When a Jewish paperboy played Santa — and the journalist who never forgot him
A 1967 UPI holiday story resonated far beyond Christmas Eve — for its writer, its subject, and the era they lived through
Santa Claus
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News What a Jewish editor can learn answering letters to Santa
Here’s what they don’t tell you about being Santa Claus: it can be heart-wrenching. Every year, the Boston Globe receives as many as 17,000-plus letters addressed to Santa Claus. This year, the paper put me, a Jewish journalist who was a reporter and editor there for 36 years, in charge of writing about them. “How…
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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 WATCH: When ‘Hanukkah Harry’ Saved Christmas
Christians have Santa Claus, but Jews got “Hanukka Harry”
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Fast Forward SantaCon Is Coming Peacefully, Says Civil Rights Lawyer
Norman Siegel, the New York lawyer who represents the worldwide SantaCon holiday pub crawl, acknowledged that in the past the festival in the city had been marred by drunken incidents but this year organizers are aiming for no, or very few arrests or summons. “We have established a cooperative, working relationship with the New York…
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Opinion Why Christmas Is America’s Storybook Holiday for All
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,…
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Opinion When a Jewish Child Learns To Love Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
(JTA) — Last spring, I found myself averting my eyes when my 4-year-old mentioned something about the Easter bunny in front of my dad. We were at my parents’ home in Michigan for Passover and my son said, “When I get back to Brooklyn, the Easter bunny is going to bring me a basket!” I…
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News When Jewish Kids Spill the Beans About Santa Claus
Santa! Santa! The name is joy itself to children all over America…. Except if they happen to be Jewish. Then, it’s a bit more problematic. “I’m Jewish, but went to a church-run nursery school,” said Michelle Suconick, a 20-something publicist living in Brooklyn. “Our teacher would tell us stories about how Santa goes all over…
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