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A Very Jewish Christmas Image
Hamming it Up
Dara Ilise Davis, University of Pittsburgh, Sophomore

When I was little, my parents would take me to the Jewish heritage museum in downtown Philadelphia on Christmas. There we would listen to Jewish folk musicians and eat bagels. As I grew older, I began practicing a more common Jewish Christmas tradition--I would go to the movies and eat Chinese food for dinner.

But this year was different. My cousin, who is married to a non-Jew, invited my family to Christmas dinner at her home in Virginia. Since we rarely get to see this side of the family, my parents and I decided to make the trip south. Walking into the house and seeing the large tree and stockings hanging with Jewish-star decorations was shocking enough, but that was nothing in comparison to hearing my once Orthodox uncle instructing his grandson to, "Finish your ham, sweetheart."

A Christmas Fast
Andrea Wershof, Columbia University/ Jewish Theological Seminary, Sophomore

Christmas is one of the rare times of the year when our society at large stops and takes a step back--stores close, people spend time with their family and friends, and happiness pervades the brisk winter air. As a Jew, I experience this bliss every Shabbat, but it makes me happy to see my Christian neighbors experiencing the joy of their holiday.

This year Christmas fell on the tenth of Tevet, a fast day that commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. On Christmas Day, not only was I fasting, I was also with 1,200 Jewish youth at the United Synagogue Youth International Convention in Washington, DC. Isolated from civilization in a hotel that was plastered with Israeli flags and brimming with excited Jewish teenagers, I did not even realize it was Christmas until one of the hotel staff reminded me!

Minority Matters
Merissa Gerson, Washington University in St. Louis, Sophomore

This Christmas I realized more than in years past just how Christian this nation really is. I am not sure I have an actual problem with living in a nation dominated by Christian culture, but the holiday simply makes me realize that I have this secret minority identity that is not apparent from my outward appearance. So I get to feel this difference, no Christmas tree, no egg nog, no midnight Mass, without the bad stuff--none of the discrimination and hardship that plagues other minority groups.

On December 25 this year, my family ran out of town and hid by a warm cozy fire. My sister cooked us a "Christmas Dinner" of sorts, a delicious meal complete with a Christmas tree made out of mashed potatoes (with a Star of David made from American cheese on top, of course). And I guess we all felt our own secret Jewish spirit of Christmas; only in the name of being together as a family rather than in the name of Jesus.

Christmas in the Jewish State
Ariella Cohen, Oberlin College, Sophomore

I have spent three Christmases in Israel; none of them particularly memorable. Sometime around December 25 four years ago, however, something struck me. Before hopping on a crowded Friday bus, I bought a sofkoniah (a type of doughnut traditionally eaten during Hannukah) and in that moment I came to a sudden realization: In this country the Maccabees ruled.

This December I returned to a less crowded, more somber Israel. While I spotted a few cardboard angels keeping lonely watch over Old City cobblestone, December 25 again passed me over, leaving little more than faded recollections of waking up to church bells, ringing midnight across the sleeping city.

But Christmas didn't pass everybody by this year in Israel. The next morning, newspaper pundits were abuzz over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to prohibit Yasser Arafat from attending Christmas Mass in Bethlehem. As an American Jew I grew up believing that celebrating Christmas celebration is as undeniable a right as post-Thanksgiving sales or watching the Superbowl.
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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.
 
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