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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP. I admire your genuine curiosity and your reasonable tone.

I think you raise a fascinating question ... why the tree bothers you more than the far more religious nativity etc. I suspect it is because the tree is the biggest symbol of this Christian holiday ... even if it is not an especially religious symbol. Also the tree is, i think most agree, a really lovely tradition, and perhaps one that will entice children more than say, an angel. You collect ornaments year after year and it becomes very sentimental and very symbolic of this festive time once a year. It reminds many of us of our childhoods. My daughter cries every year when it is time to take it down. Just saying.

I can also appreciate how offensive and over the top the onslaught of Christmas music/decorations/lights/etc can be to a non-Christian. If it is any consolation, I find all that offensive too. And I always wonder how the Jews among us can stand it. I think it shows Christmas in a really bad light. But the family tree is entirely different, at least to me, it symbolizes the noncommercial aspect of Christmas ... coming home for the holidays, being with loved ones, etc

I do agree with some posters that the simple fact that you married a Christian man means that you have somewhat assimilated but ... just like the way different views about trees ... different Jews have different opinions about what it means to assimilate.

I'd just add that I find many of the comments on here about how the tree needs to be avoided at all costs highly offensive, like the woman who married a Christian but resentfully pulls out the one foot tree for two hours ever year.[/quote]

I do not put it out for my husband.  I do it for a few family members.  If he wants a tree he can buy one.  It has absolutely no meaning to me and I do not find anything secular about them like those making them out to be.  It is a Christian tradition and my child and I are not Christian.  Its simply there for a few hours to take pictures of the gifts for relatives and that's it.  We do movies and Chinese food like the rest of the Jews on Christmas.  It is inappropriate for a Jew to have a tree no matter how you spin it.[/quote]

A half--dozen people on this thread have explained how Christmas trees are a secular symbol of the holiday. Despite that, you insist on telling us about our own culture and what it means.  So glad that I have Jews to interpret my culutre for me!  I wouldn't know what to do without you telling me what my culutre means!   :roll:

Next thing you know you'll be telling people how to be REALLY black and telling Hindus how to worship.

[/quote]

I'm a new poster on this thread of the topic. I'm also Jewish, and, to me, this reads just the opposite. The Christmas tree may be a secular symbol for Christians, but, as a Jew, the distinction between secular and religious symobols is pretty slim. I can only speak from my perspective, but, while it's interesting to hear what a Christmas tree means to Christians, to me, its one of the largest cultural symbols of Christmas and even Christianity. I would defintiely not feel comfortable having one in my home. Judiasm is both a culture, and a religion. Day to day, the cultural aspects of Judiasm are more relevent to my life than the religious aspects. Due to that, I'm sure, I'm just as sensitive to what is culturally Christian as what is religiously Christian. Even more so, in fact, as what is culturally Christian is often presented as what is just "normal" in our socieity.

I'm dismayed that many people are reading this opinion as anti Christmas tree. It is not at all. I can admire Christmas trees and lights as beautiful and meaningful while still feeling like I would never have them in my house. [b]So, I'm just asking folks to consider that perhaps, just as us, as Jews cannot tell Christians what Christmas means to them, Christians (and even other Jews, for that matter) cannot tell a Jewish family what a Christmas tree should mean to them[[/b]/quote]

OP doesn't have a "Jewish family." She has a family that is both Jewish and Christian.  Despite that she wants to keep her house purely Jewish.

This is why non-Jews shouldn't date, fuck or marry Jews. Jews just aren't capable of making an interfaith/intercultural marriage work. [/quote]

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