"Jingle bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" And with
those lyrics, my septuagenarian father sang to my sons this
afternoon on the telephone. Christmas Eve here in Minnesota,
it is already Christmas Day in Ahmedabad, India where my
parents split their retirement after more than forty years
of graduate school, work and raising a family stateside.
Sitting there in his sunny veranda, ceiling fan whirring as
the mercury touches the upper 80's, this devout Hindu was
wistful for the crackling fire, tidy snow layering at the
windows and Bing Crosby--his favorite--on the radio singing
"Little Drummer Boy."
We did not go to church on Christmas, but our weekly satsang
(spiritual discussion and devotional singing) group always
added a few songs devoted to another transcendent emissary
in addition to those we sang to Lord Krishna or Shiva. There
was no confusion there--a pluralistic worldview allowed us
to see the inherent divinity of the avatar Jesus--and
singing paeans to Him was as uplifting and inspiring. Those
satsangs ended with an aarti--ritual
offering of lit lamps soaked with purified butter--to the
pantheon of Hindu deities in our home, and then, of course,
another ritual--opening presents! Two cultures came
together, and very different faith traditions found
unilateral common ground from our vantage of inclusive
celebration.
My Jewish friends growing up in South Florida worked hard
to avoid any semblance of Christmas celebration, but there
was a complicated history between those faiths that I barely
understood. And, I hasten to add, some Hindus I know will
replace Merry Christmas rather easily--tongue squarely in
cheek--with "Merry-Krishnamas." Creating a hodgepodge of
family traditions and rituals runs the risk, some would
insist, of diluting belief and confusing ritual as something
divorced from spirituality; joyful giving with materialism;
respecting Christmas with false appropriation.
Two Christmases ago, I was in India with my parents.
Christmas never elicited discomfiture before, as it did that
year. Only a percent or two of the six million folks in my
parents' hometown were Christian, but the McDonald's and
Nike shops brought a strange phenomenon as they were
imported from the U.S. A thinly built, much darker toned
Santa Claus was ubiquitous. Apparitions of this Indian Santa
stood outside every upscale shop in our city, handing out
sales placards and chanting a merry greeting associated with
a religion he understood not at all. This was no scene of
happy pluralistic syncretism, this was overt crass
commercialism. That type of Christmas is no Christmas at
all, and I would stand with my Christian brethren in a
collective tut-tut.
Christmas is accessible to us for its celebration here in
our country as it is already so syncretic. Pagan traditions,
Christmas trees and lights that illuminate memories of
Diwali in Hindus, Christmas always seemed more celebratory
and non-threatening. The Yuletide pervades our community as
a wondrous season of giving, very much because it is not
confined to a fixed religious paradigm here. Let "proper"
and orthodox and religious Christmas continue in churches
and homes of the believer. I certainly hope it stays as it
always has been in the public space. And now, the family
awaits me to sit in our altar room and begin our Christmas
carol satsang!
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Jewish Christmas
Brad
Hirschfield
Named as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis
in Newsweek, and one of the top 30 “Preachers and
Teachers” by Beliefnet.com
What's a "Jewish Christmas"? Perhaps it would better be
described as celebrating Christmas, Jewishly. But either
way, I refer to the fact that Jews, have practices which
recognize the significance of Christmas. In fact, while not
always defined as Jewish Christmas observance, Christmas has
played a role in the thought and practice of Jews for almost
two thousand years.
From being a day which inspired terror on the part of
oppressed Jewish minorities living in parts of Late-antique
Christendom and Medieval Europe, to the joy the holiday
brings to contemporary American Jews who can appreciate the
holiday's beauty in light of the unprecedented freedom and
ease we enjoy in America today, Christmas has loomed almost
as large for many Jews as it has for Christians. For many
Jews a generation back, and for some to this day, it meant
movies and Chinese food i.e. practices which avoided
Christians as much as possible, either because of the
enforced silence of the theater or the presumed
non-Christian identity of the restaurant owners.
What's changed in the last generation is that the options
for Jews observing Christmas have expanded from two, to an
almost infinite number of possibilities. In the past, the
basic choices were to mark the day with practices which
identified the day as one on which Jews needed extra
protection, both physically and spiritually, because of the
threat created by people observing Christmas, or to mimic
Christmas practices in order to appear more "normal" to the
Christian majorities among whom Jews lived.
Today however, we have many more options - options which
suggest that we are increasingly inter-connected even though
we are not all the same. While purists on both sides fear
this, it seems to me that feeling deep connection to those
who we still acknowledge as different from ourselves is a
critical component of living peacefully in a world in which
the distance between us is always shrinking, no matter how
much some people wish it were otherwise.
The Jewish owners of one Philadelphia restaurant have put
their own spin on the Jewish celebration of Christmas - one
which brings together the experience of growing up Jewish in
America, the food of Israel, and the desire to share both
with all who may be interested, whether they are Jewish or
not.
The owners of Zahav are inviting people to what
they call "A
Very Jewish Christmas":
Filled with Israeli-inspired Chinese food and two
80s flicks on the big screen, Chef Michael Solomonov
reminisces on his childhood through this festive night.
"Growing up Jewish, it's hard not to feel left out at
Christmas time, so my family and I observed the tradition of
many Jewish families: enjoying Chinese take-out and watching
a favorite movie instead," said Solomonov.
The $50 meal and movie night includes wonton soup, lamb egg
rolls, salt and pepper squid, cold sesame noodles, Persian
fried rice, cashew chicken, mushroom and tofu hot pot and a
"pg-rated" happy ending dessert. Plus, if you miss the first
movie screening at 6 p.m., check out the 8:30 show.
Some will surely take offense at what they will deem to be
a syncretistic mash-up of two discreet religious traditions,
but I am not so sure. It's not like I can eat the food this
restaurant serves. I can't - I only eat food that is
strictly kosher. It's just that I am moved by the desire to
share treasured family traditions which discover joy in the
midst of other people's holidays.
I am struck by the fact that anything which any religious
community currently thinks of as "traditional" was once an
innovation, including the food norms which govern my
personal existence and that for all we know, the sharing of
Chinese food and movies may be one of those contemporary
innovations which is making the move into traditonality. If
that is the case, now would be the time to ask what the
purpose of this emergent tradtion is? How does it work for
those who practice it? What does it mean?
Are Chinese food and a movie simply a way for Jews to
insulate ourselves from the larger culture? A way in which
to make sure that we have an agreed upon way to occupy
ourselves while the majority celebrates "their" holiday? For
some, that is almost certainly the case, and perhaps that is
enough. But perhaps there is more.
Perhaps, this American Jewish custom is also a way of
acknowledging that here in America, Christmas is "our
holiday too". I am not suggesting that we buy into a
theology of Christmas or even of its traditionally Christian
practices.
I am simply suggesting that like the vast Christian
majority among whom Jews live in America, it is a day which
reminds us that we can celebrate the fact that others are
celebrating. We need not fear that as we once had good
reason to. In fact, we can delight in it, and not simply
because it is a "day off".
We can celebrate that for the first time in the entire 2000
year history of the Jewish Diaspora the religious and
cultural celebrations of others are safe and comfortable for
us. We can choose to honor them in any number of ways. We
can volunteer our time so that Christians can more easily
take the day off, we can take a moment to consider the
remarkable and unique beauty of "someone else's" holiday,
etc. the list goes on and on, and when Jews do those things,
it really is a very Jewish Christmas.
And to those Christian purists who worry about the dilution
of their holiday and the corrupting of their tradition, I
would suggest that they be a bit less fearful. After all, a
holiday which has inspired hundreds of millions of people
for thousands of years is not likely to be undermined by the
affections of some of Jews, agnostics, or other
non-Christians, is it?
Not to mention, that what Christmas means has been
answered, and is still answered in a variety of way by a
variety of self-declared believing Christians. One might
even suggest that it is the day's ability to bear those
multiple meanings which has kept it going strong all these
many years. And as one who loves Christmas, I hope that
never changes.
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Merry Yuletide
Jason
Pitzl-Waters
Last night I celebrated Yule with several of my Pagan
co-religionists, this weekend I'll be visiting family to
celebrate "Christmas". This will take the form of cooking
food, breaking bread together, exchanging gifts, and
spending time with loved ones we rarely get a chance to see
in our day-to-day lives. Does that mean I "celebrate
Christmas?" In the sense of honoring the birth of the
Christian savior Jesus, of course not, I'm not a Christian.
But when I trim the tree, feast, and make merry I'm tapping
into ancient roots of tradition, custom, and fellowship, of
which Christmas is but one modern manifestation.
I won't get into the debate over whether early Christians
appropriated December 25th from pre-Christian faiths, or
came by that date honestly, but few can argue that much of
what we now culturally consider "Christmassy" came from
non-Christian/Pagan sources. Decorating with greenery,
decorating trees, the exchanging of gifts, feasting, even
the special seasonal attention towards the poor and less
fortunate can be found in several Western pre-Christian
Winter-time holidays. In addition, many cultures had their
own narratives/traditions about the (re)birth of the
sun/son, promising a return of life and light in a time of
cold and darkness. I don't say this to diminish
Christianity, but only to point out that these Winter
celebrations are a deep part of us, and whether we identify
as Christian, Pagan, agnostic, or atheist, there is a draw
towards the light and fellowship that has become an integral
part of this time through the centuries.
So all those non-Christians celebrating "Christmas" are
simply doing what comes naturally, and the insistence by
some Christian pundits and activists that December and its
merriment somehow belongs only to Christians, or needs to be
rescued from the evils of secularism in the name of Christ,
completely miss the point of why we go to such great efforts
to gather together. We aren't waging a "war on Christmas",
or disrespecting Christian tradition, instead we are
hearkening back to deeper, older, instincts.
To quote
singer-songwriter Dar Williams:
"Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways
from the old, and Making sense of history and drawing
warmth out of the cold"
That song, "The Christians and the Pagans," talks of family
members from two very different faiths finding commonality
and happiness during this season. A hopeful message as
families across the United States unite and give it their
best shot at having a joyful season (good luck!). I hope we
can all come to understand that the Winter holiday season is
bigger than any one faith's traditions, that much of
humanity is celebrating right now for a variety of reasons.
So let me wish all of you a happy holiday season, be it
Winter Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, or Christmas.
