The Jewish community has long fretted over the so-called “December Dilemma,” in which Jewish kids are teased for not having Christmas trees and gifts from Santa. To paraphrase Kyle from “South Park,” it’s hard to be a Jew on Christmas, especially in a Christian-dominated society. Which is why you may be surprised to learn that…
An irate airline passenger who objected to ‘Merry Christmas’ greetings was reportedly booted off an American Airlines flight at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. “Don’t say ‘Merry Christmas,’” the grumpy traveler told flight attendants on the Dallas-bound flight on Thursday, the New York Post reported. The man, who was not named, was escorted off the flight…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished Christians in Israel and throughout the world a Merry Christmas. In a videotaped message, Netanyahu noted that Christians throughout the Middle East are subject to persecution, except in Israel. “Christian communities across the Middle East are experiencing a particularly difficult time. They’re experiencing violence, persecution and fear,” Netanyahu said….
Lior Zaltzman Last week, I offered some homemade latkes to my upstairs neighbor, Caitrin Kiley. As she happily ate a few (with sour cream, for which she has a slight preference over apple sauce), she casually mentioned her family’s Christmas morning tradition. The Kileys, a Catholic family from Connecticut, have a longstanding routine. Assorted relatives…
Displaced Christians sell holiday crafts at a market in the Kurdish city of Erbil / Getty Images As a Jew, I’m not literally celebrating Christmas — it’s not my tradition. But I will spend the day celebrating the fact that Christians are proudly observing their traditions amid relentless persecution. This year has seen more global…
Photograph via Flickr/Creative Commons As an Orthodox Jew who believes in the world to come while participating pretty fully in the world at large, I will admit that there are certain things I like about Christmas aka “the holiday season.” I like the festive spirit, the Starbucks sweet and spicy Christmas blend coffee, and the…
(JTA) — While chestnuts roast on open fires elsewhere in Dallas, another holiday tradition beckons for some of the city’s Jews: the Christmas Day Classic recreational football game. The first such game took place in 1964, when 16 teenage boys were looking for a diversion on an otherwise uneventful day. Now those “boys” are in…
Vered Guttman (Haaretz) — My kids love Christmas. It’s the only time of year we eat Chinese food, a cuisine I’m not particularly fond of. But tradition is tradition, and I’m not the one to break the generations-long ritual of Chinese and a movie. This tradition is indeed so well established, that when I called to…
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