JERUSALEM (RNS) — Decades ago, the notion that a store in predominately Jewish West Jerusalem would conspicuously sell Christmas-themed merchandise would have caused discomfort, perhaps even outrage, especially among Eastern European Jews who throughout history experienced antisemitic attacks timed to the Christmas season.
Today though, Christmas, or at least its most recognizable symbols, are no longer a taboo subject for many Jews in Israel. Even in Jerusalem, where rabbinic authorities withhold kosher food certification from hotels that hold secular New Year’s Eve parties (the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, is in the fall), several stores now prominently display Christmas-themed items.
In the weeks leading up to Hanukkah and Christmas, dozens of the items for sale at the Flying Tiger Copenhagen gift store at the Hadar Mall in predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem were related to the Christmas season: tree ornaments and lights, cookie molds, cooking utensils, Santa gift bags and reindeer antler headbands. The shop didn’t have Hanukkah-related items.
“Everyone buys here, Jews and Arabs,” said the cashier, a young woman wearing a hijab, as she rang up sales for several Muslim and Jewish customers, some of them Orthodox. “Most of them know these things are for Christmas, but they don’t know much about Christmas.”
Hizky Shoham, who heads the hermeneutics and cultural studies program at Bar-Ilan University, traces the growing awareness of the Christmas and New Year’s season among non-Christians in Israel to two societal changes. First, more than a million Jews or people of Jewish descent immigrated to Israel following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Second, there’s been an Americanization of Israel.
“We all know of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who take off on Dec. 31 to celebrate Novy God as a fairly secular family celebration,” Shoham said, referring to the festive winter holiday celebrated by people who once lived in the Soviet Union. Although religious holidays were banned under the Soviet regime, Christians and others were permitted to celebrate Novy God, which includes putting up Christmas trees and giving gifts on New Year’s.
In Russian-speaking communities throughout Israel, and especially in south Tel Aviv — also home to tens of thousands of foreign workers and asylum seekers — Christmas decorations are abundant.
As for the Americanization of Israel, “we are all consumers of the American entertainment industry, the Netflix Christmas movies, the heavy commercialization,” Shoham said. From the images displayed on the screen, “you would think Christmas is just a nice family celebration” with little to no religious content.
Being Jewish in the Diaspora at Christmastime is very different from being Jewish in Israel, where Jewish culture and rituals are dominant. In Israel, most municipalities run Hanukkah events, while publicly funded Christmas events are less common.
In the Diaspora, where “the holidays” is often a code word for Christmas celebrations, and Hanukkah is an afterthought, many religious Jews avoid Christmas-themed events.
“I remember when I lived in the States and we went to a big holiday light show in the park,” Shoham recalled. “None of our Orthodox friends in the community went to see it. They said, ‘Only you Israelis enjoy Christmas lights.’”
While many Jews enjoy the lighthearted atmosphere of the Christmas season, the threat of religious and cultural assimilation is always present, Shoham said. “Jewish parents have to deal with their kids wanting Christmas, or the trappings of Christmas, for themselves,” he said.
By contrast, “Israeli Jews don’t see Christmas as a threat” to their identity or their physical wellbeing, he added.
Throughout European history, Christians frequently attacked Jews on Christmas and Easter, claiming they killed Christ. “The custom was for Jews to not leave the house for fear of being attacked by drunken peasants. In Israel, where the public sphere is full of Jewish symbols, language and culture, Christian symbols can be tolerated,” Shoham said.
Back at Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Andrea Simantov was searching for quirky gifts for her family. An Orthodox Jew from the U.S., she grew up with Christmas all around her. The Christmas merchandise in the Jerusalem mall triggered some uncomfortable feelings about the commercialization of Hanukkah and Christmas in the States, but also a fond memory of her Israeli in-laws.
“My late in-laws were Orthodox Jews originally from Afghanistan,” she said. “They were deeply religious and knew nothing about either Christmas or Americans. On their first visit to America, my then-husband and I took them to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and other Manhattan displays. To them, Macy’s was the embodiment of the Garden of Eden. This was America.”
By the end of their six-week visit, Simantov recalled, “my mother-in-law’s suitcase was crammed with several sweatsuits, respectively festooned with gold-sparkled candy canes and reindeer. My father-in-law purchased rolls and rolls of wrapping paper featuring the ‘red rabbi,’ who he thought looked a lot like the Lubavitcher rebbe.”
Her in-laws were particularly impressed by the many types of Christmas lights, which they used in their sukkah during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, she said. “They were the envy of all their south Tel Aviv neighbors.”