In my lifetime there have been 78 Christmases that I have had to experience with hosts of fellow dwellers in my part of America; that most sacred of Christian Holy Days commemorates the birth of a Jew who became a Rabbi and was proclaimed THE Messiah. That Jews did not agree he was THE Messiah did not prevent the invention of a new religion celebrating the birth of a God by GOD through the agency of a Jewish woman named Mary. We must thank Mel Gibson for his graphic portrayal of the agony of a crucified Jesus.
The whys and wherefores of this holiday – why it is so meaningful to so many that huge apparatuses of churches were developed to worship this individual, will not be discussed here. The values embedded in his teachings and those of his followers have often pointed to me as an outsider. What is important to me is the way this holiday in mid-winter has always made me uneasy and uncomfortable. Why this has been so and is still there today is explained below.
I am often wished and I often wish others, Merry Christmas. We have not really made any advances in the realization in this country that some people are NOT part of the celebration of the birth some two thousand years ago of this individual. Jesus was of Nazareth or Bethlehem, but definitely somewhere in the Holy Land. This land was won with Jewish blood (and the blood of those who lived there before) and has at times been proclaimed the property of Christians and Moslems who fought over its possession for centuries. Now part of it belongs to a people called - Israelis.
I am left out of all this except that I (as part of the Jewish people) have often been in the way of Christians, Moslems and later on the British and Arabs. They fought battles over a thin stretch of land between Mesopotamia and Egypt, a regular highway between two mighty empires in ancient days. The “Prince of Peace” might have considered it ironic that there is no peace in his homeland. Christmases have come and gone while the fighting has gone on and on and the three peoples, Jews, Christians and Moslems wish to worship their history on that land considered sacred and holy while blood continues to flow.
I do not join the rush to buy presents to put around trees bedecked with lights and ornaments. I am not Christian. My family does not gather because it is Christmas. Yet, most of the rest of America celebrates this holiday commercially and religiously in its own fashion. I went to see the “Meet the Fockers” movie on the 24th and on Shabbat on the 25th I will study a little Torah.