Pope Francis, celebrating his first Christmas as Roman Catholic leader, on Wednesday called for dialogue to end the conflict in South Sudan and all wars, saying everyone should strive to be personal peacemakers. Speaking to tens of thousands of people from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the same spot where he emerged to…
Thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve. Many will attend midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, where the patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, will deliver a sermon. Twal is expected to condemn Israeli settlement during the sermon, which reportedly will be attended by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud…
Every year around Christmas, I see a schism among Jews. There are those of us with Christmas envy who want to join in and embrace it, and then there are those like me, the Scrooges. The ones who say, “Hey guys, this holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus. Not my messiah. Not my religion. Not…
‘Tis the season once again — the season of the December Dilemma. In its original form, the alliterative allusion is to the challenge of raising Jewish kids in a non-Jewish society. Everyone loves Christmas, right? So how come we don’t celebrate it? But the December Dilemma is dated. A majority of non-Orthodox Jewish marriages are…
Growing up, my family’s Jewish identity was rooted more in what we didn’t do rather than what we did. Keep kosher. Not so much. Observe the Sabbath? Nominally. Regularly attend synagogue? Once a month at best. But boy were we proud, even eager, to abstain from anything and everything that we considered goyish. These included,…
Something is special about Wednesday. You may wake up with a warm fuzzy feeling, and perhaps there will be fresh snow on the ground. Smells of sugar and spice might fill your apartment hallways, and outside, all will be quiet. The groceries will be closed, the convenience stores too… and even your Twitter feed will…
In a Yuletide shift, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee finally agreed to call a 17-foot statehouse spruce a Christmas tree, admitting that his past practice of calling it a “holiday tree” generated too much anger. No kidding. Naming a Christmas tree a holiday tree or Hanukkah bush should be offensive to both the religious and…
Calling it “the most wonderful time of the year” may be a bit of a stretch, but the Christmas season certainly has more to offer Jews than Chinese food. I don’t mean the old secular standbys of non-Jesus-y carols, egg nog, or It’s a Wonderful Life, either. In fact, the season’s non-stop carol soundtrack makes…
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