I saw this tongue-in-cheek question posted by one of my Jewish Facebook friends, and it inspired these thoughts… “Why does Santa hate Jewish kids?”
I grew up a secular Jew, son of a Jewish Mom and agnostic Dad (who was an altar boy at an Anglican church as a kid). We celebrated Christmas every year, and I loved it. Santa was a welcome fixture in our household come December, and as kids, my brothers and I waited for him to give us presents under our Christmas tree.
So, since my brothers and I (all Jewish) freely celebrated Christmas as kids, one conclusion can be discerned from my friend’s tongue-in-cheek question.
Santa doesn’t hate Jewish kids. Jewish families hate Santa.
I became a Christian in 2006 – at the age of almost 37 years old… I had celebrated 38 Christmases at the time and, admittedly, associated Santa with “Christianity.”
It amazes me – now that I am a Christian – how far away this is from the truth.
The idea of a generous, rosy-cheeked, fat man coming in the middle of the night and giving presents is not at all Biblical. Granted, the story has “Christian” roots in that St. Nick was a real person who was really generous with gifts around Christmas time.
Still, in most households of the world that celebrate Christmas, I don’t think I am stretching when I say that Jesus is rarely mentioned.
As a result, I say to my friend and all other Jewish folks who are so “allergic” to Christmas time… get a tree… invite Santa in… and have some fun with it!
Just don’t make a Christmas ham.
