My suggestion is that anyone who thinks that non-Christians cannot, ought not go about with Merry Christmas on their lipsshould go to B&H, the well-known camera and electronics outlet in New York City run by Orthodox Jews. Heres why.
Last week my wife went shopping there, looking for an MP3 player that a 13-year-old very much wants for Christmas. B&H had advertised a special deal, at $60, but by the time my wife arrived the special was all sold out. She could get one, she was told, but it would cost $100.
Are you sure? she asked the salesman, a pleasant man with a yarmulke pinned to his hair.
Im sure, he said, checking his computer.
My wife pleaded that she was on a tight budget for a good purpose. She had read of Stockings With Care, a volunteer group in New York City that coordinates with social agencies who work with impoverished families. The children have written down their Christmas wishes and through Stockings with Care, social workers provide these wish lists to people like my wife who buy the gifts. These presents are given to the parents so that on Christmas morning the children get exactly what they yearn forand can thank Mom or Dad or other caregiver for making their wish come true. My wife had a list for five kids, and the oldest on it desperately wanted an MP3 player.
The salesman listened to this story, then said hed see what he could do. He went back to his computer and rechecked the inventory. Sure enough, he found a discounted MP3 player he had overlooked, and even marked it down a notch to $50.
Take it to the checkout, he directed my grateful wife. And Merry Christmas.
The salesman recognized a mitzvah (good deed) in what my wife was doing, and he replied with one of his own. The moral of the story, if there is one, is that Christmas, though Christian in origin, can unite as well as divide. Or as Jackie Mason might put it, you dont have to be Jewish to wish someone Merry Christmas. But sometimes it helps.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
