Is anyone else here Jewish and celebrate Christmas?

[Anonymous]

I am Jewish and i celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday. My family also did growing up.

[Anonymous]

No. We are Jews, so we do not celebrate Christmas in the home. We will go look at lights, our kids’ immersion weekend classes have Christmas concerts and parties in the target language, and we allow them to participate. But we are very clear that we are helping others celebrate their religious traditions. It’s no different than when our Hindu neighbors invite them over for Diwali or Holi. We also don’t go overboard with Hanukkah b/c it’s a minor holiday and we don’t want to worship materialism like many of the Jews here who are “celebrating Christmas” because they feel they have to compete gifts/consumerism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. We are Jews, so we do not celebrate Christmas in the home. We will go look at lights, our kids’ immersion weekend classes have Christmas concerts and parties in the target language, and we allow them to participate. But we are very clear that we are helping others celebrate their religious traditions. It’s no different than when our Hindu neighbors invite them over for Diwali or Holi. We also don’t go overboard with Hanukkah b/c it’s a minor holiday and we don’t want to worship materialism like many of the Jews here who are “celebrating Christmas” because they feel they have to compete gifts/consumerism.

Judge much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. We are Jews, so we do not celebrate Christmas in the home. We will go look at lights, our kids’ immersion weekend classes have Christmas concerts and parties in the target language, and we allow them to participate. But we are very clear that we are helping others celebrate their religious traditions. It’s no different than when our Hindu neighbors invite them over for Diwali or Holi. We also don’t go overboard with Hanukkah b/c it’s a minor holiday and we don’t want to worship materialism like many of the Jews here who are “celebrating Christmas” because they feel they have to compete gifts/consumerism.

Judge much?

Sure, but this is reality - go to any other country with a sizable Jewish population -no one pumps Hanukkah up so much with massive gift-giving and decorative lines at Walmart and sundry. It’s an American phenomenon- which is absolutely tied to out shop shop shop culture. It’s unnecessary and harmful.

[Anonymous]

Another Jewish family here. No Christmas in our home, but happy to participate in friends' holiday celebrations in their homes. I have always felt it is really important to set up unambiguous Jewish identity for kids. That's obviously much more than a mere absence of Christmas, but families that intend to stay Jewish across generations stand a far better chance if kids grow up really feeling they are not part of the mainstream culture and really shouldn't disappear into it.

Hanukkah observance is modest and mostly for kids, but let's remember it is also about a victory over pressure to assimilate both religiously and culturally. In increasingly embattled times like today, when the Right has a problem with our stubborn religiousness and maybe our too-ethnic DNA and the Left has a problem with us if we insist on maintaining our particularity (and any kind of religious outlook or observance that would have been at all recognizable to our ancestors) Hanukkah actually offers great comfort.

[Anonymous]

I do not understand
I have no interest in giving my kids a Christian identity

[Anonymous]

We're Jewish and we do Christmas. Sorry Judaism, but you have nothing to offer me as good as the secular Christmas traditions. I love it, have loved it since I was a kid, and my kid loves it too. Amazingly, having fun hasn't stopped us being Jewish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're Jewish and we do Christmas. Sorry Judaism, but you have nothing to offer me as good as the secular Christmas traditions. I love it, have loved it since I was a kid, and my kid loves it too. Amazingly, having fun hasn't stopped us being Jewish.

Yep. And you think Jesus is a prophet in Judaism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're Jewish and we do Christmas. Sorry Judaism, but you have nothing to offer me as good as the secular Christmas traditions. I love it, have loved it since I was a kid, and my kid loves it too. Amazingly, having fun hasn't stopped us being Jewish.

Yep. And you think Jesus is a prophet in Judaism.

I think Jesus was a Jew.

[Anonymous]

It’s not inconsistent with Judaism to consider Jesus a great guy. Just not the son of God part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we having this debate again???

If you’re Jewish (and not interfaith) and want to celebrate Christmas, go for it. It’s a free country and you should do what you want.

But don’t go looking for validation from other Jews!

This. I hate that I get so many comments from non Jews like “you don’t let your kids celebrate Christmas?! How sad for your children!” Not being Christian is not sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't think of it as "celebrating," exactly. I think of it more like, "It's Halloween! Here are the fun activities we do."

"Celebrating" Christmas (or Easter) to me means religious traditions. Does anyone else feel that way?

They are religious traditions.

Nope. Sorry. You’re not the Christmas police. Millions of people around the world celebrate the holiday secularly. You don’t like it. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are not celebrating Christmas.

You are celebrating winter, coziness, friendship, family, and even--in some ways--being an American.

But you are not celebrating Christmas. Just as it is insulting for Christians or athiests to appropriate and misunderstand and mischaracterize the beliefs and traditions of other faiths, it is insulting for you to say that you are celebrating Christmas. Because Christmas really, truly is not about red and green and gifts to many of us. Please don't act like participating in those activities is celebrating a holy day.

Wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are not celebrating Christmas.

You are celebrating winter, coziness, friendship, family, and even--in some ways--being an American.

But you are not celebrating Christmas. Just as it is insulting for Christians or athiests to appropriate and misunderstand and mischaracterize the beliefs and traditions of other faiths, it is insulting for you to say that you are celebrating Christmas. Because Christmas really, truly is not about red and green and gifts to many of us. Please don't act like participating in those activities is celebrating a holy day.

And that’s the key. TO YOU. You don’t get to decide that for other people. Cope harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christmas is so secular nowadays that I don’t see any problem with it. Jesus never met Santa or had a Christmas tree!

This post makes no sense -- of course, Jesus didn't -- Jesus was a Jew and never claimed to be anything else (we are all the children of God).

However, many years after his death, people created a new religion based on him (against his wishes -- I'm sure he's rolling in his grave). These new people tell Jews (such as Jesus) that they are going to hell for being Jewish (just like Jesus). They also celebrate his birth randomly at Christmas.

I'll admit that Christmas is so commercialized but it's not "secular" anymore than Hanukkah which has been Americanized and commercialized but no Christians are celebrating it. Christmas literally means the celebration of Jesus as "Christ" (gd).

That said, as a party-loving Jew, we do have a Hanukkah bush, Hanukkah stockings and basically every other Hanukkah-version of Christmas possible. Any when DS was 2 until he turned 4, so 3 years, at which point both my mom and my MIL thought it was ridiculous, DS got one present from Santa. And when he started kindergarten, we explained that Santa was just make believe and didn't visit anyone.

Atheists celebrate Christmas and have Christmas trees. It is secular, PP. It is a national holiday.

Atheists who were born Christian, yes, but not Jews. It is not a National holiday nor is it secular.

What? Federal holidays ARE national holidays.