By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

I enjoy reading and reviewing books with similar subject matter because they often complement each other, giving me more insight into the topic than either would alone. That’s why, after receiving a review copy of Scott D. Seligman’s “The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906: Antisemitism and the Battle Over Christianity in the Public School” (Potomac Books), I could not resist asking for a copy of “Christmas in Yiddish Tradition: The Untold Story” by Jordan Chad (New York University Press). The disagreements about the place of Christmas in public schools in the past, and when I was growing up in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, still continue today. However, I had never heard of any connection between Yiddish and Christmas, a subject that relates to Seligman’s work by showing how Jewish customs changed when Yiddish-speaking Jews immigrated to the United States.
Seligman specializes in writing about lesser-known Jewish events that offer lessons beyond their seemingly narrow scope. His previous works have focused on kosher meat wars and a riot at a rabbi’s funeral in New York City, and the Jewish community in Manchuria.* His new work looks at the call for Jewish children to boycott attending school on the day that Christmas pageants were being performed in the New York City public school system in 1906. However, in order to understand how this came about, the author begins with the development of “free schools,” now known as public schools, which were supported by public funds and available to children of all religions. While they were said to be nondenominational, it was clear that their curriculum was based on Protestant ideas and ideals. What is interesting is that the first objections to these schools did not come from the Jewish population. Rather, it was the Catholic Church that saw the schools as attempting to teach Catholic children Protestant ideas and turn them away from the church. It led to the development of private Catholic schools that would offer children lessons about ethics and morals from a Catholic point of view.
As the Jewish population of New York City increased, this Protestant leaning became problematic for some, especially when it became clear that some educators believed that to be a good American one had to be a good Christian. The Jewish community was torn about what to do. One group preferred not to make waves: they worried about the antisemitic backlash that might occur if they spoke up publicly. Others believed that teaching Christianity in the schools went against the U.S. Constitution and New York state law. This group was willing to fight against any mention of Christmas as part of the school curriculum, partly because they saw the schools as trying to convert the Jewish students to Christianity. 
While it is clear that there was no systematic attempts to convert Jewish children, immigrant parents didn’t always trust the schools. That was partly because the information shared with parents was often in a format or language they didn’t speak or understand. One such misunderstanding led Jewish parents to believe that their children were having surgery done by the medical staff, rather than just having their adenoids inspected to see if they needed more medical care. However, it was not just the Jewish population that was misinformed: Italian mothers also stormed a school for the same reason.
Although Seligman does an excellent job outlining the characters involved in a less than successful Christmas boycott, the most interesting parts of his work offer intriguing thoughts about the place of Jews in the U.S. He notes that many Jewish immigrants did not trust the government for excellent reasons: Many of these immigrants “had come to America to flee harassment, conscription, censorship, expulsions, conversion efforts, and pogroms. They believed things would be better in America, but old prejudices die hard.” Unfortunately, some of these prejudices turned out to be true. The backlash from the attempt to limit Christmas activities in the schools showed how rampant antisemitism was in the U.S. The author writes of those who felt “that Jews were either not true Americans or somehow lesser Americans – latecomers merely tolerated by early arriving Christians.” They saw Jews as being ungrateful for being allowed into the country. Others were clear that they would be doing Jewish children a favor by turning them into Christians.
Seligman follows the debate into contemporary times, showing that not much has actually changed. The list of “Dramatic Personae” and a “Chronology” were helpful to keep track of the numerous characters and the events that occurred. The author writes clear prose, which makes this a work of popular nonfiction. It would also be an excellent selection for book clubs as it offers much to debate about the place of Jews in the U.S. 
While Seligman shows Jewish resistance to Christmas and Christian culture in public schools, Chad shows the Jewish response to Christmas in Europe. Well, that is not a completely accurate statement: the author shows winter solstice pre-Christian behavior and the customs Jews and non-Jews practiced during what was considered a dangerous time of the year. It was only later that some of these customs became part of religious Christian observance. The author also explores how Jews who immigrated to the U.S. distanced themselves from the customs they used to follow. 
These folk traditions were based on the idea that dangerous creatures walked the earth during the winter solstice. The author notes that “in the Middle Ages, the winter solstice was one of the four periods that Europeans (both Christians and Jews) believed to be exceptionally ominous times, when demons were unabated and free to pollute the earth.” Jewish tradition notes that specific angels guarded the world at that time, while Christians marked the solstices as fast days. When Christmas became attached to the solstice, Christmas Eve was still considered a fearful time, an evening when dangerous creatures – werewolves, vampires or ghosts – would roam the world. Some scholars believed that Jews shared those beliefs, even as they adapted them to Jewish traditions. 
For both groups, Christmas Eve was an unholy time, a time to make merry and not worry about religion. For Jews that meant one evening a year free from the study hall, in addition to being permitted to do things, such as play cards, which were normally forbidden. Each group, though, assumed the dangers of the night came from a different source. For example, Christians believed that Jewish demons roamed the world, while Jews believed that Jesus restlessly wandered the earth and that studying – the Jewish ideal – would allow him to rest. The Jews believed that Jesus was wandering to do penitence for his sins, which were the basis for the oppression of the Jewish community. The games they played on Christmas Eve denied him the rest that he sought.
Both Christian and Jewish religious leaders disapproved of the frivolous behavior, in part because the members of the two religions celebrated in what their leaders considered inappropriate ways. Chad notes that Jews did celebrate a kind of holiday then, but not one related to Christ and ritual religious behavior. He adds that “Jews and Christians were enmeshed in a single Eastern Christmas culture that encompassed the two groups exchanging festive foods and covertly poking fun at each other. They agreed that Christmas should be reserved as the merriest time of the year, when responsibilities are vanquished and playtime is earned. They only disagreed on why.” While readers might quibble about whether this meant the Jews were actually celebrating Christmas, they were certainly observing customs and rituals of some type of holiday that night. 
Chad notes that something changed when Jews moved to the United States. According to the author, religious leaders were less concerned about Jews converting to Christianity than them assimilating – meaning that they were worried they would not longer follow Jewish customs and rituals. A sort of collective amnesia occurred, including the claim that Jews had never taken part in joyous celebrations on Christmas Eve. Rather, it was said that Christmas Eve had been a dangerous time in Europe because it was the night when Christians attacked Jews. Stories and poems in the American Yiddish press portrayed that night as one of horror, of terrified Jews looking to escape Christian violence. As for the Christians, Christmas Eve was also being re-imagined. Gone were the supernatural creatures who threatened them. Christmas evening and Christmas day came to be a time of “peace on Earth, good will to men.” This re-imagining became extremely successful, both as a religious and secular idea. Because Hanukkah was truly a minor holiday in the Jewish immigrant community, it was not used to compete against Christmas during the early years of immigration. That would occur later for other reasons. 
It’s during the discussion of the early part of the 20th century that Chad and Seligman’s books overlap, although they focus on different aspects of Jewish behavior. What is interesting is that Albert Lucas, who was the force behind the call for the Christmas boycott, was born in England to a family of Dutch Jews. That leaves readers to ponder whether he was familiar with Eastern European customs and how he would have felt about them because he is not mentioned in Chad’s work. However, since Seligman focuses on the U.S. and the legal aspect of Christmas observance in public school, what occurred in Eastern Europe does not play a role in his work. However, this overlap made it more interesting to consider the books together in one review. 
“Christmas in Yiddish Tradition” is the more scholarly-written work, although its prose is still easy to read. Those interested in folklore will be fascinated by the different and overlapping customs of Christians and Jews in Eastern Europe. The work also shines a light on how the two communities were not totally separate entities, regularly interacting in ways that are often overlooked in some scholarly writing. 
*To read The Reporter’s reviews of these books, visit Off the Shelf: Women and the war over kosher meat prices, Off the Shelf: Jews in Manchuria and Off the Shelf: A funeral and a riot.