The Jewish Case for Christmas

David Klinghoffer wonders what God had in mind bringing the Christian faith into the world:

I happened to overhear recently when a friend of mine asked the poised young wife of a Chabad rabbi if her family celebrates Thanksgiving. In general, ultra-Orthodox Jews shy away from marking non-Jewish holidays.

“No,” she answered with sort of a secret smile, “but we do appreciate it.”

This is exactly how I think of Christmas and I’ve been feeling less guilty about that lately.

[ . . . ]

Jews stand out for our level of achievement in virtually every sphere of endeavor — whether playing the violin or making motion pictures, doing physics or doing business — that is, every area except the one that the God of Israel cares most about, that of moral and religious leadership. Jews who speak out in public on moral issues almost invariably do so on questions where they stand in defiance of the Torah. Either that, or they lecture others on moral issues that are of great relevance to Jews (anti-Semitism, support for Israel) but much less so to anyone else. Religiously faithful Jews, per se, remain almost entirely irrelevant on the American scene.

This is in sharp contrast to traditional and conservative Christians. Defending the sanctity of human life or the traditional family, standing up for God’s honor as the creator of the world, or reaching out to and teaching the spiritually lost and searching of all ethnicities — these are all seen as Christian vocations, not Jewish ones.

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