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Anna Quindlen on Christmas – "The Spirit of the Season"

The highlights from Anna Quindlen’s Newsweek article this week:

  • “After years of Jewish parents’ sitting through school concerts listening to the words ‘It is the night of our dear savior’s birth,’ maybe oversensitivity was inevitable, since any other kind of sensitivity had been in short supply.”
  • “Christmas is being observed exactly where it ought to be, at homes, in our hearts, among friends and families. The modern movement to exhibit it in town squares and mall food courts is precisely what has led to the secularization of one of our most solemn holy days. That’s why some Jewish leaders have been uncomfortable with reducing the Chanukah menorah to a dueling religious symbol, paired with a Christmas tree for the sake of equal time. Faith is not a photo op.”
  • “In the meantime, if the secularized greeting of the perfume spritzer in the department store affects your celebration of the birth in Bethlehem, you’ve really lost your way.”
  • “So if people are really worried about keeping Christ in Christmas, they might personally exhibit tolerance and charity, kindness and generosity. It is the ultimate exercise of style over substance to whine about the absence of ‘O Holy Night’ at public events. The real point is in taking the lyrics to heart[.]”

Read the article in its entirety here.

(c) Rabbi Jason Miller | http://blog.rabbijason.com | Twitter: @RabbiJason | facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller