Can a Jewish Child See a Christmas Show without Wanting to Be Christian? Can an Adult Enjoy a Christmas Show Written by a Jewish Composer?

Dec 22, 2018 by Susan Rosenbluth

By Susan L. Rosenbluth and Sadia Escotto

While there are some rabbis who teach that Jews should refrain from all celebrations of Christmas, from admiring the lights to humming along with the songs, others recognize that it is all part of the ubiquitous surrounding culture and that although historically it was a time of great calamity for the Jewish community, those eras are now gratefully passed.

Will a Jewish child who attends the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall or Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at the Papermill Playhouse in Millburn decide it’s not fair that his Jewish family doesn’t celebrate the holiday?

Perhaps it’s possible if the family’s only tie to Jewish tradition is to light a Chanukah menorah in hopes that what will inevitably be a weak-sister when compared to a fully decorated tree will trick a child into believing he has not been gypped.

However, it is hard to believe a child who also dips apples in honey on Rosh Hashana after hearing the shofar in shul, experiences the satisfaction of an after-the-fast meal at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, builds and decorates a sukkah in which he shakes a lulav and esrog before dancing a week later on Simchat Torah, dresses up for Purim while jiggling a gragger to drown out Haman’s name as Megillat Esther is being read, participates in the preparation and drama of Pesach and the siddurim, enjoys dairy treats and Megillat Ruth on Shavuot, and then, after Tisha B’Av in the summer, prepares to go through the entire cycle again, to say nothing of tasting, smelling, and living the Shabbat weekly, will ever feel he is missing anything because his family does not celebrate Christmas. Even if the child is taken to the Christmas Spectacular.

Marvel of Precision

So, with that in mind, one mother took her teenage daughter, an enthusiastic member of her school’s dance team, to see the quintessence of all precision dancers, the Rockettes. And they did not disappoint. Every elbow, every knee, every tilted chin was perfectly aligned. The high kicks demonstrated strength, agility, and grace that can only be described as sublime.

A great deal of the Christmas Spectacular is the personification of secular entertainment. The Rockettes’ Wooden Soldier routine, which dates back to 1933, is nothing short of amazing. How they perfect that graceful, gradual fall or the intricate circles will always be a mystery. Who could not be impressed when the full orchestra rises up from the depths below the stage.

Other parts of the show are, of course, very specific to Christmas, including both the Rockettes’ “Here Comes Santa Claus” number and the Nativity scene.

Irving Berlin

That is much less problematic for those who decide to attend “Holiday Inn” at the Papermill Playhouse, a pretty secular show which is tangentially about Christmas and includes virtually every other celebration, such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving, none of them very Jewish.

Based on the 1942 Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire film as well as, in part, the 1954 movie, “White Christmas,” the show at the Papermill features music and words by Irving Berlin, the Jewish-American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.

Born in Russia in 1888, Israel Beilin arrived in the United States with his parents and seven brothers and sisters at the age of five, already well aware that the winter holiday of Christmas and Easter in the spring were times of great danger for the Jews.

Snow and Fashion

Before his death in 1989, he reported that his one clear memory of his life in Russia took place in the aftermath of a brutal anti-Jewish pogrom. It involved his “lying on a blanket by the side of a road, watching his house burn to the ground.”

“By daylight,” he said, “the house was in ashes.”

Small wonder that, for “Holiday Inn,” he composed “White Christmas” and used a song he had written in 1933, “Easter Parade.” While many of his literally hundreds of songs carry some biographical hints, in these two classics, this fiercely patriotic Jewish-American immigrant managed to transform Easter into a holiday about fashion (“In your Easter bonnet”) and Christmas into a holiday about snow.

Both these songs are featured dramatically in “Holiday Inn” at the Papermill, a beautiful production of a wonderful show. For Jews, there is the joy of knowing the songs are a gift to American culture from a Jewish immigrant whose music has defined what Americans think about and believe.

A Religious Show

Although the same cannot be said about the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City, the mother knew her daughter left the magnificent theater with magical images twirling in her head.

“Seeing the Rockettes dancing with such perfection inspires me to hopefully one day become as good a dancer a they are. The whole show revolves around love and magic,” said the teenager.

For Jewish parents who attend such shows, with or without their children, it’s important to recognize it means participating in someone else’s party. We can see houses and stores lit up with Christmas lights and be just as happy to hurry home on Friday night because we will be lighting Shabbat candles, making kiddush, biting into luscious challah, and enjoying twenty-five hours of close family togetherness.

Enjoying Someone Else’s Party

Children must learn to be able to go to their friends’ birthday parties and be happy for them. The child who is a guest at those parties must learn to enjoy the birthday boy’s thrill at opening the gifts and the birthday girl’s love of a cake that has been baked and decorated just for her.

The child who has no party of his or her own will, of course, be resentful. But children who know their parties, no matter how differently they are celebrated, are coming can learn to be happy for others.

So, too, for Christmas. We can be happy for our neighbors and enjoy the fact that they are experiencing spiritual joy. We can marvel at the beauty of the Christmas season all the while knowing it is not our party. It belongs to someone else.