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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 433

Christmas Tree

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum created a 'Bring Them Home Now' Christmas ornament to bring attention to the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists since October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
December 12, 2023, 2:20 pm
Hostages forum launches ‘Bring Them Home Now’ Christmas tree ornament
Civilian organization supporting families of hostages wants global attention on the 138 still held by Hamas in Gaza
By Jessica Steinberg
A pro-Palestinian protests against the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting, in New York City, November 29, 2023. (Luke Tress via JTA)
November 30, 2023, 7:22 pm
Pair of swastikas spotted at pro-Palestinian rally at NYC Christmas tree lighting
One demonstrator whose sign depicted Nazi symbol and the words ‘Israeli military’ kicked out by other individuals; another sign compared Jews to Nazis
By Luke Tress
Illustrative: Frank Corbett, the Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia, is flanked by a Royal Canadian Mountie during the lighting of the City of Boston's Christmas tree in Boston, November 29, 2012. The annual gift by Nova Scotia of the tree is in honor of aid that Boston sent following the 1917 explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax harbor that killed more than 1,600. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
December 24, 2021, 2:52 am
The little-known Jewish origins of Boston’s annual Christmas tree tradition
For over 50 years, Nova Scotians have gifted Bostoners a spruce in gratitude for an aid mission led by Abraham Ratshesky in 1917 after a port explosion killed and injured thousands
By Penny Schwartz
Shel Lyons, a parent at Carmel River School in northern California, sued the school December 7, 2021, after it refused to allow an inflatable menorah (left) at an event centered around the school's 'holiday tree' (right). The lawsuit was quickly dismissed. (J. The Jewish News of Northern California/ via JTA)
December 21, 2021, 2:17 am
Christmas tree, huge menorah ignite latest fight over holidays in US public schools
A Jewish parent has filed and withdrawn a lawsuit against a California academy after it denied her request to bring a 6-foot-tall inflatable hanukkiah to a tree-lighting ceremony
By Gabe Stutman
Illustrative: A display in the German colony, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa includes a menorah and a Christmas tree. (Sapir Bronzberg/FLASH90)
December 17, 2021, 8:39 pm
To tree, or not to tree? How Jewish-Christian families navigate December’s dilemma
Interfaith families always seem to discuss which traditions to observe, but for the Christmas tree, the method of debate is more important to them than what is ultimately decided
By Samira Mehta
A screen capture of video from social media shows a Christmas tree that was set on fire outside a church in the northern Arab Israeli city of Sakhnin, December 30, 2020. (Screen capture: Twitter)
December 30, 2020, 12:34 pm
3rd Christmas tree outside church set alight in northern Arab city of Sakhnin
Graffiti objecting to cartoon depictions of Mohammed spray-painted on wall outside Catholic church
By ToI Staff
Illustrative -- A Christmas tree in the northern Israel city of Nazareth on December 13, 2020 (Flash90)
December 26, 2020, 2:52 pm
2 Christmas trees torched in suspected arson attack in northern city of Sakhnin
Police open probe into fires at city’s Catholic, Orthodox churches; Christian leader calls for incident to be treated as terrorism
By ToI Staff
A villager wearing a traditional peasant galabiya gown inspects Christmas trees in El Kosheh, Egypt, on December 18, 2018. (RNS photo/ Fady Hadny)
December 28, 2018, 4:07 pm
Egypt’s Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas, ponder changing date
With evergreen firs and red-robed Santas relatively new to rural Copts, a community with longstanding traditions has mixed reactions to moving the holiday to align with the West
By Mina Nader and Jacob Wirtschafter
Father Michael Assi, in the Mar Elias church in Fassuta. (Federico Maccioni/ Times of Israel)
December 24, 2018, 2:55 pm
Galilee village awaits Christmas influx, unfazed by Hezbollah tunnels nearby
Fassuta, just south of the Lebanon border, this weekend hosts its annual holiday market, whose winter charm draws tens of thousands of visitors
By Federico Maccioni
Illustrative: A display in the Big Fashion Mall complex in Ashdod, Israel, includes a menorah and a Christmas tree. (Courtesy)
December 12, 2018, 5:19 am
Ultra-Orthodox deputy mayor calls for removing Christmas tree from Ashdod mall
Shas representative says decorations a ‘disgrace’ aimed at harming Jewish identity; company says it’s trying bring a ‘European atmosphere’
By ToI Staff and JTA
Illustrative: A Christmas star is seen in front of the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, on December 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
December 11, 2018, 4:48 pm
Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem?
Experts weigh in on whether the Gospel account of Jesus’s birth, including the wise men who were guided by a ‘star in the east,’ has any scientific merit
By David Weintraub
Illustrative: A Rabbi from Chabad lights the center light on a 20-foot-high Hanukkah Menorah on the Boston Common, near the Statehouse, in Boston, December 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
December 6, 2018, 3:51 am
New Hampshire town rejects menorah display. Christmas tree could be next
Durham Town officials deny a request from the local Chabad to light a 10-foot-tall menorah, expressing concerns about vandalism and anti-Semitic expression
By JTA
Christians celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree in Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, December 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
December 2, 2018, 7:56 am
Thousands gather in Bethlehem for Christmas tree lighting
PA prime minister tells crowd the Palestinians are resisting Israeli plans ‘to uproot us and strip us from our civilization and history’
By Agencies
Helen Maryles Shankman
December 25, 2017, 10:38 am
Helen Maryles Shankman
A cure for Christmas envy
I loved the glorious tinsel and lights, the bubbly high spirits, the parties, and TV’s endless parade of happy families
Jerusalem Santa, as portrayed by Issa Kassissieh, walking the ramparts of the Old City in Jerusalem, on December 21, 2017. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
December 23, 2017, 9:19 am
Trading sleigh for camel, Jerusalem Santa puts the ‘ho, ho, ho’ in holy city
Red-suited ex-basketball player Issa Kassissieh, a Christmas fixture in the Old City, is cheerier than ever this year after training at Denver’s Professional Santa Claus School
By Jessica Steinberg
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