While not always asked in quite that way, Christmas has played a role in the thought and practice of Jews for almost two thousand years. From being a day which inspired terror on the part of oppressed Jewish minorities living in parts of Late-antique Christendom and Medieval Europe, to the joy the holiday brings to contemporary American Jews who can appreciate the holiday’s beauty in light of the unprecedented freedom and ease we enjoy in America today, Christmas has loomed almost as large for many Jews as it has for Christians.
The owners of one Philadelphia restaurant have put their own spin on the Jewish experience of Christmas – one which brings together the experience of growing up Jewish in America, the food of Israel, and the desire to share both with all who may be interested, whether they are Jewish or not.
The owners of Zahav are inviting people to what they call “A Very Jewish Christmas“:

Filled with Israeli-inspired Chinese food and two 80s flicks on the big screen, Chef Michael Solomonov reminisces on his childhood through this festive night.
“Growing up Jewish, it’s hard not to feel left out at Christmas time, so my family and I observed the tradition of many Jewish families: enjoying Chinese take-out and watching a favorite movie instead, ” said Solomonov.
The $50 meal and movie night includes wonton soup, lamb egg rolls, salt and pepper squid, cold sesame noodles, Persian fried rice, cashew chicken, mushroom and tofu hot pot and a “pg-rated” happy ending dessert. Plus, if you miss the first movie screening at 6 p.m., check out the 8:30 show.

Some will surely take offense at what they will deem to be a syncretistic mash-up of two discreet religious traditions, but I am not so sure. It’s not like I can eat the food this restaurant serves. I can’t – I only eat food that is strictly kosher. It’s just that I am moved by the desire to share treasured family traditions which discover joy in the midst of other people’s holidays.
I am struck by the fact that anything which any religious community currently thinks of as “traditional” was once an innovation, including the food norms which govern my personal existence and that for all we know, the sharing of Chinese food and movies may be one of those contemporary innovations which is making the move into traditonality. If that is the case, now would be the time to ask what the purpose of this emergent tradtion is? How does it work for those who practice it? What does it mean?

Is Chinese food and a movie simply a way for Jews to insulate ourselves from the larger culture? A way in which to make sure that we have an agreed upon way to occupy ourselves while the majority celebrates “their” holiday? For some, that is almost certainly the case, and perhaps that is enough. But perhaps there is more.
Perhaps, this American Jewish custom is also a way of acknowledging that here in America, Christmas is “our” holiday too”. I am not suggesting that we buy into a theology of Christmas or even of its traditionally Christian practices.
I am simply suggesting that like the vast Christian majority among whom Jews live in America, it is a day which reminds us that we can celebrate the fact that others are celebrating. We need not fear that as we once had good reason to. In fact, we can delight in it, and not simply because it is a “day off”.
We can celebrate that for the first time in the entire 2000 year history of the Jewish Diaspora the religious and cultural celebrations of others are safe and comfortable for us. We can choose to honor them in any number of ways. We can volunteer our time so that Christians can more easily take the day off, we can take a moment to consider the remarkable and unique beauty of “someone else’s” holiday, etc. The list goes on and on, and when Jews do those things, it really is a very Jewish Christmas.