The Toledo Blade

Article published Saturday, December 17, 2005

Yes, Virginia, it really is a Christmas tree

By BARRY LEFF
SATURDAY ESSAY

A FEW weeks ago there was a flurry of news media attention about House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's decision to go back to calling the U.S. Capitol's holiday tree a "Christmas" Tree.

And then there was the Nova Scotia logger indignant that the 48-foot spruce he'd donated to the city of Boston was labeled a "holiday tree."

The controversy has reached Toledo as well. As reported in The Blade on Dec. 3, Bowsher High School principal Larry Black corrected himself when he slipped up and said the school had erected a Christmas tree. He said it's really a "holiday tree."

"We try to respect everybody's beliefs," he said. "The music department does a Christmas concert. Well, actually it's a holiday concert."

I took a survey of my Jewish sixth grade Sunday school class. The sixth graders and their parents joined me in agreeing that calling those pointy green things laden with ornaments "holiday trees" is silly.

Jews are a very small percentage of the population in Toledo. Statistically, if you filled a room with 75 people randomly picked off the streets, only one would be Jewish.

Jews often feel a little out of sync with the mainstream culture this time of year when you can't turn on the radio without hearing Christmas carols, when the clerks in the stores are all wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas," and our homes are often the only ones on the block without an impressive display of reindeer and electric icicles.

But talking about "holiday trees" does not help make us feel more included: there's no such thing as a Hanukkah tree. The tree is a Christmas tradition. It's not a generic symbol of all winter holidays. The first family lights a Hanukkah menorah at the White House, which I think is wonderful, but I would be offended if they decided to call it a "holiday candelabrum."

Christmas concerts at public schools are a completely different issue, especially when the carols make overt references to Christian beliefs. One of the kids in my class asked, "Why can't they stick with neutral stuff, like Frosty the Snowman?"

In this instance, including a few Hanukkah songs and calling it a "Holiday Concert" actually is a nice statement of inclusiveness.

My 7-year-old daughter takes jazz dance lessons, and when they started learning some dances set to Christmas music, she said, "I'm Jewish. Don't you have any Hanukkah songs?" The teacher said no. I'll send her a CD.

Most Jews I know aren't offended by Christmas trees. In fact, we enjoy looking at them. I take my kids to the zoo to see the lights, and we drive around our neighborhood to admire the decorations. It's not "our" holiday, but that doesn't mean we can't share in others' enjoyment of it.

Some Jews find themselves humming Christmas carols this time of year because the tunes are very catchy. What the heck, many of them, like "White Christmas," were written by Jews!

So call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree. Call a Hanukkah Menorah a Hanukkah Menorah. But please, have a "holiday concert" or dance program that includes songs from other traditions like Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Joyous Kwanzaa, a Happy Winter Solstice, a Blessed Bodhi Day.

May whatever holiday you celebrate cast a little light in the cold and dark nights of December.

Rabbi Leff is the spiritual leader of Congregational B'nai Israel in Toledo.