Chicago Daily Observer

Recently, psychologists have begun to describe a growing phenomenon—the
“Christmas Blues”.

Christmas Blues?

Paradoxical but true, in the midst of a season when our streets are filled with colorful decorations and our public places all resounding with jolly songs, many people feel depressed and sad. “None of this joy applies to me,” they silently lament. “There is no Santa Claus who comes down my chimney!” “Every year I get deeper in debt at this time of year.” A datum that we all know, but don’t like to talk about, is that suicides and other lonely deaths are higher than normal at this time of year.

By way of contrast, in the early Christian centuries, the feast of Christmas was actually preceded by a period of fasting, not feasting. In today’s culture of holiday, client, and office parties, awash with succulent hors d’oeuvres, caloric beverages, and delectable cookies, fasting ... Read More...

Many gentile Americans under 50 don’t know what Yiddish is. More’s the pity. Yiddish is an anglicization of a Germanic word for “Jewish.” The Yiddish language was the dialect spoken by the Jews of central and eastern Europe, and was a unique combination of German and Hebrew, written with Hebrew letters. Before the restoration of Hebrew as a spoken language, it was the household language of Jews in western, central and eastern Europe.

Beginning with the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th century, tens of thousands of European Jews emigrated to America. Non-English speaking at first, with very limited resources, and with no support network whatsoever, they very rapidly adapted to America and became remarkably successful in a very short time.

How did they do it? How did this group who didn’t speak English, and didn’t profess a version of the overwhelmingly predominant religion of American Protestantism become ... Read More...