Commentary: Rabbi on Holiday Decor

It has been a hard few weeks to be Jewish at Exeter. I came back from Thanksgiving break to find our campus transformed into a Christmas wonderland. There are wreaths on the gates and building doors, there are Christmas trees in dorm common rooms, and the dining halls are decked out in red and green garlands, poinsettias, reindeers and stockings. Last Thursday, Christmas carols were playing throughout dinner service.

I acknowledge the demographic reality that I am a Jew living in Christian America. However, I had higher hopes for our Exeter community. A community that is ostensibly committed to diversity, equity and inclusivity. So, as I struggle to celebrate my own holiday of Chanukah amid the Christmas cheer, I am feeling confused, sad, angry, overwhelmed and bothered.

I understand that it is tricky to find a middle path during this holiday season. What may feel merely “seasonal” to some may feel too “Christmas-y” to others. And, given the dark, cold New Hampshire climate, seeking some joy, festivity and light is an understandable impulse that I share in.

For Jewish Americans, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always tough. I am accustomed to Chanukah being either ignored all together or acknowledged in a token manner (i.e. putting out a menorah in a room full of Christmas decorations). Yet, this school year has been an especially challenging one. In light of the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue, news reports of a steep spike in anti-Semitism in the United States and Europe, as well as recent violent threats against a synagogue here in New Hampshire, I am feeling particularly vulnerable and isolated right now as a Jewish American. The dissonance between my need to find a safe space in a scary world and Exeter’s aggressive promotion of Christmas—the most I have ever experienced in my thirteen years on campus—is quite distressing to me, as well as other Jewish faculty, families, staff and students. And, while I can only speak to my own experience as a Jew, I empathize with other members of our Exeter community who also do not celebrate Christmas, be they Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or non-religious.

I understand that it is tricky to find a middle path during this holiday season. What may feel merely “seasonal” to some may feel too “Christmas-y” to others. And, given the dark, cold New Hampshire climate, seeking some joy, festivity and light is an understandable impulse that I share in.

However, I am dismayed that we did not talk proactively as a community about how to try to balance our desire to be festive with our responsibility to be inclusive. We need to have more conversations and less assumptions, more cultural sensitivity and less Christian privilege. I hope that we can have the necessary conversations to create a more inclusive community at Exeter and make future holiday seasons a time of peace and joy for all of us.