Note to my fellow Jews on Christmas: Enjoy the music. After all, we wrote it

Christmas Music has become a genre of its very own.

The music surrounding Christmas represents an optimistic homage to peace, joy. and hope.  My cousin, Dr. Theodore Branfman asserted that, “Christmas time is filled with nostalgia, and we long to feel the ‘Christmas magic’ that excited us as children.” (Branfman, T. The psychology of sentimentality. Psych Quar 28, 624–634 1954).

Longfellow declared that “Music is the universal language of mankind.”  If we integrate Longfellow’s linguistics with Theodore’s theory, we understand the emotional satisfaction experienced when hearing the harmonious a cappella of Christmas Carols at our doorsteps.

Contrary to common perceptions, Christmas was not always something for us Jews to sing about.

In December during the Roman Empire’s Saturnalia holiday, Jews were forced to run naked through the streets of Rome for the amusement of onlookers. On December 25 in the year 1100 A.D., Crusaders massacred Jewish communities.  On December 25, 1369, King Frederick III of Sicily decreed that all Jews in his kingdom must be identified by wearing a red badge. Up until the early 19^th Century, rabbis in Rome were forced to dress as clowns and run through the streets while spectators threw things at them.

On Christmas eve in 1861 in Pulaski, Tennessee a new men’s social club was founded: The Ku Klux Klan.   

On December 25, 1881, during Warsaw’s, “Christmastime pogrom”, mobs attacked, raped and murdered Jews for three days.  

In 1959,  the Christmas, “SWASTIKA EPIDEMIC” began with the desecration of Germany’s Roonstrasse Synagogue, soon followed by London’s Notting Hill Synagogue. This holly, jolly hatred of Hebrews soon spread to 34 countries . In the United States, 637 incidents including painted swastikas, synagogue desecrations,  assaults, and Jewish property damage was reported in 236 cities.

The Pilgrims forbade any observance of Christmas—too much debauchery and promiscuity. Even after America’s independence, celebrations continued to be discouraged and Christmas was considered a raucous carnival, dreaded by the “upper class”, and anticipated with trepidation by local authorities. Public celebrations were outlawed in Boston. The “Penalty for Keeping Christmas,” stated that anyone who celebrated Christmas by not working, feasting, or in any other way would be fined five shillings.

Old Saint Peter’s Roman Church, 1785, Artist unknown.
(Public Domain. Wikipedia).

On Christmas day in 1806, mob violence prevailed at New York’s St. Peter’s Church. These “Christmas Day Riots”  resulted in dozens of injuries and the “in-the-line-of-duty” stabbing death of office Christian Luswanger. In 1828, Gotham City’s Yuletide riots were so violent that New York City’s first paid professional police force was founded partially as a response to these overheated holiday hooligans.

There are complex sociopolitical theories for this oft-forgotten, post-pilgrim, pre-Grinch glitch in Christmas history. Factors contributing to Christmas’ earlier ill reputation include wintry weather, high unemployment, intoxication, and class conflict.

Clement C. Moore Engraved by J. W. Evans, 1897 First published in the United States before 1923 – public domain Wikipedia

As the Tannenbaum terrorists seemed more tame, the first definitive description of Santa Claus appeared. Clement Clarke Moore, a  Protestant theologian penned a 56-line poem which became known as, “Twas the night before Christmas.”

Moore combined European legends, Netherland’s St. Nickolas, the Norse’s god Thor’s sleigh-like chariot (pulled by flying goats), Germany’s mythical Kobold who enters and exits houses through their chimneys, and the Italian tradition of hanging stockings on the fireplace.

And voila! Old-World’s St. Nicholas transitioned into today’s Santa Claus: a plump, happy go lucky guy with a sleigh full of toys and eight flying reindeer perched upon rooftops while he slides safely down smokestacks.

The Name Santa Claus is an Americanization of the Dutch,  Sinterklaas, a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children.

Today’s stereotypical image of Santa Claus was created by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.  Nast gave Santa his familiar shape: fat and jolly, with a stocking cap and a long white beard. Nast’s Santa Claus first appeared in 1863 during the Civil War as a morale booster for the Northern soldiers.

The first red-suited Santa appeared when Louis Prang, a Boston printer of color lithographs introduced him. He soon realized the enormous size of his market and by 1881 he was producing over 5 million Christmas cards a year.

Louis Prang’s legacy includes pioneering the finest class of printed color-work in America, producing child-safe art materials and introducing art education to the American public schools.

He published art textbooks, guided art teachers, and invented the ‘Prang Method of Instruction.’ In 1909, the American Crayon Company bought the rights to his art material.

In 1890, James Edgar of Edger’s Department Store south of Boston had a Santa suit custom tailored, based on a 1862 Thomas Nast drawing. The tall, ample-bodied bearded Edgar became the first department store Santa Claus. Word spread and families began arriving by train from Boston, Providence, Worcester, and even New York City.

By the turn of the century, the “department store Santa” was an American institution.

A century ago, Herbert Straus, the son of Macy’s owner Isidore Strauss held the first Thanksgiving Day Parade featuring four floats, four bands, hundreds of Macy’s employees (most of whom were first-generation immigrants), professional performers and the “one-and-only Santa Claus”. The marketing ploy was designed to celebrate the store’s expansion and boost holiday sales. Due to its unanticipated success, it became an annual event.

WHEN AMERICA BOOMED!

With the premiere of the transcontinental railroad,  Andrew Carnegie’s steel mills, John D. Rockefeller’s affordable energy, Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Thomas Edison’s electricity, Americans celebrated Christmas like never before.

These industrialists introduced more than inventions, they pioneered a new American passion: Philanthropy.

As much as they competed to see who could amass the most, they also raced to see who could give the most away. Carnegie donations surpassed $350 million dollars. And Rockefeller? A whopping five hundred million. Translated into today’s market, this is well over one hundred billion dollars.

Carnegie and Rockefeller enjoyed Christmas so much, that they sent each other annual gag Christmas gifts. On one occasion,  Rockefeller sent Carnegie a cardboard vest to make fun of his poor childhood. In return Carnegie sent a fine whiskey to Rockefeller, a devout Baptist who had given up drinking.

By the late 19th century, fourteen million immigrants descended upon the land of opportunity. As America’s melting pot simmered, Christmas was embraced like never before. In 1870, shortly after the Civil War, Representative Burton Chauncey Cook of Illinois introduced a bill to declare Christmas a National Holiday. President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law on June 28, 1870 that, “…the twenty-fifth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day,” became a national holiday.

And although we know that Jesus was born in the springtime, a fourth-century prophetic marketing decision by Emperor Constantine predicted that more people would embrace Christmas if it coincided with and then replaced prior pagan celebrations. Genius! The church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the year 336 C.E.

In 1912, New York City hosted the first massive outdoor lighted Christmas tree.

Emilie D. Lee Herreshoff proposed the idea to Mayor William Jay Gaynor in order for everyone, especially those who couldn’t afford a tree of their own, to participate in a lighting ceremony. The 60-foot-tall tree arrived by horse-drawn truck from the Adirondacks adorned with 2,300 colored electric bulbs donated by the Edison Company. The Christmas Eve celebration attracted 25,000 spectators and the “Tree of Light” sparked a trend across the nation. Outdoor lighted Christmas trees soon sprouted in Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Jersey City, and 50 more cities.

During the Great Depression, Coca Cola commissioned Chicago artist Haddon Sundblom to create their rendition of Santa Claus. Americans relished this hearty symbol of happy consumerism, and this image soon became the quintessential and iconic image of Santa Clause which is still used today.

To practicing Christians, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus and is steeped in religion. To those of us still awaiting Mashiach’s first visit, Christmas often overlaps with Hanukkah and represents a time to appreciate all we have to be thankful for. We delight in the ease of scheduling festivities with family and friends while children are out of school and businesses are closed. We, too, strive to follow in the footsteps of the philanthropists.

And just when we were enjoying fun-filled frolics and the philanthropic funding,  some psychobabble socialists came out of the woodwork to invent controversy.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others argued that Christmas traditions violate their Constitutional rights. (Bowler, Gerry, 2016. Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday. Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN 9780190499013). Over the past decade or so, Christmas celebrations have been banned in some schools in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Oregon. In 2014, in Montgomery County, Maryland, Muslim families succeeded in having “Christmas break” replaced with “Winter Break.”

America’s smug intellectual elitists seem to have studied Christmas abroad and followed suit. Christmas was banned in The Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, shortly after Ronald Reagan encouraged Mikhail Gorbachev to, “Tear down this wall!”

President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Rancho del Cielo, California.
Public Domain Wikimedia Commons/National Archives and Records Administration

The People’s Republic of China have historically shut down churches and their pastors are often arrested to prevent Christmas celebrations. Christmas is illegal in North Korea with  severe penalties including imprisonment.  In Saudi Arabia public displays of Christmas are prohibited. In Brunei, the penalty for celebrating Christmas in public is five years in prison.

Do America’s Marxists, atheists, pseudo-sophisticated psychos and home-grown terrorists lobbying to drive Santa and his elves into extinction really think their priorities are in order?  Last year, a moral equivalency was declared between a nativity scene and a Satanic Temple display at the Iowa State Capital.  

As Christmas season approaches, Pro-Hamas rallies are still making global headlines and last Christmas, pro-Hamas stampedes in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Missouri, Massachusetts, Toronto and Chicago disrupted shopping malls, bridges and highways chanting, “No Xmas as Usual in a Genocide”. 

Meanwhile, the TRIAD OF TERROR is laughing at us while in their global game group chess, the Russian King takes Ukraine, China’s Queen moves toward Taiwan, and Iran’s rooks and knights mercilessly wreak havoc on Israel and all of Western civilization?

For those of us who, according to Saturday Night Live writer Robert Smigel, “…grow up Jewish and you can’t help it, it’s a big part of your life being the person who’s not celebrating Christmas”, we should be proud to reside in the simmering melting pot of American culture and tradition. The Christmas season confirms America’s Judeo-Christian bond, and its music is a re-choir-ment.  What better way is there to celebrate other than through the joy of (our) music?

Jewish composers’ prolific contributions to the “Christmas Spirit” include the most-recorded Christmas song, “White Christmas” by Russian Immigrant Irving Berlin, and “Sleigh Ride” by Mitchell Parish from Lithuania. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” was written by J. Fred Coots, and who would guess that “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was composed by Johnny Marks, whose notoriety also includes a Bronze Star and four Battle Stars for his service and bravery during World War II. Marks also wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”

The duo of Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne wrote “Let It Snow!” Felix Bernard composed “Winter Wonderland” and my personal favorite, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” was written by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. “Silver Bells” was written by Jacob Levinson and “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays” is by Bob Allen and Al Stillman. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was written by Walter Kent and Kim Gannon.  “Santa Baby” was written by Joan Javits and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was composed by Frank Loesser. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector and “Peace on Earth” was composed by Fraser, Grossman, and Kohan. A medley was later formed with “The Little Drummer Boy” by Harry Moses Simeone.

Steve Allen’s 1953 composition, “Cool Yule“ was the title song on Bette Midler’s 2006 Holiday Album by the same name. As recent as 2022, Grammy award winning Jewish Joanie Leeds together with rapper Fyütch released “Oy Vey, Another Christmas Album.”

Back home in Texas, the other, “Lone Star State”, my favorite Yiddishkeit yuletide yodels include “Christmas in Texas” and “Christmas in Jail,” both written by my friend and nine-time Grammy Award-winning Texas crooner, the legendary RAY BENSON of Austin, Texas (previously known as Raymond Benson Seifert, a Jew from Philly, Pa.).

Ray’s Texas Twist on THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is truly a classic.

And of course, any article on Jews, Music and Texas would be remiss without mention of the late, great Kosher Cowboy KINKY FRIEDMAN (1944 – 2024) who penned “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and also covered the romantic Tom Waits tune, “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis”.

KINKY FRIEDMAN at the 2013 Texas Book Festival in Austin,Texas © 2013 Photographer: Larry D. Moore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinky_Friedman Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en The user is free to share, to copy, distribute, transmit the work and to adapt the work.         RAY BENSON, October 15, 2008 © 2008 Photographer: Bengt Nyman  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ray_Benson_15April2008.jpg This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. The user is free to share, to copy, distribute, transmit the work and to adapt the work. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ “THE LONE STAR STATES” graphic designed and created by Gary S. Branfman. All other photos are the property of the author, Gary S. Branfman and his daughters, Sarah, Shaina, and Hannah.

…you get the idea?

My love and observance of our Jewish High Holy Days, as well as the celebrations of Sukkot, Hannukah, Purim, and Passover, is sacrosanct, but the task of coordinating these as family gatherings becomes difficult with my children’s and grandchildren’s migratory patterns presenting geographic challenges. With this in mind, Christmas time may indeed be “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (written by Bernard Weissman).

Do not misunderstand. I respect the pious religious significance of the Christian Celebration for Christians, and I would discourage Menorahs in the manger or a crucifix on my dreidel. For me, however, enjoying the “American Holiday” does not require me to practice Christianity any more than Labor Day requires me to join a union.

So, while I sit back and sip some Manischewitz while flipping latkes and lighting my Hanukkiah, my wife and I are thankful that schools are on winter recess and businesses are on holiday hiatus. With our ever-growing family in attendance, we will enjoy Peter Yarow’s “Light One Candle,” followed by one of Neil Diamond’s four Christmas Albums. I think even the Pilgrims would approve.

Wishing a Healthy Happy Hanukkah, a Very Merry Christmas, and a joyous and prosperous New Year to one and all.