, Fellowship
Montana, long known as "big sky" territory, is vast and beautiful, like all its Northwestern neighbors. One might assume that there is room enough for everyone. Yet over the past decade the five-state area of Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana has been designated a "white homeland" for the Aryan Nation and growing numbers of kindred skinheads, Klan members, and other white supremacists. These groups have targeted nonwhites, Jews, gays, and lesbians for harassment, vandalism, and injury, which in some cases has led to murder. In Billings, Montana (pop. 83,000), there have been a number of hate crimes: desecration of a Jewish cemetery, threatening phone calls to Jewish citizens, swastikas painted on the home of an interracial couple. But it was something else that activated the people of faith and goodwill throughout the entire community.
On December 2, 1993, a brick was thrown through 5-year-old Isaac Schnitzer's bedroom window. The brick and shards of glass were strewn all over the child's bed. The reason? A menorah and other symbols of Jewish faith were stenciled on the glass as part of the family's Hanukkah celebration. The account of the incident in the Billings Gazette the next day reported that Isaac's mother, Tammie Schnitzer, was troubled by the advice she got from the investigating officer. He suggested that she remove the symbols. How would she explain this to her son?
Another mother in Billings was deeply touched by that question. She tried to imagine explaining to her children that they couldn't have a Christmas tree in the window or a wreath on the door because it wasn't safe. She remembered what happened when Hitler ordered the king of Denmark to force Danish Jews to wear the Star of David. The order was never carried out because the king himself and many other Danes chose to wear the yellow stars. The Nazis lost the ability to find their "enemies."
There are several dozen Jewish families in Billings. This kind of tactic could effectively deter violence if enough people got involved. So Margaret McDonald phoned her pastor, the Rev. Keith Torney at First Congregational United Church of Christ, and asked what he thought of having Sunday school children make paper cut-out menorahs for their own windows. He got on the phone with his clergy colleagues around town, and the following week menorahs appeared in the windows of hundreds of Christian homes. Asked about the danger of this action, police chief Wayne Inman told callers, "There's greater risk in not doing it."
Five days after the brick was thrown at the Schnitzer home, the Gazette published a full-page drawing of a menorah, along with a general invitation for people to put it up. By the end of the week at least six thousand homes (some accounts estimate up to ten thousand) were decorated with menorahs.
A sporting goods store got involved by displaying "Not in Our Town! No hate. No violence. Peace on Earth" on its large billboard. Someone shot at it. Townspeople organized a vigil outside the synagogue during Sabbath services. That same night bricks and bullets shattered windows at Central Catholic High School, where an electric marquee read "Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish Friends." The cat of a family with a menorah was killed with an arrow. Windows were broken at a United Methodist church because of its menorah display. The car and house windows of six non-Jewish families were shattered. A note that said "Jew lover" was left on a car.
Eventually these incidents waned, but people continued in their efforts to support one another against hate crimes. After being visited at home and threatened by one of the local skinhead leaders, Tammie Schnitzer is now always accompanied by friends when she goes on her morning run. During the Passover holiday last spring, 250 Christians joined their Jewish brothers and sisters in a traditional Seder meal. New friendships have formed, new traditions have started, and greater mutual understanding and respect have been achieved.
Last winter families all over Billings took out their menorahs to reaffirm their commitment to peace and religious tolerance. The light they shared in their community must be continuously rekindled until hatred has been overcome.
In other words, 75% of the Democratic Party.
And I would say "It's OK to Say Happy Hanukkah".
Not only that, read the Biblical account of Hanukkah. It is about rededication of the Temple and purification of it after pollution by the idols.
Christmas is also about rededication of the human nature (including the body) to service to God through the Incarnation. In New Testament human body is compared to the temple.
These two holidays are related and it might be not a coincidence that they fall in similar time.
Jews against Christian Defamation ping! Check it out!
"Don Feder -- president, Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation
Michael Horowitz -- senior fellow, Hudson Institute
Rabbi Daniel Lapin -- president, Toward Tradition
Jackie Mason -- entertainer (by conference call)"
May all Christians pray for, and ask blessings for, these fine men! May their kindess be returned to them sevenfold!
Want Christmas holidays? Prove you are a Christian, show your paid up church membership card.
I wonder how well retailers would like this idea. I wonder how much the government would like this idea after realizing the lost revenue on the billions spent during the season.
It's time the government put up or shut up. America was founded and is a majority of Christians. Christmas is part of American tradition as is base ball and apple pie.
I don't give a damn about the cultures of other people who immigrate to this country. You don't see any of those countries erasing their own cultures to accommodate newcomers. We shouldn't erase ours for newcomers or nonbelievers either. If they don't like it, leave or stay out.
And the guilt-ridden lily-white liberals that are trying to throw Kwanzaa on us.
Happy Hanukkah!!!!!!
Incredible that it's come to this. We need to have special press conferences to make it okay to say "Merry Christmas"...
That IS interesting - thanks! I've heard quite a few callers on some of the radio shows, and also writing Bill O'Reilly to tell him they are Jewish and support his Merry Christmas efforts. It's good that people are speaking up.
Why can't we be happy for others to celebrate their religion (so long as that religion doesn't include rewards for blowing themselves and others up)?
My response ... duh! It's not the Jewish community or the Muslims ... it's political correctness that's raising a stink about "Merry Christmas."
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Absolutely! Although having family in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods, I would say Rosh Hashanah and Passover are more likely to result in a seasonal greeting. But I'm all for merchants recognizing whatever holidays their patrons celebrate. Except maybe for Kwanzaa and anything Muslim. Kwanzaa because it's a godless socialist made up holiday which probably goes against every single thing a merchant believes in and anything Islamic, because I truly believe it's an evil faith.
My brain hurts from looking at your post.
Well said. It's secularists for sure, formerly of a variety of faiths. Secularists who now hate religious holy days which they are free to ignore but wanting to take them from us, too, so deep is their hatred of anything religious.
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