Bill O’Reilly eat your heart out, because while “the War on Christmas” rages in America, secular Israelis –on a government level – have no problem stepping on Jewish sensitivities in the Jewish State. Official declarations of “Merry Christmas”, “Season’s Greetings”, and “Happy New Year “ are ringing forth from Jerusalem, and all of the state’s apparatchiks seem to be getting into the act this season…
“Christmas Blessing by President Shimon Peres” (video)
He stumbles on his words a bit, but the President of the State of Israel comes across loud and clear:
“From the eternal city of Jerusalem, I want to wish each of you and all of us a happy, merry Christmas” He then goes on to pray and wish that the next year will be a year of peace, brotherhood, tolerance, affluence, etc…
”This is the call of heaven. This is the wish of our Lord…Let’s celebrate and hope and do accordingly”.
“
Season’s Greetings from the IDF” (video)
“This holiday season” Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch, Head of the Foreign Press Branch of the IDF, takes a moment to recognize the diversity of people – a virtual “melting pot” - serving in the IDF. She concludes by wishing whoever may be listening
,“a joyous new season and a hopeful new year. Season’s greetings”
COGAT Meets with Patriarchs and Church Leaders in Commemoration of ...(Press Release)
Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, and the Head of the Civil Administration in Judea, Brig. Gen.
Yoav (Poly) Mordechai, met Tuesday with Christian leaders, including
church heads and Patriarchs, in commemoration of the upcoming Christmas
holiday, and offered them best wishes for the new calendar year. According to the press release, they
“wished the religious leaders a merry Christmas and a happy new year on behalf of the Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff.”
Jerusalem Municipality: Free Trees and “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” (Flyer)
“On the occasion of the Christmas holiday season, the Municipality of Jerusalem and the Jewish National Fund will be distributing free Christmas trees…Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”
Rabbi Benny Elon attends ICEJ’s Hannukah-Christmas bash
As a general rule Orthodox rabbis tend to avoid Christmas parties. But according to the
Jerusalem Post, Benny Elon
“was happy to accept the invitation of Malcolm Hedding, director of the International Christian Embassy, to join in the embassy's joint Hanukka-Christmas celebrations. Elon was not the only Orthodox Jew present. “
David Nekrutman, Rabbi Riskin’s executive director of
Ohr Torah Stone's Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation put in an appearance. Nekrutman who is on record for
welcoming Jesus into shul has also been a participant in
Jewish-sponsored efforts to rehabilitate Pope Pius XII.
Rabbi Riskin, “Rabbi” Jesus, and messianism
It appears Rabbi Riskin who
promotes ICEJ and was the
featured speaker at the Christian Embassy’s Succot Feast reception, was not present at the ICEJ Christmas event.
However
Jewish Israel has picked-up
another rather “christmassy” video of Rabbi Riskin which was uploaded to You Tube by
“a follower of the Nazarene, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach [Jesus Christ].” A lot of us remain puzzled as to where Rabbi Riskin is coming from and to where he is going.
Christmas dinner is not kosher
Tovia Singer tells the a JPost reporter why the Chief Rabbinate has a conflict with restaurant owners who make a public spectacle of Christmas , and why pastors should deem Christmas
treif
Mike Evans and the Jerusalem Prayer Team’s “Merry Christmas message”
According to an Ephramite cult site, Mike Evans of the
Jerusalem Prayer Team sent out an email with the subject “Merry Christmas from Israel“.
(Excerpt):
“I am writing you this Christmas message from Israel. I flew here to declare a word from the Lord… There is no doubt that 2010 will be a year of unspeakable living hell for the Jewish people if God’s people do not stand in the gap NOW.”
Where is the Grinch when you need him?
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… at Aish
(Screen shot of Aish.com hompage)

Honestly, our first reaction was that Santa’s elves had hacked Aish.com, or that someone had spiked the eggnog at the annual Aish Christmas party. Whoa, wait a minute…Aish doesn’t have a Christmas bash (at least not yet). Our guess is that the profound Torah message behind the recent Aish homepage was something along the lines of, “How does a Jew find meaning in Christmas?”
At any rate,
Jewish Israel feels that Aish takes the fruitcake award for the most stunning Christmas homepage design of any online Torah publication.
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