For Russian Jews, ‘Christmas’ trees reflect tradition — not assimilation
'The Jews in America have assimilated the Christmas tree more than it has assimilated them,' one Forverts writer mused
Christmas
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Community Stop Criticizing Interfaith Families Who Celebrate Christmas
This month, many interfaith families are celebrating Christmas. Unfortunately, there won’t be many expressions of “Happy Holidays” coming from the Jewish world. Recently, Gil Troy described the very existence of intermarriage as “the great unspoken yet perennial source of anguish haunting the Jewish world…American Jewry’s great divider,” and said that “no Jewish community could ever…
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The Schmooze ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ Originally Featured A Woman Seducing A Man, Too
When Frank Loesser, the Jewish composer of musicals like “Guys and Dolls” wrote “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in 1944 for himself and his wife to perform at dinner parties, he labeled the two vocal parts “mouse” and “wolf.” “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” has become a Russian doll of controversy that we take down from the…
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The Schmooze ‘Santa Knows Hebrew?’ Meet The Jews Who Play Santa
Don’t believe in the season of miracles? Meet Santa Claus: a lawyer who went to the Yeshiva of Flatbush. Before he was Santa, his side gig was teaching in Boro Park. He speaks Hebrew. “It takes a lot to be a Santa. It takes a lot to be a good santa,” Dana Friedman says. Revisit…
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Fast Forward Was That A Bomb Left On Steve Mnuchin’s Porch? Nope, Just Manure
A bomb squad was called to the Los Angeles home of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Saturday night after a mysterious package was left on the doorstep. But it was just a pile of horse manure, the New York Times reported. Helicopter footage captured authorities spilling the manure out of a large box onto Mnuchin’s porch….
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Life Who Are The Jews Celebrating Christmas… in Israel?
Shira Greenblatt, a secular Israeli Jew who was born and raised in Jerusalem, loves Christmas. “Every year I attend Christmas services at the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and I will go again this year, too. It’s very special to learn about Christianity here, in Jerusalem. And I love the lights, the songs,…
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News How A Jewish Refugee From Hitler’s Germany Became ‘America’s Father Christmas’
Cliff Adler is the son of two German Jewish refugees. He is also co-president of one of the world’s largest Christmas ornaments business, a company founded and run for over half a century by those same refugees. So what’s the first thing in the company’s showroom that he wants to show off to a reporter…
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Community I’m An Observant Jew — And I Love Christmas
Every year, from Thanksgiving Eve until New Year’s Day, there is a feeling in the air of Christmas — and Hanukkah, multiple Shabbatot, many simchas and professional parties. Christmas is basically a traditional Jewish way of life. We know Jesus Christ was Jewish, and that for centuries our people have been the targets of anti-Semitism…
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