To deck the halls with boughs of holly, or to stick with just the menorah, though not as jolly? Thanks to assimilation, most American Jews have the option of opting into many elements of the dominant culture — which in the December means free reign to put up a big, beautiful pine tree in your…
Winning the “War on Christmas” was a recurring theme during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and continued after he was elected. At its center is the belief that Democrats, specifically Barack Obama, caved in to political correctness and preferred the non-denominational “Happy Holidays” instead of the Christian “Merry Christmas” in official greetings. As the holiday season…
You might recognize Scott Bryce from his roles in several television shows, including “The Good Fight,” “Murphy Brown,“ The Facts Of Life” and his guest spots on “Homeland” and “30 Rock.” To many, he is still Craig Montgomery on “As The World Turns,” and Bryce’s portrayal earned him multiple acting awards and fan survey awards…
One-third of the 141 readers polled have no shame in rocking around the Christmas tree — and another 19 percent will join them if they promise there will be no mention of Jesus. But one-third say “it’s blasphemy!” and 19 percent take a more diplomatic approach, saying, “not for me, but go for it.” ??Should…
Jews and Christmas music go together like bartenders and craft cocktails — they produce the vast majority of them, but things get awkward when they consume them in excess in front of the masses. But as the end of November draws near, it’s hard to escape Christmas music on every radio station. Some Jews have…
President Trump sought to educate Boy Scouts at their national jamboree about gathering health care votes, Hillary Clinton, the electoral college, and the tricks to keeping a real estate business afloat. He also had a surprising religious message to the thousands of Scouts gathered in West Virginia Monday night: “Under the Trump administration,” the president…
A friend from Georgia once joked to me, “Everyone down here celebrates Christmas, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas.” The meaning of a Christmas tree in a Jewish home is different in a rural Southern town than it is in a Northern industrialized city. The story of Jewish assimilation and acceptance in the South has…
When I first saw a story on the Cut arguing that Christmas should not be made sexy, my first thought was that Dan Savage has been arguing this for years. My second was, of course, whether Hanukkah is sexy. Or, indeed, whether anyone’s trying to make that case. And the answer, to the second question,…
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