Celebrating Our Judeo-Christian Alliance

By Natan Ehrenreich

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

 

This evening, as the stars emerge and the chill of the winter night gusts, Americans will be treated to a multifaith display of light that occurs only once every 19 years. Across streets like the one I grew up on, where Jews and Christians live side-by-side in harmony, the light of the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah will illuminate the city windows alongside glowing Christmas trees. It is quite fitting that Hanukkah and Christmas coincide this year: one in which the Jewish and Christian communities have joined together to fight the antisemitism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Westernism that threaten us alike. And it ought to remind us of the improvements in Jewish-Christian relations here in America for which I am so grateful. It wasn’t always this way, and, in fact, it was not that long ago that the holiday pages of National Review were occupied by a Jewish intellectual who, though hopeful for a harmonious Judeo-Christian relationship in line with our nation’s founding, was disappointed that such a connection proved elusive.

 

In December of 1988, the great Irving Kristol took to the pages of National Review to observe that “It is my strong impression that, while relations between Christians and Jews as individuals are far better today than ever before, tensions between the two religious communities are being exacerbated.” Why? Partially because “the major Jewish organizations proceed from the correct proposition that legally and constitutionally we are not a Christian nation, to the absurd proposition that we are in no sense at all a Christian society.” The very core of our national creed, then, seemed to be in contention. The best Kristol hoped for was “a lot of nice diplomacy” which “our religious leaders ought to be capable of . . .”

 

Today, we live in an altogether different era. This year, Jews are at the forefront of the battle to restore our Constitution’s full guarantee of free exercise, and Christians stand in solidarity with the Jewish State, often in opposition to the secular left. As Walter Russell Mead observes, “The driving forces behind Americans’ fascination with Israel originate outside the American Jewish community and are among the most powerful forces in American life.” Were it not for the American Christian leaders who displayed courage and clarity in the aftermath of the events of October 7, the American Jewish community, and perhaps the State of Israel itself, might have been in a far worse position.

 

And what a particularly American phenomenon our “Judeo-Christian” alliance is, despite the reservations on the left about the use of that term — see James Loeffler in The Atlantic on “The Problem With the ‘Judeo-Christian Tradition.’” Writes Loeffler on our nation’s founding: “Religious freedom meant freedom for Christians. Jews might be accommodated, though not necessarily with full equality, on a temporary basis until their eventual conversion.”

 

Except . . . not at all. Perhaps a more reliable source on the American ideal of religious liberty is George Washington, who was quite explicit in his explanation to American Jews that “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.” In fact, our Constitution contains a ban on religious tests for public office in part because of the lobbying of an American Jew.

 

And so it is proper that this year, as Jews and Christians see more clearly than ever what we share in the battle against anti-religious bigotry and intolerance, we will celebrate our respective winter holidays on the same night. I am partial, of course, to Kristol’s Judaism, and I can similarly state in National Review that “this Christmas, as in all Christmases past and future, there will be no Christmas tree in my home.” But so, too, do I share Kristol’s belief that “true theological difference of opinion ought not to impinge on the ability of the two faiths to live amicably together.” I find it heartening that tonight, the manifestation of Kristol’s desire will shine bright from both the Christmas tree and the menorah, and I pray that the adherents of our two traditions will continue to join together in friendship.