Do yourself a favor and read this story: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jewish-family-leaves-lancaster-county-fox-breitbart It's outrageous that this is the environment we now live in. The play was cancelled because it cut into instructional time too much. The Jewish family had only requested that their son (rightly!) be excused from the production.
It's usually the mooslems that have to put up with crap over here... http://www.inquisitr.com/3648019/fa...hristmas-lights-to-appease-muslim-immigrants/
Why rightly? Seems pretty silly for them pull their son from the production. Is not like they're asking him to attend mass, is a Dickens' classic. Of course they have the right to do so, just seems silly.
Oh. My bad. I missed the detail that it was a Christmas Carol, and assumed it was a nativity play. Nope, not much for Jews to do in that one. And the parents would never let their kid play Fagin if they put on Oliver Twist
I suppose Henry Winkler wasn't either when he played the Scrooge character in the American adaptation of that classic.
Either way, I completely understand the need for Jewish parents to resist the normalization and "Americanization" of Christmas. I know that's how it was for me growing up. Christmas is this dominant cultural force. It seems like everyone does it and is part of it. And part of being Jewish is that you don't. You need to affirm that and defend that, and sometimes that means pulling back from or refraining from things that the goyim might see as innocuous. I understand the need for Jewish parents to sometimes have really clear lines. We're Jewish, so we don't participate. This might seem innocent to you, but it's not innocent to us. It's a defense by a minority against a dominating (religious) culture.
I actually make it a point to say something like "happy holidays" to pretty much anyone that I don't see at mass. I literally will not say "merry Christmas" to anyone unless I know the attend church more than once or twice a year. Also, to honor Jesus' Jewishness, we often go out for Chinese on December 25th, though now that I think about it given Hannukah's timing this year....
So, more on this story out of Pennsylvania. It's a follow-up worth reading. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/what-s-the-story Though the family did not "flee" the area exactly, the harassment was real, their fear was real, and the parents really did pull their child out of school because of it. It's just that their leaving the area was a pre-planned vacation. I'm concerned that the ADL did a disservice in their press release by clarifying the fleeing business without confirming and underlining the very real harassment.
I just have to say, my Jewish friends and colleagues are very gracious. From a few minutes ago via text: "... Merry XMAS and Happy New Year. thanks for all of your help this year." I get the same from almost all.
This is some 1950s red scare tactics against those "litigious Commie Jews" Same with them supposedly "forcing" towns to take down creches during the holidays.
Boy, this might piss them and ff at The 700 Club.... http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/o...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0 No, not this part... Billions of Christians around the world are excited to celebrate Christmas this weekend. Those in the world’s second-largest religious community, Muslims, don’t share quite the same excitement. In a few Muslim-majority countries, like Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Somalia, Christmas celebrations are banned. In Turkey, my country, they are not illegal, but some Islamist groups still organize annual protests against Christmas trees and Santa Claus costumes, which they consider Western impositions. ... they're like, well, duh. Now, this part... Meanwhilem mnay other Muslims around the world are rightly respectful to their Christian neighbors and even share in their holy day. They include the owners of a Turkish restaurant in London that decided to offer a free Christmas meal to the homeless and the elderly, and a Muslim businessman in Baghdad who erected a Christmas tree in solidarity with Christians persecuted by the self-declared Islamic State. These Christmas-friendly Muslims are right, but not simply because respect for other religions is a virtue. They are also right because Christmas is the celebration of the miraculous birth of Jesus, which is a powerful theme not just in the New Testament, but also in the Quran. Two chapters of the Muslim holy book give detailed accounts of the birth of Jesus, which partly resemble the account in the Gospel of Luke....
That's why I love Festivus....especially the part where I'm telling all of my loved ones how miserably they've failed and disappointed me the past year. I'm kinda old so my feats of strength aren't what they used to be! Ps....the old gray marepony ain't what she used to be neither!
Id like to wish all our Northern Hemisphere friends a happy return of the Sun. Once again, the Druids have correctly prophesied that we are not all going to freeze to death.
The "Jewish roots of Jesus" angle is effective. We first heard it a few years ago when Nuns at my wife's college invited us to join them on those grounds.