holidays

Khalid nods towards me, his eyebrows rising slightly. I hadn’t yet told Khalid or anyone else that I met in Yemen that was a Jew. It hadn’t come up, it didn’t matter, I told myself. But I was also afraid of how they would react.

When people learn that, as a lifelong and practicing Christian, I am married to a Jewish man and that we practice both religions in our house, I often become the safe person to ask about Judaism. I like this advocate role for the opportunity it gives me to gently encourage folks to look at ways in which their privilege as a member of a majority population can sometimes cause them to cause offense.

Why does it look so wrong?

We taste the bread, we smell the incense; you don’t have to put that down lower because you don’t understand the theological concepts. Don’t feel bad about having an experience involving stained glass windows; that’s not a trivial thing.

Material objects have long played a role in Jesus films, but in the latest retelling, adapted from a History Channel miniseries, coins and the temple itself play a crucial role.

While Jewish foodies frequently use “traditional cultures” to critique everything from the cruelty and impact of modern agribusiness, to the lack of pleasure and meaning we derive from our food, they flout their own tradition when it comes to eating pig meat to the detriment of their greater goals.

Families invite the elves into their homes for the explicit purpose of monitoring children. Yes, this might ensure good behavior between Thanksgiving and Christmas (child psychologists worry about what happens when parents farm out discipline to Santa). More importantly, these elves teach children that they should expect to be watched even in their own homes.

Megyn Kelly’s infamous comments on the color of Santa and Christ didn’t just spring fully formed from Fox News host’s mind.

Here, in the order in which the Ouija board instructed us to offer them, is an assortment of stories about ghosts, death, fundamentalists, and general spookiness.

The author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family argues that children brought up with two religions aren’t necessarily less committed or confused.