Published December 16, 2004, in issue 0350 of the Hook

Thank you for having the nerve to print the Brazen Careerist piece on Skipping Christmas [December 9, 2004]. I'm sure you will receive 101 comments against the article.

As the only employed Jew in my school system (Goochland County), I too must take personal leave to observe religious days and must also be subjected to countless illegal acts of the separation of Church and State... the many trees and wreaths and parties, however disguised, in my school.

I have no desire to rain on the parade of my Christian fellow workers whom I love and respect by reporting their activities to the anti-defamation league of the B'nai Brith or others. In fact, I wish them a Merry Christmas... in their home or their church or the mall, but not in their/my office or school.

No such luck. They always win, I lose.

Winter concerts become nothing more than Christmas celebrations. When I was a junior high school student and played in the band, the director asked me if my parents would let me "play" in the Christmas concert-- no political correctness back then. I never asked my parents for permission. It was music, and frankly it doesn't get much better than sacred Christian music like "Ave Maria" and "O Holy Night." Simply beautiful.

But they just don't belong in school (or the office) unless we are "studying" this type of music. Can CEOs, bosses, or administrators grasp this simple concept?

I do not want reciprocity. Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas, nor is Passover equal to Easter. Yes, this is a Christian nation, and of this fact I am well aware. I harbor no resentment of this fact... I simply do not wish to be swallowed by it whole or otherwise in the workplace-- whether an office or a school.

Send a copy to Andy Rooney and see how he responds. Also keep us posted on the comments which I suspect will in fact be far greater than an uproar.

Thanks again for your "brazenness!"

In the words of Peter (Jewish), Paul (not Jewish), and Mary (also not Jewish): "Light one candle for the Maccabee children"

Terry Goldman
Kents Store

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