Christmas is in the air, and you would have to have a pretty bad cold not to smell it. Even my… Christmas is in the air, and you would have to have a pretty bad cold not to smell it. Even my big old Jewish nose can smell it coming from a mile away. But I still love this season. Christians and Chanukah bush-producing Jews alike are more relaxed. People in general are nicer and happier. It’s as if the entire country has put down one too many, and has become more affectionate than usual.

And yet, I worry.

This week, the city of Boston decided to do me a favor and rename their Christmas tree a Holiday Tree. As a Jew, I deeply appreciate this gesture. Of course, no other holidays that occur this time of year really use trees. You don’t see Ramadan trees much nowadays, and although I have to admit that I’m not particularly knowledgeable about Kwanzaa, I have a feeling that trees do not play much of a role in its celebration. Nice try, Boston.

They aren’t even changing anything about it except its name. I’ll bet that half the people who go and see it are deceived. They think they are looking at a lumbering Christmas tree, only instead, they aren’t! It’s actually a Holiday Tree. Admirably, Boston does not want to mix church and state. But this is different.

It’s not like they are using the tree for a religious purpose. If Boston paid a preacher to stand beside the tree and condemn non-Christians to hell, sure, I might have an issue with that. But it just stands there and projects a golden aura of happiness into the night.

Admittedly, the name change serves only a symbolic purpose, but it is only the most recent of a series of steps that have been taken to befuddle the issue of church and state. They still have a tree, but it’s not a Christmas tree. It just strongly resembles one. Plus, 9.5 people out of 10 who don’t work in the mayor’s office will still call it a Christmas tree. Naturally, the issue goes deeper than mere misnamed decorative flora.

Another example is the dilemma of elementary school non-decoration. Back in my day, schools used to avoid favoring one religion over another by placing all of their icons all around our schools, and damn it, it worked. I learned about Kwanzaa when I asked my teacher why the black family was lighting a small menorah – I was 7 at the time.

But the way I hear it, today, a lot of schools just don’t put up anything around the holidays. Trying to deny that Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan/anything else I’m leaving out – maybe, Satan Fest – are in the air is sheer lunacy. The only thing schools can do is embrace it. Even atheist children, or, more specifically, children with atheist parents, can probably gaze upon the dreaded Christmas tree without becoming Christians.

I don’t like being treated differently. I know that obviously, all of these anti-holiday measures aren’t just for me, one single Jew, but I still don’t like them. It’s not like being Jewish is some sort of horrible abnormality that requires me to be sheltered from the outside world. People don’t walk down the street looking at me. They don’t cup their hands to their loved ones’ ears and whisper, “Oh, poor guy. He’s a Jew.” At least, I hope they don’t.

I even took a poll to see where others’ sentiments lie. All Jews surveyed (my brother and I) agree that we aren’t offended by displays of these religious symbols. Our mom used to take us out as kids to see the pretty lights, and I know that other Jewish families do this also.

Religion is meant to be a bond for people. These harmless icons do nothing to promote religious interpretations or any sort of theology – especially Christmas trees. If you look in the whole of the New Testament, you won’t find mention of a Christmas tree. There was not one at the last supper; Jesus did not demand the adding of lights to pine as a requirement to achieve salvation.

It is important for us to be respectful of others’ religions. It is also important that actual religion does not enter into the realm of public judgment. But the icons are useful and harmless. They educate children about other religions and ideas and help foster happiness and a feeling of tradition. They bring people together.

And I, for one, am not offended by other’s beliefs. People comfortable with their own philosophy can gaze upon icons from other religions without feeling their own values are under attack. And the lights are just so damn pretty.

Satan Fest is fast approaching – how are you celebrating? E-mail Sam Morey with some holiday cheer at [email protected].