……. “How do Jews celebrate Christmas?”
…………. Were I to answer the “What do Jews believe” question today, I would give a very different response – one that speaks to our unique covenant and relationship with God described in the Torah, that the Torah gives all human beings a sacred role in the world and a sacred relationship with our Creator but that it prescribes a very specific role and tremendous responsibility to the Jewish people. (Yes, I know some will say that for them, being Jewish is just a cultural thing, by which they usually mean a narrow form of Eastern European-derived Jewish culture. Sorry, herring is not a religion.)
As a people, we would do better if we spent less time reacting to outside forces and more time understanding who we are from the inside. We fight wars, combat anti-Semitism and resist outside cultural and religious influences because we must to survive. But mere survival is hardly a worthy purpose. We need to find and live our purpose as a people – from the inside.
This December 25th, I will be at work, at my desk, just like any other day. But I live in Israel, where it’s a regular work day, and in most places you can go through the entire day without it crossing your mind that a major holiday is going on somewhere else. Not so easy to do in the U.S. or other Jewish communities. But the extra effort required makes it perhaps that much more important.
So this December 25th, whatever you do, I hope it will be something that is Jewishly meaningful. And it need not happen in a Chinese restaurant.
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