Rabbi Vicki L. Axe
Published in The Greenwich Time
December 12, 2009 My parents grew up in the Bronx. They were children of Russian immigrants and everyone in their world was Jewish. They moved to Newton MA in 1947, a year before I was born as the youngest of three daughters. Instead of looking for a Jewish neighborhood, my parents wanted to expose us to a diverse community which in 1950s Boston suburbia meant a mix of Jewish and Christian families. In keeping with Jewish tradition, my parents proudly displayed their Chanukah menorah in our window, the first on our street to do so and the neighboring Jewish families came knocking on our door to thank us for courageously identifying ourselves.
Chanukah presents were never a big deal in our house and we loved inviting our Christian friends over to light the menorah with us and going to their homes to help them wrap presents and decorate their trees. We might add colored paper cut-outs of Jewish stars taped to our windows surrounding our menorah while admiring the beautiful Christmas lights decorating our neighbors’ homes. We even joined in singing Christmas carols with joy and reverence, knowing that they were not the songs of our tradition. The refrain in our home was “Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas.”
We understood that Chanukah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar year and Christmas is a profoundly sacred day in the Christian calendar devoted to remembering and rejoicing in the birth of their Lord and Savior. We understood that our holy days of equal magnitude are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the Fall and Passover in the Spring.
So what happened? When did Jewish communities feel compelled to elevate the non-Biblical holiday of Chanukah to a major event in the sacred calendar, with oversized Chanukah menorahs displayed next to Christmas trees in public squares, when many Jewish families turn a beautiful Festival of Light and Religious Freedom and Rededication into a celebration of commercialism and gift-giving while explaining to their children why they don’t celebrate the “American holiday of Christmas.”
The mere suggestion of Christmas elicits immediate feelings of goodness, kindness, family, love, joy, giving – values we all share. A few years ago, one of the major network morning shows had a summer series called “Christmas in July.” They identified families who were going through terrible trauma and showered them with life-changing gifts. This act of benevolence could have been called “random acts of kindness,” or “changing America, one loving act at a time,” or the Jewish concept of “Tikkun Olam,” which means “Healing the World.” But the writers and marketing experts know that the simple use of the word “Christmas” elicits images of goodness, kindness, love, family, joy, giving, the very best of human potential.
I thought about contacting the program and explaining that I am moved to tears with each story, but the use of the word “Christmas” leaves out a segment of the population, leaves me out. I have never followed through for fear that I would be accused of being un-American, a non-believer, unconcerned about the families whose lives were changed by celebrating “Christmas in July.”
Think about the film industry. Even with its predominance of Jewish producers, directors, and actors, we often see symbols of Christmas in the concluding scene to indicate a happy ending. No words are needed to suggest resolution of conflict as long as there is a Christmas tree in the corner of the room or a string of Christmas lights in the distant background or simply the colors green and red somewhere in the closing frame. But Christmas is not my symbol for a happy ending. Christmas and Christmas trees are not part of my culture or heritage.
I understand that the Greenwich Public Schools policy on holidays states that religious symbols such as crosses, crèches and menorahs may be used as teaching aids in the classroom provided the symbols are displayed as an example of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday, and are temporary in nature. They may not be used as decorations. Symbols of religious holidays which have acquired secular meaning, such as Christmas trees, may be permissible decorations.
When did the Christmas tree become a secular symbol? It is seasonal, appearing only at Christmas time. It is topped with an angel or a star representing the Host of Angels or the Star of Bethlehem at the Nativity. The gifts underneath, albeit a troubling symbol of today’s commercialism and consumerism, are still a reminder of the multitudes ascending to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the Baby Jesus in the Manger. The Christmas tree is not an appropriate decoration for public schools.
The Christmas tree, like my parent’s Chanukah menorah belongs proudly displayed in people’s homes and houses of worship as part of the December Season of Light. For that is what we all have in common, the human need to light the way during the darkest time of the year. It is my hope and prayer that the lights of Christmas and Chanukah will shine throughout world with renewal and harmony, with joy and peace for all people, for all God’s children.
