Members of the Jewish community here are protesting a City Council grant of $500 to the local Chamber of Commerce for the hanging of Christmas decorations throughout the city. The grant was defended by Councilman.J. Patrick White who called Christmas a “national holiday, so Jews should regard the decorations as theirs also.” Rabbi Leo Diamond, director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Iowa, voicing the objection of the city’s Jewish community, called Christmas “a religious and not a national holiday” adding “as a member of an Iowa City minority, I don’t want my tax money used for something not a part of my tradition.” He said he did not object to Christmas decorations “as long as they are put up privately.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
