“Few signs of Christmas cheer in the Jewish state”
I have tried to hold back on this article. I just cannot.
December 25, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, is a regular working day in the Jewish state and passes with little fanfare.
Well, the anniversary of the date assigned to the birth of Jesus.
While residents in Arab Christian areas such as Nazareth, Jesus’s home town, decorate trees and hang lights on homes and churches, and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank receives many pilgrims, life in most of Israel carries on as normal.
Yeah. Just like — well, I need to think about this longer, but I’m sure it’s familiar for some reason.
That makes it hard on the many Christians among large number of migrant laborers who have come to Israel to work. As most live in Jewish towns and cities, their main religious holiday arrives with barely any sense of Christmas.
Hmm. Again, this feels really familiar. Oh, I know. It’s just like being Jewish (or, indeed, any non-Christian) in North America, where life as usual carries on during *our* religious holidays and we don’t get the days off or anything, while Christians do.
“It is a little bit sad, a little bit lonely,” said Hilda Laconsay, 35, from the Philippines who works as a carer for the elderly. “There is no Christmas feeling here.”
Surprisingly, no articles about how Christmas can be sad or lonely in North America for non-Christians.
“It means so little here that people will use Christmas decorations to decorate their Succahs,” he said referring to the festival of the Tabernacles, which falls around October, in which Jews sit in colorfully decorated booths.
Booths? Not booths.
Also, tinsel is not really specific to Christmas.
via Meryl
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:52 am
That’s…
That’s…
Wow.
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:33 am
Amen.
Bleakest Christmas memory: Driving through rural New England with my family as a kid, looking for somewhere to eat. Nothing open. Nothing.
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:48 am
I don’t really expect articles like this to come out for non-Christians in North America — it’s silly. But given that this article came out — bring up the fact that this is true whenever you’re in a minority.
Madeleine, my family has always done some kind of destination Christmas — really tourist areas north or south — or made Dec 25 the travel day, so you’re on interstates or in airports.
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:11 am
My bleakest Christmas memory is being in London on Christmas. The buses didn’t run at all, every place within walking distance was closed (and mostly for Boxing Day, too), so I felt really trapped in my rented flat. Luckily I planned ahead and got enough food in advance (as much as would fit in the tiny British fridge) and rented some videos.
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:12 am
And wolf, yeah, that article is very . . . odd. The title in particular. And why on earth couldn’t they recognize that it’d be just as true in any place where you’re a religious minority, and that Jews in Israel don’t have to work on their holy days, but in America they have to or else take leave?
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:46 am
My guess about the article is anti-Israel bias. Otherwise, they would have mentioned one of the 52 countries where Muslims are a majority, or the few countries where Buddhists are a majority. Or, of course, any non-Christians in the many, many countries where Christians are a majority.
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:40 pm
On the other hand, the big 99 Ranch Chinese supermarket near where my family used to live opened on Christmas. I remember one time we didn’t have any pancake mix and my dad, who likes to make pancakes on holidays, drove over and bought some. He said the place was packed with people taking advantage of the holiday to get some shopping done.
December 28th, 2006 at 10:21 am
I have another angle on this story: we need newspaper articles about former Commonwealth residents now living in the US who are deprived of Boxing Day. Seriously. One of my husband’s cousins had to work on December 26th this year for the first time in his Entire Life. And it really put a kink in his usual Christmas Day partying.