Happy Day Off
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Stop wishing me a "Merry Christmas." I don't celebrate Christmas. I don't care about Christmas. I don't care that you celebrate and care about Christmas. There is a reason every Jew's favorite Christmas movie character is Scrooge.
I'm really sick of this anti-P.C. trend calling for bringing "Christmas" back into the vocabulary. It's like every Evangelical took the Bush win in '04 as a sign that they'd earned the right to speak about G-d in public, which of course meant that they needed to, first and foremost, re-instate the use of the word "Christmas". This political move was seconded, of course, by the ressurection of public nativity scenes. Yeah, way to go, die-hard Religious-Righters, for putting Christ back in the public square during the one time of year you can get Him for 20-50% off. Righteous.
Suddenly, the re-introduction of "Christmas" into popular vocabulary has given everyone from strangers to friends the right to wish me a "Merry Christmas." Even though they know I'm Jewish, people are wishing me a Merry Christmas left and right, like it's going out of style-- and, trust me, it is. One guy walked in to a book shop where I was the other day. My mother looked up and wished him a Happy Holiday, and the guy said: "Happy Holidays. Well, Merry Christmas. After all, that's not an illegal word now, is it? I work for the state and I've been saying Happy Holidays all day, when it's really Merry Christmas, right?"
Yeah, sure pal. Enjoy. Suddenly, I'm Larry David, staring at this huge pine tree in my living room and explaining to my in-laws that a tallis is really a scarf.
Israpundit, one of the largest right-wing, pro-Israel, Jewish blogs is a big proponent of the "Merry Christmas" business, and I understand it to a great degree. After all, there are a lot of gentile Christian supporters of Israel out there who feel the need to honor their Jewish Messiah by co-opting a pagan feast, eating unkosher foods, and putting sap-leaking bushes in their homes to remind them of the age when children used to be burned underneath the evergreen branches as a sacrifice to non-extant dieties. To them, I say good for you and don't forget that your holiday donations to your favorite pro-Israel charity are tax-deductable. But, please, if you feel like being nice to me at all during this holiday season, don't do it by lumping me in with that lot.
A lot of diaspora Jews celebrate Christmas by virtue of the fact that they live among gentile neighbors and, most likely, have experienced some level of intermarriage with the gentile world within their families. Many Messianic Jews celebrate Christmas because they feel the need to somehow honor Messiah's "birth" or, rather, His first arrival on this Earth, and they either have a relationship with a gentile Christian church or they just don't know how else to do it.
I, however, do none of these things. Faith is a process of aliyah, and the closer you grow towards G-d, the further away you get from the things He doesn't like. HaShem doesn't like Santa Claus, nor does He have a predeliction for celebrating a major event in the dead of winter. Nothing that is involved with the celebration of "Christmas" can be found in scripture, with the exception, of course, of the arrival of the Messiah prophesied about in numerous places in the Tanak (note: Isaiah 53), which most likely happened during the Feast of Sukkot, in accordance with HaShem's festivals, not the ones designated by some derranged pagan priest from some dead ancient culture.
Why would I want to worship my Messiah in a way that is not pleasing to Him? That's not how a relationship works. You don't wake up on your spouse's (or parent's or child's or loved one's) birthday and say, "Congratulations, we're celebrating your life today by doing exactly what I want to do." If you don't do that to them, why would you even think about doing such a thing to your Messiah? If your actions make absolutely no statement about who your Messiah is and how important He is to your life and to the life of your nation, how viable can they be-- how viable can you be to your people, your nation, and your G-d?
"Oh, wow, but what do you do on Christmas?" I can hear them say. You know what I do on Christmas? Nothing. I've eaten Chinese food, I've gone to movies, I've read, I've watched TV, I've done stuff most normal people do on a day off, because in America that's what it is-- a day off.
So, to all my fellow Jews, especially to the ultra-observant who don't even give a fig about January 1st, I wish you a Happy Day Off. And, to everyone else, have a great holiday, just keep me out of it.
Labels: America, Christian, Christmas, Jewish, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 6:01 PM
