Tropes of the Times

Orlando Patterson, Harvard prof and guest columnist for the Times, writes at length to the effect that Christmas is merely “a uniquely American national festival.” (“A Holiday for Us All,” Dec. 23) As a practicing Jew, may I assert the contrary; it is a religious holiday that has been given a place of special privilege in our civic life. That its spiritual elements may have become attenuated does not make it necessarily acceptable to the one-quarter of America that is not Christian.

Patterson notes that Christians co-opted certain practices originally pagan, but this does not divest them of their character as essential hallmarks of that particular religion. After all, just because the swastika is an ancient design element found in the Indian sub-continent and MesoAmerica does not insulate it from embodying the values of the jackboot and the crematoria.
 
No other major religions or cultures decorate pine trees in the winter. As a sociologist, and as a prominent member of a minority community, it is astounding that Patterson would be oblivious to the significance of the Menorah to Jews as a religious artifact.  His essay trivializes it as a possible design element for Christmas tree decor! And this is from a professor who teaches a course on “Ethnicity in Comparative and Historical Perspective.”

All in all, though undoubtedly unintentional, Patterson’s essay offers much offense to non-Christians.

Trope of the Times: “Why can’t we all just get along?”