How the Jews and Secularists Did Not Steal Christmas

by Rabbi Michael Lerner
Submitted to PFP by Bonni Miller

"Our most effective path is to acknowledge what is legitimate in the Christians' concern -- and lead it into a powerful spiritual critique of the ethos of selfishness and materialism fostered by our economic arrangements. It's time for our liberal and progressive Christian leaders and neighbors to stand up again on behalf of Jews and on behalf of their own highest spiritual vision..."


Some leaders of the Christian Right have decided to make an issue of the secularization of Christmas. Objecting to the move by Macy's and some other retailers to wish their shoppers "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings," instead of the traditional Merry Christmas, they accuse secularists in general, and, on some of the right-wing talk shows, Jews in particular, of undermining Christmas.

The assault has been led by Bill O'Reilly, the most popular cable newscaster, who told millions of viewers that there was a systematic assault on Christmas by secularists. When challenged by a Jewish caller who said he felt uncomfortable being subject to frequent attempts to convert him by Christians at his college, O'Reilly responded: "All right. Well, what I'm tellin' you is, I think you're takin' it too seriously. You have a predominantly Christian nation. You have a federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don't wanna hear about it? Come on -- if you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel then.''

I told O'Reilly that my grandfather didn't come here from Russia to be in a "Christian country," but rather in a country that welcomes many different faith traditions and officially privileges none.

Meanwhile, Richard Viguerie, the master of right-wing direct-mail campaigns, interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, repeated the charge that Christians were the victims of a systematic secularists assault against Christmas. On MSNBC, William Donahue of the Catholic League insisted, "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? They like to see the public square without nativity scenes."

Liberals and civil libertarians would be making a huge mistake to see this as merely the rantings of a few overt anti-Semites and anti-civil-liberties extremists. They articulate a legitimate concern that many Christians say privately: their children have learned that Christmas is about buying -- and the person with the most expensive gifts wins!

There is a beautiful spiritual message underlying Christmas that has universal appeal: the hope that gets reborn in moments of despair, the light that gets re-lit in the darkest moments of the year, is beautifully symbolized by the story of a child born of a teenage homeless mother who had to give birth in a manger because no one would give her shelter, and escaping the cruelty of Roman imperial rule and its local surrogate Herod, who already knew that such a child would grow up to challenge the entire imperialist system. To celebrate that vulnerable child as a symbol of hope that eventually the weak would triumph over the rule of the arrogant and powerful is a spiritual celebration with strong analogies to our Jewish Hannukah celebration, which also celebrates the victory of the weak over the powerful, and the triumph of hope (symbolized by the Hannukah candles) over fear and the darkness of oppression (both ancient and contemporary). Many other spiritual traditions around the world have similar celebrations at this time of year around the winter equinox. The loss of this message, its subversion into a frenetic orgy of consumption, rightly disturbs Christians, Jews and other people of faith.

Yet, this transformation is not a result of Jewish parents wanting to protect their children from being forced to sing Christmas carols in public school, or secularists sending Season's Greeting cards. It derives, instead, from the power of the capitalist marketplace, operating through television, movies and marketers, to drum into everyone's mind the notion that the only way to be a decent human being at this time of year is to buy and buy more. Thus, the altruistic instinct to give, which could take the form of giving of our time, our skills and our loving energies to people we care about, gets transformed and subverted into a competitive frenzy of consumption.

Not surprisingly, the Christian Right is unwilling to challenge the capitalist marketplace -- because their uncritical support for corporate power is precisely what they had to offer the Right to become part of the conservative coalition. Their loyalty to conservative capitalist economics trumps for them their commitment to serving God. But for those of us who want to prevent a new surge of anti-Semitism and assaults on the First Amendment, our most effective path is to acknowledge what is legitimate in the Christians' concern -- and lead it into a powerful spiritual critique of the ethos of selfishness and materialism fostered by our economic arrangements. It's time for our liberal and progressive Christian leaders and neighbors to stand up again on behalf of Jews and on behalf of their own highest spiritual vision -- and challenge the real Christmas and Hannukah thieves! Meanwhile, the rest of us can consciously resist by giving gifts of time rather than gifts of things. Give your friends a certificate saying "I'll give you five hours to do ... " and then fill in the blanks with something that they might need that you could offer. Teach their child a skill or help that child with homework? Paint part of their home or fix a leaky pipe or mow their lawns or shovel their snow or give child-care time or do food shopping? Sharing your time could be far more meaningful, allow for real contact, etc. For those with whom you don't want that contact, don't buy -- just send them a lovingly written personal note affirming the values you want this season to teach. Resist the pressure to join the orgy of consumption!

Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun Magazine, www.Tikkun.org, and national chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org

Art Becomes Yet Another Victim of War

Published on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 by USA Today
Submitted to WPFP by Bonni Miller


Several Lebanese artists lost their works during the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Though the loss of innocents during fighting rightfully garners the most attention, the loss of fine art also can have lasting effects on a society and its culture.

by Souheila Al-Jadda


Youssef Ghazawi, a prominent Lebanese abstract artist, was preparing to hold an exhibit showcasing 25 years of his life's works when the war between Israel and Lebanon suddenly erupted on July 12.

Three weeks later, Israeli missiles landed on his home and studio, destroying almost all of his paintings, mosaics, sketches and thousands of books. His wife, Suzanne Chakaroun, also an artist, lost many of her works as well.

A dozen of the most prominent Lebanese artists, and possibly more, reportedly lost their works in the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon this summer. Their numbers might be small, but the loss of such artworks can have lasting effects on Lebanese society and culture. As in Iraq and other war zones, the nation's identity falls victim to violence, sometimes to be replaced with a new, wounded culture that carries the resentments of past conflicts. "This war was very hard on us," Ghazawi said in a telephone interview from Beirut. He has had artworks destroyed in conflicts three times during his lifetime. "I couldn't save them this time."

Rising Lebanese artist Nour Ballouk also lost her home (left) in Nabatiya and eight of her paintings inside during the war. Her workshop was severely damaged. Ballouk believes this war was partly aimed at erasing Lebanon's Arab and Lebanese identity by igniting divisions in the country along sectarian, religious and political lines. Such divisions have recently become more pronounced with the assassination of Lebanese Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel, violent sectarian clashes, and current political demonstrations in Beirut aimed at toppling the government.

"But it won't work because we, the Lebanese people, are strong. We will resist," she said in a phone interview. To protest the war, Ballouk recently held an exhibition of all of her paintings, including the damaged ones.

Art, as a testimony of history, offers a perception of truth for current and future generations to learn from and admire. With the destruction of these testaments, windows into a particular society and people as well as connections to the past are irreversibly erased.

"I will not stop painting," Ballouk said. "Rather than paint about peace, I will be painting about war, showing what happened in Lebanon."

Ballouk's resolve to portray Lebanese history through the arts reminded me of first lady Dolley Madison's determination to keep American art history alive during the British-American war of 1812. In 1814, before British troops set fire to the White House, she saved the famed Gilbert Stuart portrait of President George Washington from destruction by ordering it removed from the frame and brought to safety.

Museums of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Halls of Congress and the White House walls are all lined with similar paintings depicting U.S. history. First lady Madison must have understood the priceless value of the arts to a nation's heritage.

Worth more than money

Paintings by famed artists can be worth millions of dollars, such as Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night or one of Wassily Kandinsky's Compositions. An estimated $100 million worth of artworks were lost in the Sept. 11 attacks. But no dollar amount can be assigned to the loss of a nation's qualitative cultural and social identity.

How does one quantify the loss to Iraqi civilization after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when art galleries and museums housing ancient artifacts and paintings were looted or destroyed?

How does one enumerate the damage to the collective conscience of the Palestinian people after Israeli forces raided the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in 2002, destroying and defacing art pieces and artifacts?

Human spirit endures

Conflicts can destroy relics of history, but they cannot destroy the human spirit to create a better future on the foundations of an often troubled past.

Saeed, a Palestinian farmer in the Gaza Strip, collects and paints the shrapnel from the hundreds of Israeli missiles that have landed in his fields, turning tools of war into instruments of peace. "We should not be depressed by living among the weapons of death around us," he told Egypt's Nile TV. "Instead, we decided to use them as toys for children and artwork. ... So we started painting the missiles."

Perhaps to begin the process of national healing in Iraq, one prominent Iraqi artist, Qasim Sabti, opened his gallery in Baghdad for artists to exhibit their renditions of the Abu Ghraib scandal through sculptures and paintings.

In September, in a southern suburb of Beirut, under tents and atop the rubble of bombed-out buildings, artists showcased their creative works that were inspired by the Israeli-Lebanese war.

Several Lebanese music artists, such as Julia Boutros, composed songs about the war. Boutros released a single and music video, entitled My Loved Ones. The song's lyrics were adapted from a speech made by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to Lebanese resistance fighters during the war.

Peace the only compensation

I asked Ghazawi how Lebanese artists should be compensated for their lost works. "My works can never be recovered for future generations to see," Ghazawi said. "My only compensation will be that there is real peace here."

But achieving peace might take years, even decades. For now, an international donors' conference is scheduled for January in Paris, where representatives from countries throughout the world will meet to pledge funds to assist Lebanon's development and reconstruction. Consideration must be given to artists such as Ghazawi and Ballouk to help them recover some of what they've lost.

Such compensation will never bring back any of the destroyed works, but perhaps it could bring some consolation to the art community in Lebanon and the heritage of the Lebanese people.

Souheila Al-Jadda is associate producer of a Peabody award-winning show, Mosaic: World News from the Middle East, on Link TV. She's also a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.

© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY

Message from Tricia Henneman

To PFP. We just watched Farenheit 911 and it is a recommend. I think we need to leave Iraq even though it seems cruel to not rebuild. Why? Because I think we will only bring in another U. S. led cruel puppet (Shite?) dictator and another war and its better to let the masses in Iraq do leadership self determination no matter how difficult. Apparently Bush is talking to Syria and Iran about support for a united Iraq and letting the Shites know the Sunnis need rights. Hats off to the new ideas and projects with PFP. Many people are tired of war and learned a hard lesson. The 'soccer moms' afraid of terrorism are now wondering where the gas money is coming from and how to heat the house this winter. A new referendum on limiting divorce is in the works from the Fundy's. Can we get a peace referendum? Peace to all, Tricia