"We Wish You A …"

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
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:

1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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!
4. 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.
5. 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."