Sarah Palin just came out with a book calledGood Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas about this subject only ridiculous bullshit. Even if, in some bizarre world, it wasn’t ridiculous bullshit, who the hell would want to read a whole book about that?
I thought (quite wrongly, I see) that being Jewish meant that you believed in the O.T., and all that goes with it. Moses, being lost in the desert for 40 years, all that.
Aren’t the holidays tied to religious events?
Wait. If you are born a Jew, you are a Jew, whatever your religion is? So you could be a jew that is catholic? How does that work? And if you denounce judaism, you are still a jew? So it’s more like a nationality than anything? (I.e. You were born in Poland to Polish parents, so you are polish. If your mother happens to be jewish, you are a polish jew, but you don’t have to believe or follow anything regarding the religious part of being jewish?
Bless her heart, she knows that the people who will buy this book won’t ever read it; it’s just a status thing they can show other oppressed Christians.
I loved reading the reviews!
Silly you. It includes more than a dozen family photos, obviously people are going to want to read it.
Side by side, or atop one another (and possibly wearing an oversized Gestapo trench coat) ? This is important.
Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean that there’s anything that would be offensive about the word “holiday” to a non-insane Jew.
Your questions can not be answered. Jews are an incredibly diverse group. There is no central authority stating who is and is not a Jew. There are many groups within the larger Jewish community who have particular standards, however. The religion vs. tribe thing is a really common and complex debate, and someone can probably point you to some previous threads on the topic.
I personally tend to favor the cultural/tribal side, but legitimate religious conversion to Judaism gets you into the club without reservation, IMHO. So in my world: Drake = Jewish (Jewish mother and upbringing).Sammy Davis, Jr. = Jewish (by conversion). Rashida Jones = Jewish (Jewish mother and upbringing). Lenny Kravitz = Jewish (Jewish father, Christian upbringing, but he embraces his Jewish heritage and c’mon–his name is Lenny Kravitz) Slash = Not Jewish. (That’s just a rumor. His first name may be Saul, but he’s Jewish in neither religion nor background. I wish it was true, though, because Slash is awesome.) A black-hat orthodox Jew might have a very different interpretation of these things.
I’m hoping that t his is a whoosh, and that the etymology of “holy day”/holiday hasn’t completely escaped you.
From wiki - “The word originally referred only to special religious days”
OP, can’t you just tell people it’s their problem and not yours?
Well, it’s NEVER been the OP’s problem. He’s telling us about something that happened to his wife.
Editorially “his” problem. Now that we’re past that, what?
I think of myself as a “Non-observant Jew”. My brother once asked me if I was still circumcised.
I’m well aware of the etymology but the term is used in the US and elsewhere to refer to secular, civic days. Note that wiki said “originally.”
If you’ve ever been discriminated against by a large purple dinosaur, then you wouldn’t’ve* even thought to issue such a hurtful and hateful screed.
Merry Melkor to you!
- what? It’s a real contraction.** Or are you a racist?
**no it isn’t, Data
Does that mean you’re invisible?
This. I am an atheist. While I am not offended if someone says “Merry Christmas”, I can of understand people who are.
But this blanket replacement of “Christmas” with “Holiday” is really, really dumb. Like renaming French things “Freedom” dumb.
Merry Christmas Fuckwad!
Awww, shucks. 
I’m offended by that smilie.
If only we had a more inclusive smiley, maybe a happy orthodox jewish guy…
This is the correct halakhahic statement in the Conservative and Orthodox traditions, but I don’t believe it’s an accurate statement of Reform practice. See, e.g., Contemporary American Reform Responsa, number 68: