“”Twas the Night Before Christmas”

December 22, 2006

Something strangely quaint happened in line at the market checkout yesterday. Wendy and I were doing our usual pre-Shabbat Thursday shopping routine what it being Shabbat and Hanukah and all… Maneuvering the cart to the checkout I chose the one attended by my favorite clerk. She is a young Russian woman who always does her job with speed and efficiency all-the-while maintaining an air of cheerfulness despite the impatient crush of pre-Shabbat Jerusalem shoppers.

Just ahead of us in line was a middle-aged couple exuding that rarified aura that announced to the world without their having to say a single word, “We’re Americans!” Dress, body language and facial expression spoke more eloquently (and regionally) than speech. Not even assaying a few words in our ancient Semitic tongue, they addressed our lady of the register directly, “Nice to see you again!” Ah, so they were not complete strangers, but were acquainted—at least somewhat—with the Sylph of Super Deal, who, with her usual alacrity, executed her accounts and announced the tally courteously in English caressed by an accent reminiscent more of the Volga than the Jordan.

Their custom now completed, our American friends turned and smiling warmly saluted one and all, “Merry Christmas everyone!”

Merry Christmas!? We all looked quizzically at them. To whom did they address their good wishes—to me, to Wendy, to our clerk with her Star of David shining at them as prominently as any star of Bethlehem? Wendy was the first to respond. She said simply, “Happy Hanukah.” This seemed to awaken within them a realization of where in the world they found themselves at that moment in time at which point they said, “Oh yes, happy holidays everyone!” And then they left the store.

I suppose that this well-meaning couple simply greeted us out of sweet, loving reflex. They were being friendly. They were reacting out of the “holiday spirit.” But the incongruity of someone wishing people “Merry Christmas” at a Jerusalem market brought home another kind of reality for me. Here in the land where Christmas began, Christmas and the people who celebrate it are, quite nearly as possible, invisible.

At this very moment I am sitting a scant three kilometers (about two miles) from Bethlehem—the very place where Christian tradition relates that Jesus was born. That town and the church built around the little manger in which the Christian world’s Savior was born is the focal point of all the festivity, all the hoopla, all the media bombardment, the constant carols on the radio and the specials on television, the commercials and the sales, the prayers and the charity, the spirituality and the sacred works that make Christmas a holy day, as well as the holiday that it is for Christians.

Yes, here I am, just three kilometers away and absent is any sign of Christmas. No, that is not completely true. In the Jerusalem Post there has appeared a small advertisement placed by the Jerusalem municipality wishing the Christian community Merry Christmas and indicating where interested people can pick up a free Christmas tree as a gift from the city. But there aren’t any Christmas displays in store windows (except in the Old City), and no Christmas music on the radio, though you can see the occasional Christmas greeting and Christmas special on television broadcast from abroad. There are no Christmas lights on the streets, even though some of the Hanukah decorations can fool you. No, Christmas is definitely as nearly invisible as possible in this land where it all began. I feel for that couple at Super Deal, this must be a very lonely time of the year for them. Kind of like being Jewish in America during Christmas, only more so…

But, it is not just Christmas that is quite nearly invisible here in the birthplace of Christianity. Christians themselves are disappearing. By that I do not mean Christian tourists and pilgrims. Thankfully our Christian friends continue to show their loyal support by visiting the Holy Land. I only wish that our fellow Jews—especially liberal Jews—were as faithful in making pilgrimage to the Holy Land. No, I am referring to the Christians who live here and have dwelled in this land ever since the first followers of Jesus began their new faith. Their once significant presence in this land has been reduced to a mere remnant that is threatened by demographics with near extinction. That reality is a potential tragedy far more serious than the absence of Christmas trees and Christmas carols around December 25^th. And, it is a tragedy in the making that is generally under reported in the world’s media.

In 1950 Christians made up 15% to 20% of the Arab population of what is now Israel and the areas beyond the Green Line. Today, Christians number between 1.5% and 2% of the Arab population. Historically, the cities most closely associated with Jesus’ life and Christianity, Bethlehem and Nazareth, had sizeable Christian majorities. In 1948 the population of Bethlehem was 80% Christian and 20% Muslim, presently those numbers have reversed and the Christian population continues its exodus from the city. In Nazareth, following World War II the Christians accounted for 60% of the Arab population of the city, today they comprise only 30%.

To what do we attribute the depletion of the Christian population in their Holy Land?

Of course, there are no simple answers. Moreover, I am neither a demographer nor a sociologist. But anyone who is an observer of the social and political life that goes on around us and affects us and our neighbors can see clearly some of the more obvious factors that would contribute to the exodus of Christians from this area.

To be sure, the political unrest is a major factor. The Christian Arabs in the main identify as Palestinians and have suffered economically and socially as have Muslim Palestinians as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet statistically, far more Christians than Muslims have left, why? Demographically more Christian Arabs than Muslim Palestinians come from higher economic and educational social strata. In addition, more Christian Palestinians than Muslim Palestinians have family contacts who live abroad, beyond the conflict. These two factors make it all the more possible for Christian Palestinians than Muslims to flee and establish themselves abroad, and so they do.

This is the case regardless upon which side one wishes to place the blame for the tensions and conflict. And there is blame to be placed on both sides. Many sources and anecdotal reports demonstrate that Israeli government policy over last 40 years, including draconian immigration and travel regulations have restricted the Christian Arab population along with the Muslim Arab population and have put unwarranted pressures on an already hard-pressed population making life for the area’s Christian population increasingly difficult. Many of these policies, of course, are predicated on the fact, that the Israeli government does not distinguish between Christians and Muslims in formulating its policies regarding Palestinians.

On the Palestinian side, though generally downplayed by both Muslims and Christians for political reasons, there is ample evidence of internal Palestinian faith-based tensions and discrimination against Christians. Some of these tensions flared up recently this year after the Pope’s remarks about Islam were misinterpreted by much of the Muslim world. In Bethlehem, as reported by the AP’s Brian Murphy in November, Muslims made death threats against Christians. According to Murphy: A group calling itself "Friends of Muhammad" accused a local Palestinian Christian of selling mobile phones carrying offensive sketches of the Muslim prophet.

Murphy goes on: These days Palestinian Christians, dominated by Greek Orthodox and Latin rite churches loyal to the pope, face questions about whether their hearts lie in their homeland or in the West. It gets even more complicated because of the strong support for Israel and Jewish settlers from American evangelical Christians. "We are stuck in no man's land," said a leading Palestinian Christian activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of reported death threats. "In the eyes of the West, we are Arabs. In the eyes of Arabs, we are a fifth column."

In 1999 Sheikh Yussef Salameh then the Palestinian Authority’s undersecretary for religious endowment caused a stir when he praised the idea that a future Palestinian state should accord Christians the status of dhimmis under Muslim rule. According to Sharia (Muslim law) dhimmis—a status assigned to both Jews and Christians under the Ottoman Turks—are a protected minority guaranteed security for themselves and their property in exchange for which they must pay a special poll tax and do not enjoy equal rights with Muslims.

Bringing us back to the season at hand, in a June 1999, edition of the Islamic Movement’s weekly Al-Haqq wa Al-Hurriyya, Sheikh Khatib criticized the way that Chrisitans celebrate Christmas. Addressing the words of the Prophet Mohammed, he wrote, “…on the birthday of your brother Jesus…the fools who claim to be of relation to him [the Christians], celebrate by committing deeds that he [Jesus] himself denounced, loathed, and forbade [like] drinking wine, playing games of chance, cursing, and screaming. They think that by doing so, they become closer to him. Oh, how wretched they have become…” This was cited on the website of MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute (August 2, 1999, Special Dispatch Series, Number 41).

So, it seems, there are ample reasons for the exodus of Christians from this, their Holy Land, and there is plenty of blame to be spread around on all sides to be sure. What a tragedy it is that the long history of Christian presence and contribution to this land of its origin is apparently coming to an end; all the more so because it is a tragedy that is and should be preventable. But, where are the voices and support both moral and financial from the Christian world to help their brothers and sisters in their time of need? International Christian organizations that are quick to come to the defense of Palestinian Muslims seem to do precious little on behalf of the co-religionists, especially when it comes down to conflict between the two groups.

Who then is to stand up for the Christians? Would it not be ironic if it were world Jewry? Imagine if the Jews were to come to the defense of the Christians while the world’s Christians remained silent to their plight? It would be an act of real altruism given the Jews’ very problematic history with the Christian world. But the world is crying for altruism right now, isn’t it? And why stop with the Christians? We could begin by elevating all Israeli Arabs (those living within the Green line and who are citizens of the state) to the equal status that they deserve. We can insure that religious discrimination between faiths is not tolerated in the State of Israel. In short, we can enforce the provisions for full religious freedom enunciated in Israel’s Declaration of Independence for all its citizens. Then, even if Christian Arabs may choose to flee areas under Palestinian control at least they can find refuge in Israel and maintain a significant Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Religious tolerance and dialogue is not a pipe dream, not even here, not even now. I know, I have seen it happen, not in the ideal but in real terms. Last week I attended a meeting of Kedem, a project of the ICCI, the Inter-religious Coordinating Council in Israel. It is a wonderful organization in which I have taken great interest since making Aliyah (check out their website at www.icci.org.il). Kedem is a project that brings together Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy for dialogue on various issues. The interesting thing is that these are not the “usual” faces that one sees in dialogue. There are rabbis, priests, ministers, imams and kadis who are not usually engaged in inter-faith efforts of any kind, so, the very fact that they get together in the first place is of significance no matter what they discuss even if was just the weather! The reality is, you probably never hear that such discussions, religious discussions like Kedem take place. This kind of event isn’t sexy; it doesn’t make headlines. But it is significant and these efforts can and do make a difference and can help to change the religious climate here in this land that is holy to three faiths so that all of the children of Abraham can feel at home here.

We should not allow the tragedy to happen that here in the land of Jesus’ birth there are none of his followers left to celebrate his birthday.

I wish I that was back in the checkout line at Super Deal right now, because I would wish that nice couple a very Merry Christmas.

Shalom from Jerusalem.