The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
THE MODERN
JEWISH VIEW.
How Christmas Is Re.
garded by Hebrews.
Liberal Judea Sympathizes With
Christianity.
Written for THE CALL
By EMANUEL ELIAS.

At this latter end of the nineteenth CEN
fury, when anti-Semltes are stumplng the
country in an endeavor to infuse into
American citizens the idea that the
Jew holds himself separate and dis.
tinct and does not throw in his lot
with the general community In whose
midst he dwells, it might be well for nom
Jews to understand what position the
modern Jew occupies in reference to the
| observance of the general festival
Christmas.
The term modern Jew should be I'M
derstood to apply to that section of Israeli
| ties who reject absolutely forms that have
been conceived in Babylonia, in Egypt, in
Germany and in Spain. Modern Judaism
| is another name for reformed Judaism,
| which does not stand on talmudical
or rabbinical ground. With its birth
| place in Germany, it has become the Juda-
| ism of the enlightened English-speaking
| peoples OF the earth.
| The character of the Jew has under
gone a transformation since the time,
long ago, when he was settled IN the
| little land by the Mediterranean. Contact
with cultured Western peoples has
| have been to the cosmopolitan that he is,
tolerant to all faiths, sympathetic with ell
creeds, respecting all beliefs. Israelites.
| freed from the trammels of superstition
and from the restraint of ghetto not more
physical than intellectual, have come to
| the opinion that a closer relationship is
desirable between themselves and their fell
| low-men. It is in this latter and wider
aspect that the modern Jew regards the
| observance of Christmas.
Time was when a great deal OF feeling
was injected into this question of the He
brew's recognition of Christmas in his
| holiday calendar. With many the burden
of the complaint was not so much the fact
of the Jews participating in what was to
| him heather celebration as that when
| he adopted the festal customs OF MS neigh
| Dor he allowed his own holidays to lapse
! into neglect. This argument was met
with the response that Christmas has
ceased to be a strictly religious festival,
| that 1t has practically been deprived ofits
sectarian import, and is becoming the holi-
day of all humanity.
| The liberal, as in all other mundane
| affairs, seems to have gained the day. In
| spite of those who might desire to keep
| raised the barriers which now separate
Jew and Gentle, the yuletide spirit is
| spreading. The initiative faculty is strong
| in the Jew. 1t has always been so. The
| customs of those Sin whose midst he
| dwelt" have ever possessed strong fasci-
nation for him, which would probably ac-
count for the stringent legislation made
| against his walking in the ways of
| the nations. But this feature in
| the character of the Jew has its
commendable side, inasmuch as it indi-
| Gates that the Hebrew is ever ready to meet
| his neighbor whenever this can be done
| without the sacrifice of principle. No
| theological question whatever is involved
| in the matter under discussion, and hence
there is no sacrifice of radical principle.
| AS it was with the Hebrew, so was it
with the Christian. A great change has
! taken place in his views held on the SUBJ
| ject of the Christmas day observance. We
| find that within one century after the first
| communication of the nativity puri-
tanically minded individuals arose who
| protested vigorously on account of the too
much attention that was paid to the fes-
| tive character of the season, and the too
| little to its more solemn aspects. Yet, in
| progress of time, as have said, the more
liberal attitude obtained footing. And
| this is particularly true in America.
| As matter of fact the gentle, in cele-
brating Christmas, but rarely thinks of the
history of the day he is cele brating. He
does not associate it with the birth of
| Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, it may seri-
| ously be doubted whether the 25th of
December is really the anniversary day of
| tho birth Of Chrict Epniponf bicforions
Gibbon and Josephus among their number,
are unable to fix precisely the date OF his
birth. The liberal Christian rather thi nks
| of it as universal day of rejoicing, and as
such does the liberal Jew. To the modern
| Jew, the day comes as it comes to his gentle
| brother, as time for festivity, for family
| reunions and for good cheer. There exists
| nothing. and I assert this without fear of
| contradiction, in the day itself, in
| which the Jew cannot readily take
part, nothing with which he fails
to sympathize. To the older gen.
| Grafton of Hebrews, it appeals from the
| fact that the festival arrives without
| menace of danger; to the younger element,
| the joy, the merriment, which would
appear to have been especially created for
the young, that they might fittingly COM
memmorate the day when the mighty
founder of great belief was child him.
self.
In medieval Rome, confined as the
Hebrew was to his ghetto, it is probable
that he had little opportunity for exer-
cising the initiative side of his nature. 1t
can well be understood that, prescribed
and badgered and bounded, he had no de-
sire to participate in celebrations given in
honor of the originator of an alien creed,
if, indeed, Christianity can be termed an
alien creed, founded as lit was by a Jew.
The condition of the Hebrew was for
many years little better even in free and
merry England. 1t is to the account of
his treatment when ''suffrance was the
badge of his tribe that his ofttimes un-
sympathetic attitude must be charged.
The fact cannot be too strongly empha-
sized that there are no institutions, no
enterprises, no benefactions which the
modern Jew cannot share with his gentle
fellows. At any time of popular rejoic-
| ing the Jew enters. as he should, into the
| full spirit of the proceedings. The advent