30 Friday, November 30, 1979
, THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Psychologist Discusses Christmas and the Jewish Child
By DR. ALICE GINOTT
everyone else, even though Hanuka they deprive their
child of an opportunity to
(Editor's note: Dr. it is not their holiday.
Many Jewish parents find feel proud of his past and to
Ginott is the wife of the
late Dr. Chaim Ginott and it hard to refuse. They bor- develop a positive attitude
a noted psychologist in row the style if not the sub- towards his roots.
her own right. The fol- stance of Christmas and, be-
Many Jewish families
lowing article is excerp- lieving that they can take give a big Hanuka party, to
ted from two she wrote in the Christian religion out of which they invite Christian
recent years on Christ- Christmas, create an artifi- friends and their children.
mas and the Jewish cial holiday for their chil- One woman told me how
dren.
child.)
surprised she was to be told
To pretend that by a young man who had
For Jewish parents, the
"Christmas problem" is Christmas is not a reli- been to her Hanuka party
complicated. Not only gious holy day is to dis- 20 years before — when he
would their children like to tort reality. Still, many was a little boy — how envi-
be in charge of the family parents persist because ous he was of the warmth in
budget during the holidays, they feel guilty and help- her home. He wished he had
but they also want to be the less when their children been born a Jew so that he
could celebrate Hanuka.
arbiters of the family's be- are unhappy.
A Jewish child has no
Yet for many Jewish
liefs.
They beg, cajole and plead need to celebrate Christ- children, their holiday
that they be allowed to mas. He may wish to be part pales by comparison.
celebrate Christmas with of the excitement — to They cannot help but be
dream of a white Christmas swept up by the excite-
with all the other children. ment of Christmas. For
REMEMBER
The child may want the over a month, Christmas
THE BLUE BOX
pleasure of decorating a carols fill the air. Store
AND EVERYTHING. IT
Christmas tree and to wake windows are trans-
STANDS FOR ON EVERY
up on Christmas morning formed into a Christmas
IMPORTANT OCCASION.
pretending that those gifts wonderland. Everyone
557-6644
were left by Santa Claus. seems to be involved in
But neither the child's phys- the warmth and glow.
Ew
ical nor emotional well-
It is easy for a Jewish
being depends on having child to get the impression
these desires gratified.
that, during Christmas,
On the contrary, when -Christians have more fun
Jewish parents emphasize than anybody.
Christmas at the expense of
Naturally, he wants to be
part of the fun. He doesn't
like being different. He
doesn't like being deprived.
He doesn't like being left
out. And he doesn't like
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being cheated.
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As one eight-year-old told
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"Light up your life" at ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE
The Membership Committee Cordially
Invites The Community To Experience A
HANUKAH HAPPENING
FOR
PROSPECTIVE NEW MEMBERS
ON
Tues., Dec. 11, 1979 8:00 P.M.
SYNAGOGUE SOCIAL HALL
RABBI EFRY SPECTRE AND CANTOR LARRY VIEDER
WILL CONDUCT A HANUKAH MUSICAL PROGRAM AND SONG FEST
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED
WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU — PLEASE R.S.V.P.
ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE
29901 MIDDLEBELT ROAD, FARMINGTON HILLS
Synagogue Office:851-5100
not easy to be Jewish
during Christmas.
Everyone seems to be
celebrating Christmas
except you. But it's nice
to see people being more
friendly and helpful, to
enjoy the beautiful store
windows and to get into
the holiday spirit."
Or: "I know you wish you
could have a Christmas tree
like your friends. You'd
know exactly how to deco-
rate it. And how much fun it
would be to get up Christ-
mas morning and find all
the presents you ever
wanted under the Christ-
mas tree. But Christmas is a
Christian holiday. We are
Jews. We celebrate
Hanuka."
Jewish does not need to
compensate or compete,
nor does she imitate. She
A child who feels under- is not defensive nor does
stood, feels loved. It helps she feel guilty. She can
him to tolerate frustration accept the fact that being
and stops him from feeling Jewish in a predomin-
sorry for himself for not antly Christian country
being able to celebrate may have its temptations
.- and helps her child
Christmas.
cope with them.
A child does not need to be
given everything he wants;
As one boy so aptly put it
he needs to be given permis- when asked how he felt
sion to want. When a parent being Jewish during
verbalizes her child's Christmas: "I'm the luckiest
wishes, she gives him that boy. I love all the presents I
permission.
get for Hanuka and I don't
A parent who feels have to go to school on
comfortable
being Christmas."
* * *
JCCouncil Offering Guidelines,
Aid on School-Religious Disputes
Emphasis on church-
state separation in
the schools is contained in a
Jewish Community Council
statement alerting the
community to approaching
concerns over Hanuka-
Christmas conflicting ob-
servances.
The council advises par-
ents to contact it over any
complaint because "a
well-meaning parent, by
voicing a personal and emo-
tional complaint, can make
a difficult situation worse."
For information, call the
council, 962-1880.
The U.S. Supreme Court
has ruled that the schools
must be religiously neutral:
by refraining from promot-
ing any and all religions, re-
fraining from expressions of
hostility to religion or show-
ing preference for any reli-
gion.
According to the coun-
cil, the courts have
allowed factual and ob-
Romaman Exit
Problem Denied
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Jon
Kovac, the Romanian am-
bassador to Israel, has an-
grily denied press reports
that Romanian Jews seek-
ing to immigrate to Israel
were experiencing difficul-
ties and delays in getting
their exit permits from the
Romanian authorities.
Such reports do not con-
tribute to the promotion of
Israel-Romanian rela-
tions," the envoy said.
Romania is the only East-
ern European Communist
bloc country that maintains
normal diplomatic ties with
Israel.
The ambassador said
there are an estimated
25,000 Jews in Romania but
since every Romanian citi-
zen has the right to define
his own ethnic affiliation,
the exact number is un-
known. Many Romanian
Jews have registered them-
selves as members of the
Romanian nation, he said.
It was learned, mean-
while, that at least three Is-
raeli delegations attended
the 12th convention of the
Romanian Communist
Party which opened in
Bucharest last week. They
represented the Labor
Party, Mapam and Rakah.
jective teaching about
religion, intercultural
programs which focus
on the role of religion in
the development of
society, education about
religious freedom and
religious liberty, reli-
gious themes and sym-
bols used by individual
students as a mode of
self-expression, the study
of religious music as part
of a music appreciation
course or the study of
various lands and cul-
tures.
The courts have also
ruled that absence from
school due to a religious
holiday is an excused ab-
sence.
Among others, the courts
have ruled out recitation of
prayers, distribution of Bi-
bles, public school displays
of religious symbols, pre-
sentation of religious plays,
films or pageants, and reli-
gious programs or prayer
meetings during the school
day.
Jewish Press Association
Outraged' Over Awards
MONTREAL (JTA) —
The American Jewish Press
Association (AJPA), which
held its mid-year meeting in
Montreal concurrently with
the 48th general assembly
of the Council of Jewish
Federations Nov. 14-18,
unanimously expressed
"outrage" over the "appar-
ent failure" of the 1979
Smolar Awards committee
to "fully and objectively
complete the judging proc-
ess" for this year's Smolar
Award for excellence in
Jewish journalism.
The AJPA noted that no
Jewish newspapers in the
United States were among
the- more than 100 entries
which were deemed worthy
of an award in any of eight
categories. The winners in-
cluded two magazines —
Moment and Expo — and a
Canadian newspaper, The
Jewish Western Bulletin of
Vancouver.
At its final session, the
AJPA reiterated its concern
and recommended that the
1980 Smolar Awards, in the
final judging of them, in-
volve the participation of
"an impartial, objective
body" recruited from a
major recognized North
American school of Jour-
nalism.
An AJPA delegation,
headed by its president,
Frank Wundohl, editor of
The Jewish Exponent of
Philadelphia, expressed
the AJPA's concern at a
meeting with Saul Vie-
ner, chairman of the Smo-
lar Award Committee,
and Frank Strauss, direc-
tor of the communica-
tions of the CJF, sponsor
of the Smolar Awards.
The AJPA members of
the Smolar Award Commit-
tee indicated they intend to
attend the Smolar Award
Committee meeting next
March in New York City at
the CJF's quarterly meet-
ing "to determine whether
any progress towards re-
forming the judging proc-
ess" has been made.
In a separate but related
action, Wundohl designated
Albert Bloom, editor of The
Jewish Chronicle of
Pittsburgh and AJPA edito-
rial vice chairman, to head a
committee to implement
AJPA awards for journalis-
tic excellence which would
be finally judged by the kind
of panel the AJPA
suggested for the Smolar
Committee.
The AJPA said it would
go ahead with its awards
regardless of whether
any action is taken by the
Smolar Award Commit-
tee.
A spokesman for the CJF
said the views of the AJPA
will be transmitted to the
full Smolar Award Commit-
tee when it meets in New
York City in March.
Fire Bombing
STRASBOURG (JTA) —
Two Molotov cocktails were
hurled at the synagogue
here last weekend without
causing any damage. One
failed to explode and the
other rapidly fizzled.
The attack occurred at
night when the building
was empty. Police have no
clues as to the identity of the
attackers.