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What attitudes toward Christmas tell us about modern Jewish identity. For the majority of Americans, December 25 is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but for Jews it is a time to consider ones relationship to the wider society. Some Jews have chosen to adopt the Yuletide festivities.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, a Christian god who came to rescue mankind from the “curse of the Torah.” At its origin, Christmas is a 24-hour declaration that Judaism is no longer valid. December 25 is a day on which Jews have been shamed, tortured, and murdered.
Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday because it commemorates the miracle that one vial of oil, sufficient to light the ancient Temple light for one day, burned for a full eight. Christmas lasts one day, however some Christian denominations celebrate Christmas as a 12-day festival known as Twelvetide.
For centuries, Jews in Eastern Europe generally spent Christmas Eve and Day in the safety of their homes. In certain places, Christian authorities actually prohibited Jews from appearing in public places during the Christian high holidays, so Jewish schools and synagogues were closed.
21 gru 2016 · “It is possible to maintain one’s Jewish identity while still admiring or even celebrating aspects of Christmas,” Stein, a Reform rabbi whose father was a Jew by Choice, said in an email.
21 gru 2015 · For centuries Christian holidays were a time of dread for many Jews. Because of the label “Christ-killer,” Jewish men, women and children were beaten and sometimes killed by Christian mobs...
