Is there such a thing as a Jewish Christmas? Is it an oxy-moron like saying you are eating a "Kosher Ham"? What do Jews do on Christmas? What are the traditions, and how do we celebrate or don't we celebrate?
Our Rabbis instruct us to not hate Jesus, but to have him as a friend. Not to harbor grudges, not to indulge in negative thinking, not to belittle others for their beliefs, everyone in every religion having the legal right to worship whoever or whatever they please.
For us? A common tradition is to go to a Chinese Restaurant on Christmas Eve for dinner. Not to order pork, to eat Vegan, not to eat any shellfish, to keep Kosher dieting at this restaurant. Chinese chefs often add the food ingredient of locusts to their fried rice. Locusts and grasshoppers are Kosher foods. What does a locust taste like? It tastes a little like shrimp, the non-Kosher shellfish, but it is a Kosher insect and is allowable in a Kosher diet.
If we have Christian members in our families, either in-laws or others, or friends who are Christian who invite us to celebrate Christmas with them, we go, but we make sure our diet stays Kosher. In this way, G-d protects us from evil and wickedness, and we can try to establish peace in our families in a unity.
Sometimes Christmas falls on Hanukkah and we get together to celebrate both at the same time. Can we celebrate both?
Yes, the Jews can celebrate Hanukkah while the non-Jews celebrate their Christmas in the same place on their designated calendar days. We as Jews celebrate the birth of Moses while the non-Jews celebrate the birth of Jesus.
The motivation here is to keep peace and goodness in our lives, to love all our family and friends, and to especially Love G-d.
How do we say "I love you G-d" in Hebrew? "Ani ahavah Atah Adonai."
No comments:
Post a Comment