Seriously? You need a cite on this? OK, this is from the Shulchan Aruch, a sixteenth-century legal code which was accepted as authoritative by all Jews until the nineteenth century. Most of the relevant laws are discussed in more detail in the Talmudic tractate “Avodah Zara” (“idol worship”).
I can’t find any specific references to Christmas, but here are some choice tidbits which give a general idea of the degree of social distance Jews were expected to keep from their neighbors. I think this should make it clear that the lack of specific instructions not to celebrate Christmas exists only because it would never have occurred to these authors that anyone might have a doubt about the issue. In many cases I am paraphrasing for the sake of clarity and brevity. Comments in italics.
From Chapter 38, “The Prohibition Against Gentile Cooking”:
The Sages forbid partaking of Gentile cooking.
Milk milked by a Gentile who was not observed by a Jew is forbidden. Ideally, one should avoid milking cows into a bucket that had previously been used by a Gentile for that purpose.
Well, so much for those cookies and eggnog.
The most directly relevant portions seem to be in Chapter 167, “Worship of False Divinities”.
It is forbidden to derive benefit from a false divinity, its accessories, its decorations, and its offerings. What is meant by decorations? The candles lit before it, the garments with which it is covered, and the tapestries and ornaments placed before it for aesthetic purposes. Similarly, trees (!!!) which are placed before a false divinity for esthetic purposes are considered decorations, and it is forbidden to benefit from them, for example by sitting in their shade.
It is forbidden to look at a false divinity or its decorations. It is forbidden to listen to music played in the services of a false divinity, or to smell incense offered to it. If one hears such music, one should try not to listen; similarly, if one smells such a fragrance, one should have the intention not to enjoy it.
Probably the only (albeit veiled) specific reference to Christmas is:
12. It is forbidden to mention the name of a false divinity for any purpose, or to speak to an idolator in way that might cause them to mention such names. (However), there is no difficulty in mentioning the names of their holidays which resemble the name of people.
All mockery is forbidden, except the mockery of false divinities, which is permitted.
It is forbidden to give an idolator a present.
It is forbidden to praise idolators, such as by saying “look how beautiful this idolator’s body is”. How much more so is it forbidden to praise his deeds or to show appreciation for his words.
And my personal favorite:
A Jew should not be alone with a Gentile, because the Gentile would likely murder him.
Again, non-Orthodox religious Jews today believe that they aren’t obligated to literally follow these laws, so in that sense it’s certainly true that people could regard themselves as bound by the law, yet disagree that their actions break the law as it should be understood today. But my comment referred specifically to traditional Jewish law, and as you can see, from that point of view there’s not a lot of wiggle room.
The laws above define all non-Jewish religions as idolatry. They were certainly understood to apply to Christianity and Islam, though they predate the existence of either and originally referred to pagan cults.
I’d just like to make clear that I personally don’t experience Christmas as “oppressive”. It’s not exactly fun to feel like the rest of society is having a month-long party that I’m not participating in, but that’s just part of the minority experience, it’s not something that’s being maliciously done to me. I don’t view the plastic reindeer on my neighbor’s lawn as part of a nefarious conspiracy to induce me to convert to Christianity.
I have no problem attending my friends’ Christmas parties, because I know my friends aren’t going to pressure me into singing anything I don’t want to, much less try to actually proselytize me.
After all, there’s nothing except my own sense of identity that prevents me from joining the party. I could put up a tree and a big honkin’ inflate-a-Santa in my front yard if I wanted. My Jewish friends and family would no doubt gossip about it behind my back, but they wouldn’t stop speaking to me or refuse to let their kids date mine. I’m very happy to be living in a modern multicultural society.
Obviously I would be strongly opposed to any proposal to forbid private businesses from opening on Christmas if they wish to.
As far as the trend toward more businesses opening on Christmas; although I’m generally in favor of anything that decreases the prominence of Christianity in the public culture, if it means getting rid of the ONE day a year when American culture traditionally recognized that people have more important things to do than buy and sell stuff, I can’t see it as a net positive.
To clarify, although I am not qualified to discuss modern Orthodox practice in detail, it is certainly not the case that modern Orthodox Jews would regard that sixteenth-century document as being completely binding today.
Well, yes, I’m not that versed in Jewish law. I don’t see what’s so incredible about that.
Do most US Orthodox Jews still follow these laws? I mean, no. 17 especially, I know I’ve been alone with individual South African Orthodox Jews on more than one occasion. And gotten compliments and presents from them. Hell, I still use the knife we got as a wedding present from one, on a daily basis.
Never mind, I see your last post clarifies this somewhat. But I do see it’s more a case of your “consciously violating laws they know exist but don’t want to follow” than my “not agreeing they’re violating them”.
I suppose I should have seen that coming. It must be cultural as well as religious. There were lots of religious rules the nuns taught me in Catholic school. That definitely included the first commandment to not have any other gods before The Lord Our God. It’s just that doing something like going to a Mormon service (or presumably any other religion, it just so happened that most of my non-Catholic friends were Mormon) didn’t fall into that category in my cultural and religious background.
Apologies for the double post. To clarify, the priest at my church growing up saw it like this. Not attending Mass on Christmas = a sin. Going to Mass on Christmas but then having Christmas dinner at a Mormon household and doing the usual Mormon Christmas traditional activities = there’s nothing wrong with that.
I remember nearly everything shutting down for Thanksgiving, also; and for New Year’s.
‘Let’s all jump up right after Thanksgiving dinner and go shopping!’ is IME a relatively recent phenomenon (well, for certain definitions of ‘recent’, as in maybe starting around the 1990’s?). The day after Thanksgiving was a big shopping day, but Thanksgiving itself didn’t use to be.
Well, you’re basically observing the same holiday. I wouldn’t imagine their Christmas traditions would involve anything that would blatantly contradict your theology.
The Jewish analogy would be something like an Orthodox family going to Yom Kippur services at their synagogue, then going to visit Reform relatives for dinner afterward. They might not be caught dead attending actual services in the same place, but they’re still celebrating the same holiday.
The thing you seem to be missing here is that from a Jewish point of view, Jesus IS “another god”. Your priest probably wouldn’t have had a problem with your attending a Passover seder or Hanukkah celebration, assuming you didn’t join in the actual prayers, because there’s no aspect of the celebration that directly contradicts your theology.* I wonder what he would have thought of something like a Hindu gathering celebrating a variety of polytheistic deities.
But participating in anything that even obliquely references the divinity of Jesus is a major First Commandment violation for Jews. More liberal rabbis would argue that it’s fine in our days of interfaith harmony and kumbayah for us to join in the celebration with our Christian friends and family members. More conservative rabbis would grab their smelling salts at the mention of the phrase “Christian family members” and argue that for a Jew to so much as eat a candy cane is spitting in the face of the victims of the Spanish Inquisition. But even the liberals would agree that, even in its most innocently secular-appearing aspects, it is absolutely a Christian holiday and has no place in an exclusively Jewish home. (Not saying that there aren’t Jews who put up wreaths and whatnot, just that I don’t think you could find any actual rabbis who would endorse the practice).
*Fun fact: if you’re Catholic, your Bible includes a lengthy account of the Hanukkah story, which is never mentioned at all in the Jewish edition of the Bible!
Rabbi Jen E. Krause of New York‘s 92nd St. Y told me that even though she would never suggest that Jews renounce Hanukkah in favor of Christmas, she understands why some Jews could feel left out of what can seem like a national holiday. “For Jewish Americans, it would be almost like not being a part of Labor Day or Memorial Day or Fourth of July weekend,” she said. Christmas has become so much more about consumerism than Jesus-worship that some stores are open all day on Christmas Day to accommodate the throngs of shoppers. … “But Christmas is celebrating Jesus as the Son of God,” some might say as they eye my red-white-and-green seasonal pajamas. “That’s not what Jews believe, so it’s religious treason.”
Well, not exactly. “A Christmas tree is not in itself a transgressive act in Jewish life,” said Rabbi Krause, if the intention is that it’s some form of seasonal ornament. But if the tree is part of a celebration of Christ as the Messiah, “that’s a boundary.”
I’m not so into the babe-in-the-manger stuff anyway, and I draw the line at going to church to celebrate Mary’s immaculate conception (although 15% of Jews do attend other religious services at least a few times a year.) But a tree, family, and presents seems like a perfect secular holiday to me.
To some extent , that’s going to depend on exactly what you are doing. . It’s one thing to have a holiday dinner with a household of another religion or to attend a service of another religion , but actually participating in the rituals of another religion is another thing entirely. I mean, I don’t know what the “Mormon Christmas traditional activities” you refer to are and it’s entirely possible that it doesn’t involve any religious rituals that would be objectional to the Catholic Church - but I do know that as a general rule canon law ( Canon 844) prohibits Catholics from receiving Communion from a non-Catholic minister , and therefore while I absolutely could attend a Lutheran wedding service I could not receive Communion if that is part of the service. I suspect that the same priest who saw nothing wrong with you attending Christmas dinner at a Mormon household would think very differently if you asked him about visiting a gravesite and burning joss paper.
I have known more than a few Jewish people of varying levels of observance who have attended Christian services such as weddings and funerals - and my guess is that they very much attended without participating.
The specific interpretation of the law may have changed, but the law itself is certainly not obsolete. Orthodox Jews today still refuse to enter churches for any reason whatsoever, and will go to great lengths to avoid even the appearance of superficial participation in Yuletide festivity.
Still, I stand corrected, and mildly appalled; we have an opinion from a respected rabbi that it is permissible for Jews to decorate trees and exchange presents as a “seasonal” celebration.
Yes, I have attended many Christian — some VERY Christian — weddings and funerals. It was fine, nobody paid any attention to which bits I was or wasn’t joining in with. But again, the most strictly observant Jews wouldn’t be willing to attend at all (assuming it was in a church).
I can tell you from growing up in a Muslim country during a time when sectarian tensions were high, I (nominally Catholic) attended many a Muslim funeral and bowed my head in (pretend) prayer, while other Christians did not. Same with the invocations at various ceremonies and events.
Conversely many Muslims attended my grandfathers funeral and many weddings in church, but were VERY careful to not participate in any of the observances, however slight. So not only would they not kneel, they would not stand with the congregation. And many Muslim friends would not enter a church or even a Christian graveyard.
People have different levels of comfort and belief in what constitutes acceptable participation in other religions rituals. Why is this so puzzling to so many?
Rabbis (as you undoubtedly know) vary widely in opinions.
I attended one wedding at which the celebrant preacher said that marriages without Jesus in them couldn’t possibly last.
My mother and I looked at each other, and we had a few words to say on the subject in the car on the way home; but we didn’t jump up and object in the middle of the service, or say anything to the bride, who was why we were there. (My father wasn’t there, not because their marriage hadn’t lasted, but because he had died a few years before.)
While I get different levels of comfort it never would have occurred to me that people would refuse to participte in secular ceremonies that might look like religion.
I grew up predominately Christian with the branch changing every two years as the pastors changed on base in a building that was a mosque, or synagogue at different times of the day. My parents took me to many Buddhist temples and ceremonies growing up and I was expected to participate just like all of the Buddhists. It was part of the culture of the country we lived in so it was expected, by my parents, that we would participate in the country culture. Of course, the main reason I was baptized was my friends at school talked about getting cookies at Sunday school and I wanted to get cookies too so I talked my parents into going to church starting when I was about 6 or 7.