The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1, Thursday, December 30, 1909 Page: 5 of 28
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er forget that its original significance
was very different The church adopt-
ed and adapted an old heathen festival
Tahd adapted it for its own uses very
wisely in my opinion We And that
iChristmastide is also Yuletide and
Yuletide in AngloSaxon means holi-
day time
Yluletide was celebrated in many
parts of the world hundreds and hun-
dreds of years before the hero of
Christmas was born It was celebrat-
ed Tjy the Persians in lionor of the
birth of Mythrlas it was celebrated
by the Romans in honor of the Winter
Solstace by the Turks in honor of the
Sun giver of life and by the Chinese
in honor of Buddha We also know it
was celebrated by people living as far
apart as the Mexicans Hindoos and
Scandinavians In fact Yuletide seems
to have been celebrated all over the
world in honor of the Winter Solstace
in honor of the rebirth of the sun
giver of life and health and happiness
Now when we bear in mind the
origin of the Christmas festival when
we look around on the good fellow-
ship when we see the wonderful char-
ity displays in every part of the world
at this season of the year is there any
reason why the Jew should not take
his part in these festivities Ought
we not especially for our childrens
sake enter not into the Christmas-
tide but of Yuletide I believe we
should to a reasonable extent I see
no harm in Jews making Christmas
presents to their Christian friends and
if their Christian friends have the bad
taste to send them presents I person-
ally see no harm in accepting them
although I must say in this regard
many of my brother Rabbis disagree
maintaining that we should return
them It is however wrong for Jews
to send each other Christmas boxes
unless they do so at the appointed
time of the Chanukah festival It is
just as out of place for Jews to send
Christmas gifts as it would bo for
Clnistians to send each other New
Year gifts at the present celebration
There is no harm in our children being
introduced to Santa Claus but that we
should connect this with the Chanukah
festival Remember this Chanukah
festival coincided with Christmas this
year being quite exceptional
the Jewish herald
Jews should most unquestionably
take pait in the charitable work in
vogue everywhere at this time of the
year I am going to give you a person-
al experience in my own family which
some of you may have heard but for-
gotten because it shows very well the
Jewish point of view Some years ago
my sister who lives in Stockdale an
English town of about thirty thous-
and inhabitants conceived the idea ot
giving a Christmas dinner Every year
before giving the concert which was
to provide the funds she consulted my
father and he approved it as being in-
line with the Jewish provisions which
said that Jews should always take care
of the pcor entirely irrespective of
creed and so 1 think this would be an
appropriate time of tne year for our
Jewish men to unite with the charities
We should never forget that we have
RABBI tHENRY BARNSTEIN
a double obligation Our first obliga-
tion is to care for our own poor and
sick In fact our veiy first duty is to
see that our own people do not apply
to the United Charities for assistance
but in addition we have a wider duty
We have to take our share in caring
for the sick and poor ii respective of
creed As a member of the Board of
United Charities I am in a position
to inform my congregation that we are
constantly running behind and we de-
pend greatly upon this day to replen-
ish our attenuated coffers We depend
greatly upon Tag Day and if there are
still some members who are not affil-
iated with the United Charities 1 think
It would be a good Idea for them to
joln before nineteen ten
I stiongly disapprove of Jews giving
Christmas paities unless they are giv-
en In the name of the Chanukah festi
val I wish to again recall my boy-
hood days and tell you that I always
attended and used to look forward to
Ghristmas parties given by young Jew-
ish friends While the Jewish people
in my congregation used to make their
Chanukah parties and invite their
young Christian friends there was no
likelihood of intermarriage because
we were taught to regaid intermarriage
o
riage as disastrous Today perhaps
our children are not trained in that
way and such parties might not be ad-
visable here As regards Christmas
celebration in public schools if some
teachers are found who Will make Jew-
ish children take part in sectarian
prayers hymns etc I should advise
the child to flatly refuse to do so but
if they are requested to participate in
the recitation of secular poetry or the
hymns and songs glorifying God 1
should advise them to join in with all
their heart and soul I say again that
it Is occasionally a good thing to fruc-
tify Jewish soil with seed gathered
from nonJewish soil In the Bible
the thoughts of nonJewish people may-
be found upon every page In our
Jewish teachings these things are in-
corporated with many of the teachings
of the heathen and the result is that
the Jewish people have the most ra-
tional and most spiritual religion in
the world since it has never been
afraid of taking tne truth no matter
whence it might have come So today
again we are unconsciously observing
our neighbors every day When we
compare the decorum which obtains
in our Temple today and compare it
with the decorum of even five years
ago we notice a great improvement
In this respect we are going to the
churches for this good work When
again we group all the activities so-
cial intellectual and philanthropical
all arourd the Temple we are getting
a life from our neighbors back and so
we may use the example ot embalming
Joseph and the services today The
celebration of Christmas by the Jews
as Christmas is reprehensible The
celebration by the Jews at Yuletide
iB not reprehensible but is normal and
natural so I would advise my peo-
ple to enjoy this Yuletide I advise
my people to join in the good cheer of
their Christian fellow citizens and
above all 1 would like them to affili-
ate with the nonsectarian United
Charities Let us make the mostol
our lives and make the happiness of
otheis oui happiness
f 2
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Goldberg, E. The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1, Thursday, December 30, 1909, newspaper, December 30, 1909; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth84800/m1/5/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .