This year, December 25th marks the date Christmas is celebrated and the day Hanukkah begins. It weighs heavy on my heart that wars are continuing to rage around the world and that many people of differing religious and political observations and philosophies continue to disagree and exhibit hate towards one another.
What if we take this holiday period and suspend all prejudices and sincerely wish one another a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah?
On the most fundamental level, people are not that different from one another. We love our children and our families, and we hope to create a better life for ourselves and a better world than the one we inherited. Christians and Jews also share the belief that God created the world from nothing, that His son, Jesus, was born of a Jewish mother; God is leading us to his heavenly kingdom and that all of us have an inherent dignity and worth.
But it’s up to us to reflect these intrinsic qualities back to one another.
This Holiday season I hope we can put prejudice and division in the same bucket as the lumps of coal traditionally reserved for naughty children. Let’s be respectful and nice to one another. Who knows, it might catch on!
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
