Seasons Greetings from the Jack Miller Center


We wish you holidays full of happiness and cheer and a healthy and prosperous new year. Thank you for all you do to support the education of our nation's students.

Scroll down to read a bit about America's history of celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas.

Learn more about the history and cultural significance of Hanukkah and Christmas in America

Hanukkah, beginning December 22 this year, and Christmas, on December 25, are the two most celebrated winter holidays in the United States. For Jews, Hanukkah marks the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian army and the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 164-165 B.C. For Christians, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ. These two holidays have attained great cultural significance in the United States.

In the midst of the holiday season, JMC has gathered together some historical resources and fellows’ articles that examine the influence of Hanukkah and Christmas in America. Additionally, several scholars in our network have written pieces on another aspect of the holiday season: the tension over religious and civil liberties as nativity scenes, menorahs, and other religious decorations are displayed publicly.
Collection Highlights
A Product of the Melting Pot: Jewish-Americans and Beloved Christmas Music
Representative of the American melting pot, several of the most popular American Christmas songs were written by Jewish-Americans. Jewish songwriters and composers such as Johnny Marks, Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, and Jule Styn were responsible for hits such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Holly, Jolly Christmas,” “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and “White Christmas.” The secular tone of these songs reflects the ways in which the holiday season has become not only a religious occasion, but a facet of American culture as well.
Read more about Jewish-Americans’ musical contributions to Christmas at The Economist and InterfaithFamily.com >>
 
Christmas at the White House
Christmas has always been a memorable affair at the White House. The White House Historical Association’s “Christmas Traditions in the White House Fact Sheet” includes several interesting holiday observances by First Families over the years, including Andrew Jackson’s indoor “snowball” fight and Teddy Roosevelt's ban on a White House Christmas tree. Megan Harney and Ellen Cranley at Business Insider have gathered together an impressive collection of White House Christmas photos from the 1880s through today.
 
The First Public Menorah
Although Jews have been in America for hundreds of years, the first public display of the menorah didn’t occur until 1974. On a cold evening in Philadelphia, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, with the help of yeshivah students, lit a simple menorah in front of Independence Hall. Since that night, menorahs have become a common sight on town greens and public squares across the country and around the world. Read Rabbi Menachem Posner’s article on this tradition and its American origins at Chabad.org.

Read Posner's article at Chabad.org >>

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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.

We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
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