December 25, 2011

What is So Darn Scary About Christmas?

By Alicia Colon
As a child growing up in Spanish Harlem in a run-down tenement building, Christmas always meant a time of good cheer to me regardless of our dire circumstances.  My Jewish neighbors (yes, there are poor Jews) would always treat us with Challah bread, sweets and a bottle of Mogen David wine and wish us good cheer for the holidays. In our society's war on Christmas, I hear snide remarks from fellow Christians blaming it on the Jews because some lawyer in the ACLU is bringing a suit against the city to ban crèches on public land. All Jews get tarnished by a brush that should be directed at secularists and atheists not by people of faith.  Each year I get emails from my Jewish friends supporting the celebration of the Christmas season and decrying the negative attacks on our tradition. They ask "who's behind this war on Christmas? It's not us." I think it's always wise for writers to follow that age-old adage and "walk a mile in another man's moccasins" to see things from...(Read Full Article)