Many Jews, having been programmed to view Christmas as “something American, like baseball or apple pie,” feel that Chanukah and Christmas have become merged and that “the observance of Chanukah is now little more than the carrying out of an inter-faith exercise.” This dreaming of a “white Chanukah” was deplored by Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht, executive vice-president of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education. He warned that Jews who adopt such an ecumenical approach to Chanukah do a disservice to themselves and to their children by blurring religious identities and “diluting the observance of their own faith.” The situation this year, he noted, has reached such “absurd heights” that some stores are selling Chanukah bushes and Chanukah ornaments for use on Christmas trees.
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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.
