Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Not in the big cities. No you can't go to the department stores but there's a grocery store in every neighborhood and some of the other shops are open. As pointed out in an earlier post virtually all places of entertainment are open. A great many restaurants are operating, since many families actually don't have a home-cooked meal and just take the day off and eat out.
If you ask ten Jews the same question you'll get ten different answers, that's one of their hallmarks and the reason they have a Talmud. But if you ask the ones who feel that Christmas is indeed forced on them, the gist of it will be simply that it's everywhere. Not that they have to participate, but that they have to almost literally live in it. There are Christmas decorations everywhere. Every store has Christmas displays. Every advertisement has Christmas icons and products. Every TV show has a special Christmas episode where the characters are having tearful reunions with long-estranged family, somebody's trying to figure out how to cook a turkey in 90 minutes, or else they veer off into fantasy and they're acting out "A Christmas Carol." They can't even stay home, make a nice kosher dinner, and watch TV. Every commercial has Santa Claus.
Nonetheless, not all Jews feel this way. They notice that the two most widespread symbols of Christianity in America are Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, so they don't feel there's really much of a threat in it any more. Remember these are the people who endured a thousand years of European antisemitism which culminated in the Holocaust, so merely seeing elves and mistletoe and reindeer everywhere (absolutely none of whom are wearing swastikas) doesn't exactly make them tremble with indignation.
As most of you know I'm a third-generation atheist and fairly outspoken in my contempt for the Abrahamic religions. You'd expect me to be at least a curmudgeon about Christmas if not an outright asshole. Au contraire. My family always celebrated Christmas and it was one of the happiest times in my otherwise rather dysfunctional home. My mother made wonderful munchies, we decorated the tree together, and wrapped and unwrapped presents. As far as I was concerned that's what Christmas was: an excuse to have a big party except somehow it was everybody's birthday at once! How cool!
As most of you also know I'm a musician, and the first songs I was taught to sing were Christmas carols in school. I had no idea what half of the words and names meant, but hell I feel the same way about rap music so what's the difference? I still love Christmas carols and I sing in every Christmas choir that needs me.
My point is that for my family Christmas was, and still is, a completely secular holiday. I was about nine when I finally grasped the "true meaning" of Christmas and when I asked my mother about it she just smiled and said some people believe strange things and some day I may understand why, but in the meantime would I like another helping of this delicious turkey?
I know that some American Jews feel the same way about Christmas. It's a local custom and what the hell, it's a pretty good time. Since Judaism is a religion of laws rather than dogma, of this world rather than the next, it's pretty easy for anyone except an Orthodox Jew to party along with the rest of us, without violating any of the rules he lives by.
Indeed. Here in Washington, going out for Chinese food any time of year is often called "Jewish Christmas." Traveling salesmen are also famous for having Christmas dinner in a Chinese joint. It's not that the Chinese don't celebrate; for sure many of them are Christians. It's just that in Chinese culture just because you're celebrating doesn't mean you close the shop!
It's specifically the Abrahamists with their tribalism and their "one god" thingy. Polytheists have a completely different attitude toward other people's faith. For one thing, as they get to know each other they usually discover that they actually have the same gods with different names. (Jung calls these "archetypes," instinctive motifs programmed into our brains by accidents of evolution, which occur in almost all cultures and almost all eras.) When Christian missionaries come to polytheistic cultures, a common reaction is, "Oh goodie, another god!"
Hinduism is polytheistic so they simply don't react to other religions the way the Abrahamists do. Moreover, since as you said Hinduism is older, most of its people accept it as a collection of metaphors and don't believe there was a real blue-elephant-guy. They're not threatened by someone else's metaphors.
Funny, I've never met a Jew who felt that way. I've known many Jewish families who celebrated Chanukah at home and not Christmas, but they had no problem participating in the office Christmas party complete with the Secret Santa, and jeeze did they ever bring in some of the most fabulous food!
Oh wait, I just remembered, the leader of my new band is Jewish. He took his kids skiing in Vermont! Great time for it, the slopes aren't as crowded as they would be on a regular weekend!
