For Christians, December is the season to be jolly; for Jews, it is the time to celebrate the festival of lights. And for card manufacturers, regardless of faith, it is the season to sell greeting cards.
This year, a new variety of holiday cards have appeared on the market, and they are causing a stir among both Jewish and interdenominational groups.
One such card depicts an ostensibly Christian angel lighting a Chanukah menorah. Another shows Santa gleefully spinning a derider. A third is a graphic design of a Christmas tree transforming itself into a Star of David.
Aimed specifically at the growing number of interfaith households in America today, these cards appear to validate the increasing trend of marriage between Christians and Jews.
“We are depicting some universal symbols that make people in interfaith marriages feel good about the holidays,” said Philip Okrend of Mixed-Blessing card manufacturers, a line of interfaith holiday cards designed by his wife, Elise.
“Interfaith couples are a reality. We are simply finding an adaptable solution to what can be an awkward situation,” he said.
But officials at the American Jewish Committee and the National Conference of Christians and Jews fail to see any blessing in the firm’s line of cards.
“Greeting cards that mingle Santas and menorahs, angels, trees, stockings and Stars of David are objectionable,” the two groups said in a joint statement issued last Friday.
‘AN AFFRONT TO JUDAISM’
“To combine the religious and cultural symbols of Chanukah and Christmas in greeting-card art is to diminish the sacred symbols of each faith and is an affront to Judaism, to Christianity and to serious interfaith relations,” he statement said.
“We’re not saying that such cards are anti-Semitic or anti-Christian,” explained Judith Banki, deputy director of AJCommittee’s interreligious affairs department. “What we’re saying is that they are offensive to serious religion in general.”
Elliot Wright, senior vice president for program at NCCJ, agreed. “Cards like these weaken the distinctiveness of Chanukah as a Jewish festival; they make it seem like a Jewish Christmas. But the mixing of religious symbols is as inappropriate for Christians as it is for Jews,” he said.
AJCommittee and NCCJ have appealed to card manufacturers to refrain from producing future editions of interdenominational cards.
At Mixed Blessing, however, their appeal will not be heeded. “If people look in greeting-card stores, they will see cards for all types of ethnic and cultural groups. Why shouldn’t there be cards for interfaith households?” said Okrend.
“People should remember that these are greeting cards and only greeting cards. And if they don’t like them, they just shouldn’t buy them.”
Okrend expressed his surprise and dismay at the joint statement. “We never intended that it would become like this,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re doing that’s so wrong.”
Neither does Egon Mayer, a sociologist who has done extensive research on intermarriage at City University of New York. “Focusing on the greeting-card companies misses the point,” he said.
HALF A MILLION INTERMARRIAGES
“The fact that these cards exist points to an incredible need: to create a family life in interfaith homes in which both heritages are acknowledged and respected. It’s a real problem for these families. The companies are touching on a sensitive nerve.”
According to Mayer’s research, the rate of intermarriage has grown substantially in recent years. In the 1950s, only about seven Jews out of 100 married outside the faith. By the 1980s, that trend had increased to about 35 out of 100, a five-fold increase.
Last year, there were between 400,000 and 600,000 Jewish-Christian marriages in the United States.
“In a majority of interfaith homes, Christmas is celebrated in some fashion, often with a tree,” said Mayer. “Jews feel a sense of urgency that their culture not be completely swallowed up.”
But Mayer feels strongly that attacking the juxtaposition of religious symbols in printed matter is not a solution to the problem.
“The printing of interreligious cards places a tremendous challenge before the organized Jewish community. The Jewish community must make our symbols understandable to the community at large.”
Mayer specifically suggested a massive public education campaign and organized pressure for public and private television programming of Chanukah specials.
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