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Review of Jordan Chad, “Christmas in Yiddish Tradition”

JL;DR SUMMARY Raphael Magarik reviews Jordan Chad's book, "Christmas in Yiddish Tradition: The Untold Story," which explores how Yiddish-speaking Jews historically engaged with Christmas as a midwinter solstice celebration infused with folk traditions, rather than strictly a Christian holiday. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

ChristmasAssimilationAnti AssimilationHistoriographyJewish Christian RelationsYiddish TraditionDiaspora DynamicsFolk MagicMidwinter SolsticeNitl Nacht

Places mentioned

New York, United States
"In New York, Yiddish theaters promoted an idealized shtetl Yom Kippur as a Jewish parallel to the American Christmasa moment of family reunion, affirmation of spiritual values."

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Retrieved 2026-06-06 05:30:35 UTC
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