At the first poinsettia sighting, many of my Jewish friends from New York or Los Angeles recall youthful feelings of exclusion. To them I say, get over it. If you want to know authentic Christmas envy, try growing up Jewish in a frostbitten North Dakota town with a Lutheran church on every other corner. In…
Rudolph the blue-nosed reindeer? // by Lior Zaltzman Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, The Ronettes, Nat King Cole — their voices fill the air come Christmastime, injecting some holiday warmth into our Grinch-sized winter hearts. But as you’ve probably heard, behind (almost) every merry and bright hit, there’s a Jewish writer.. Can you tell which of your…
1) 4,650 Jews live in Oklahoma. 2) Isaac Lowenstein opened Oklahoma’s first vaudeville house in 1909. 3) Seymour Heyman, who ran The Hub clothing store owned the Oklahoma City Mets, a baseball team that played in the Southwestern League and Western Association in the first decade of the 20th century. 4) The inventor of the…
(JTA) — Sammy Davis Jr. is quoted on why he converted to Judaism in a new exhibition at the National Museum of American Jewish History. “I became a Jew because I was ready and willing to understand the plight of a people who fought for thousands of years for a homeland,” the late entertainer said. What…
Illustration by Lior Zaltzman When a grown woman and her seventy-something mother engage in yearly debates about the existence of Santa, I think we can agree: there’s a problem. Of course, my mother believes the problem is mine, while I tag her as the source of the annual angst. But who’s telling this story? My…
Over Christmas last year, the New Wimbledon Theatre in South London staged — as many English theaters do this time of year — the story of “Aladdin.” The comedienne Jo Brand played the Genie; former “Britain’s Got Talent” contestants Flawless were the Peking Police Force; and faded television presenter Matthew Kelly donned a dress to…
Sometimes it can feel like a White Christmas with every Hanukkah card you write. While clearly ’tis the season for Christmas cards and letters, Jews feel a swirling snow globe of emotions when it comes to sending holiday cards, even ones that blandly wish the recipients “Happy Holidays.” Most generic cards don’t scream “Victory for…
A shipment of knives, swords, fireworks and Tasers bound for eastern Jerusalem was intercepted by Israel Police. Police seized the two containers of weapons last week addressed to residents of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, which has a large population of Christian Arabs. They were labeled as Christmas decorations; the weapons were hidden…
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