"We Wish You A …"
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Richmond, Virginia
December 16, 2005
In addition to the high school
division of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Prozdor, I attended public high
school in Belleville, New Jersey. I loved to sing since being a child, so
I took the course "chorus-choir." We made beautiful music.
I sang a high tenor. In December 1963, my ninth grade went to the
elementary schools to perform our Christmas pageant. I learned all
the music whose place of origin, composition, and theological disposition
was the church. That music was our standard fare. It was beautiful.
By December 1964 I realized that it was inappropriate for me to sing
that music. I had grown, learned and matured sufficiently to understand
that being a Jew meant not singing it. I could appreciate it. Maybe
even privately hum it. But I could not and would not articulate those words
which properly presented a faith not mine. So I went to the director and
explained to him that I was Jewish and asked to be excused from singing
that music. He was very nice, I recall, but said very clearly, that
if I was to be in the chorus/choir I must sing it. I quit. I was
one of four Jews in a high school class of 440+. It was a class obviously
predominantly composed of Christian students. Now I can add the postscript
that then I did not have, namely, but it was not supposed to be a "Christian
class." That is the way
it then was, and some, maybe many would like it to be now. Little could I
have known that this episode was part of a larger drama being played out
on the canvas of America for the soul of the nation.
Let me begin these remarks another way.
I often work at my computer at home with the television off to my right.
All of a sudden I heard music that was quite familiar but my ear said, "Those
words are wrong!" What did I hear? "We wish you happy holidays
(3 times) for a happy New Year." I turned around and paid attention,
something I rarely do during commercials. What did I hear? No "We wish
you a merry Christmas!" and the separate holiday of New Year which meant
one for everyone but me and the other for me too! I was stunned. After all,
no Jewish organizations had been working to make retailers, admen, and megastores
change their advertising. The last thing that we needed was to be accused
to be the "Grinch that stole Christmas!" Even President Bush, without
being asked, sent out greeting cards that said "Happy holidays" and
not "Merry Christmas." I was amazed. What is happening to our country?
Have the moguls and the minions finally realized that we are a society that
is one, in our, despite our, and because of our fragmentation? Has it finally
occurred, without our intervention, that Buddhists, Sikhs, Wiccans, Hindus,
Moslems and Jews are acknowledged as not celebrating Christmas? In a country
rewriting laws respecting differences in gender, colors, and ethnicity, have
we not all arrived?!?
Bah, humbug!
Of course you realize the truism that "every
good deed does not go unpunished." Or Newton's law that "every
action has an equal and opposite reaction." Yesterday the House of
Representatives voted 401-22, for a "sense of the House" resolution
by Representative Jo Ann Davis, 1st District in Virginia, to protect
the symbols and traditions of Christmas for those who celebrate it.
While it has no legal weight, it sends a clear message. My colleague
in ministry, the Reverend Falwell, who once wrote a book about loving
the Jews, has declared me the enemy in his "Friend or Foe Christmas
Campaign." If you think that you should worry that "Big
Brother is watching," you should investigate how his Christian
Educators Association will be the "eyes and ears" of his
campaign to scrupulously watch what is happening in the nation's
public schools and take all action, legal and non-legal necessary
and possible to put Christ into Christmas into the public domain.
Representative Davis has written: "Yes, Virginia, there is an
attack on Christmas!" She contends that candy canes, Santa
Claus and Christmas trees - secular symbols of Christmas - are
coming under attack.
Bah humbug!
I would like to ask Representative Davis:
Who orchestrated the closing of mega-churches on December 25th
because they feared that they would have sufficient attendance
at services?
It wasn't me!
I don't really care what they call the trees, the wreathes, the
man in the red suit, of which I was recently being accused of being,
(that was my sermon two weeks ago), and the music that is lilting
through the malls and that 98.1 is playing for four weeks straight.
It certainly isn't Hanukkah or Kwanzaa stuff! They don't close the
stores on the 25th of Kislev and declare it a federal holiday. Mattathias
has never shown up on a postage stamp. And, how should I greet my
next door neighbors who are not Jewish, these days?
What is going on? What do we want? How should we feel?
The following are my responses:
- Humbug! There is no war on Christmas. For the overwhelming majority
of this country it is the foundational story of their faith.
It's not our fault that it got encumbered with Kris Kringle and
gift giving. Christmas has nothing to do with store sales. The
gift part has intruded into Hanukkah. Christmas is not a secular
holiday. It is a religious one. While, in 1870 the Federal government
officially recognized it, it doesn't change the fact. For Christianity
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of a good Jewish boy
named Jesus as the Messiah, God incarnate. No one is fighting that.
The Supreme Court, though, is wrong. All symbols of Christmas are
religious symbols. And for the increasing number of Buddhists,
Sikhs, Wiccans, Hindus, Moslems and Jews in this country, they
are not our symbols, music, or beliefs. In this polyglot nation,
that should be respected
- In my sermon of two weeks I said and here I repeat, I am secure
in my religious identity which is procured 365 days a year
and not just in December as a reflex action. Thus I was not threatened
nor offended by the clerk in JC Penny who wished me "Merry
Christmas" after I paid for my purchase. My committed
religious identity respects those who are committed to theirs.
Reverend Falwell and Representative Davis just need to understand
that demanding respect is a two way street. Flowing both ways
enhances all and threatens no one.
- I like not having Christmas "shoved in my face," and
rather enjoy "Happy Holidays" in the malls and other
advertising. It means that America is a more mature nation, embracing
its multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual
composition. Have you not noticed that many products have Spanish
on the labels too? I expect to hear Church bells pealing
their beautiful chimes, and I will not stuff my ears shut.
I see the decorations around town and commend their beauty.
Our electric menorah will be in one window and glow all night
while our candle and oil menorahs will be in the other burn
in limited duration. Every Jewish home should have a menorah
in the window, even more than one!
- This whole subject doesn't stand alone. Last week we discussed
at Oneg Shabbat the attempt to insert the teaching of creationism/intelligent
design into the science curriculum, in tandem with the issues
of abolishing abortion rights, funding of religious institutions
for social work, and the desire to return prayer to the classroom.
That is First Amendment fight for the religious rights of all,
especially the minority groups who have the right not to be
threatened nor intimidated, nor to be told that they will burn
in you-know-where if we don't accept you-know-who as you-know-what.
In that we do fight for our religious freedom, no less than the
Maccabees did two thousand, one hundred and seventy years ago.
It needs to be fought with discernment, securing well-intentioned
allies, with respect for all, majority and minority alike.
- Perhaps if they, whomever you wish "they" to be, would
return to the core religious value which I do remember singing
before I left the choir, "peace on earth, good will to men" -
they do have to fix the last word - then we could all live in peace
and harmony and feel at home in America. Maybe they need to open
all the churches on Christmas and earnestly pray for the Messianic
Age, as we do, that believes that it will be a time of peace, serenity,
tranquility, where all will sit under their vine - or whatever
else - and none shall make them afraid. I don't mind hearing "Merry
Christmas" if they don't mind hearing "Happy Hanukkah" and
all the other holiday salutations. That would be the greatest
gift of all.
So what do I say to my wonderful, great neighbors next door?
What do you expect? "Merry Christmas!"
And what do they say to me? "Happy Holidays!" or "Happy Hanukkah!"
And that's just great. America, what a country!
To you I say: "Shabbat Shalom."
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