Story of Christians, Jews, Christmas and Hanukkah

I am an Italian Gentile, raised in Brooklyn NY, in a Jewish / Italian neighborhood. In the fifties, the Christian and Jewish communities were closely connected, and shared the enthusiasm of their respective religious holidays.

My Father was a house painter; the major portion of his business was painting Jewish Schools. As I recall a Jewish School was pronounced "Shool." My Father, a Catholic, literally worked in the classrooms, together with the Rabi and his students.

My father's Christian name was Salvatore, everyone called him Sal; his Jewish customers called him Sol, which is short for Solomon. He was very proud of that! He had a strong admiration for the Jewish community!

In the Fifties, the Jewish students were taught religion, but were also trained to deal with "real Life situations," that they could encounter, when they got older. I will always remember how my father always conveyed these wonderful lessons in life, to me, knowing how valuable they were. As soon as my Father got home from work, dirty and tired, he would immediately teach me the valuable lesson in life, that he had just learned that very same afternoon, in the Jewish School.

So! an Italian Catholic, whose father was called Sol, who painted Jewish Schools for a living, and taught his son lessons from the Jewish School.

At Christmas time the Manger and the Menorah often resided at the same location in the home town of my youth, Brooklyn, NY. A Manger was set-up in front of an apartment house, and a Menorah was displayed next door. Half of my friends were Jewish! My girlfriend was Jewish! At Christmas time my Jewish friends were celebrating Hanukkah, and we all shared in the excitement and anticipation of both holidays. We were literally transformed into a family through our religious holidays!

That's the way it should be!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!