Looking Back

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Dr. Jeff London’s essay in the recent Dec. 2 issue of the JN, “The Most Chanukah Time of the Year … Making Peace with Christmas,” intrigued me. London provided a personal review of growing up Jewish and dealing with a non-Jewish religious holiday that dominates America every December of the calendar year, as well as how he approaches the celebration of Chanukah.

London also raises important questions and concerns about religious assimilation in America. It is likely that many in Detroit’s Jewish community have also considered these same issues. Then, after reading London’s thoughtful essay, it was reported that a national TV news host, when speaking about Christmas trees, declared: “It’s a tree that unites us, that brings us together. It is about the Christmas spirit, it is about the holiday season, it is about Jesus, it is about Chanukah.” Perhaps this is not seriously offensive, but this person doesn’t seem to understand much about Chanukah and, with a bit of holiday chauvinism, decided that our national — and religious — spirit is embodied in a tree with lights and ornaments.

And I wondered — what stories would I find in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History about Chanukah and Christmas; in particular, Christmas trees and Jewish Detroit. I found 381 entries just by searching the Archive for “Christmas Tree.”

The first lesson from my search is that “Chanukah and Christmas,” or sometimes, “Chanukah vs. Christmas,” is a topic of many essays and editorials over the past 100 years. This annual tradition began in 1918. For one example, see Rabbi Leo Franklin’s essay, “Christmas and the Jew,” in the Dec. 20, 1918, issue of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle. Franklin advocated that, apart from religion, celebrations of “joy, cheerfulness and good fellowship” with their “higher meanings of peace and good will” were a good thing. However, Jews were not “justified in the introduction of the Christmas tree and other non-Jewish symbols into their homes.”

The Chronicle endorsed this general perspective throughout its publishing life. Celebrating good wishes with gentiles was OK, but the answer to the Chanukah-Christmas issue is a good Jewish education for children … and no Christmas trees in Jewish homes.

Ironically, however, the Chronicle did print various Christmas advertisements. In the Dec. 20, 1946, Chronicle, for example, there is an advertisement from the Detroit Edison Company extolling the Christmas tree (and, of course, use of electric lights for trees as modern and safe).

Over the years, the notion of Jews and Christmas trees has evolved. The 2018 survey of Detroit’s Jewish community showed that 63.3% of households always or usually light Chanukah candles and 25% always or usually have a Christmas tree.

Likewise, many cities since the 1980s now display menorahs along with Christmas trees on public properties. Essays in the JN also discuss these trends (see the Dec. 15 and 22, 2016, JN), as well as “Chanukah Bushes” as a substitute name for a tree (Dec. 10, 2009, JN).

To be sure, Christmas lights and trees can be overwhelming when one drives around the city in December. But the positive is that, after a century of debate, there is now a giant menorah in Downtown Detroit, along with a Christmas tree, and they seem to get along well.

Mike Smith Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.