This year, I believe for the first time since 1957, Christmas and Hanukkah begin on the same day. (Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights commemorating the rededication to Judaism of the Temple in Jerusalem.) This concurrence of celebratory dates reminds me of a childhood Christmas on our family farm.

Far more importantly, this conjunction of holy days could alert us to the ethical commonalities of the two faiths and their contributions to our wonderfully tolerant American society. But as sociologist Dan Chirot warns, when elites lose confidence in the intrinsic value of their culture, collapse soon follows. I fear a soft anti-Americanism that automatically blames America first for ills throughout the world. And it is commonly linked to anti-Semitism. But first, the fun stuff.

Here’s the context of my story. My ancestors came to America from Germany. All arrived between the Revolution of 1847 and the Franco-Prussian War, which involved the south German states of Baden, Bavaria, and Württemberg. Most became farmers and teachers. All were Lutheran. They went to, and some taught in, Lutheran schools.

In my farming community, Christmas and Easter church services were still in German during the 1940s. My parents’ catechism classes were taught in German and my 94-year-old mother can still read it. Mine was the first generation not to learn German. Hence, as a 5-year-old, the Christmas service was alien. And I was confused.

I asked one of my elderly relatives, “Why are Christmas services in German rather than the English I can understand?”

I believe the answer has two possible explanations. Was my grandfather, an old farmer, so unsophisticated he actually believed it? More likely, he was joking with a favored grandson.

Or maybe it was a great uncle who taught theology and classical languages at Wittenberg, my family’s school. We know he was kidding. Regardless, here is the explanation of why, in the 1940s, we celebrated Christmas services in the German language.

“Johannes, you learned that Jesus was a Jew. And today many Jews speak Yiddish, a corrupt form of German. On the high holy days of Christmas and Easter, we believe it is important to have services in German, just as Jesus spoke it, not in English. And Jesus surely would have spoken German, not Yiddish.”

While logically and historically preposterous, this explanation satisfied me when 5 years old. (During the Haskalah, or European Jewish Enlightenment, generally concurrent with the founding of the U.S., German Jews in fact labeled Yiddish “corrupt German” and gradually abandoned the dialect.) Certainly, I never detected a hint of anti-Semitism while growing up German Lutheran in a quiet rural community. Indeed, how inclusive of my relative to portray Jesus as a German-speaking Jew!

This experience exemplifies one of the glories of America: we recognize no “chosen” class of citizens. Likewise, we have no legally inferior citizens. All are equal under the law.

One key to America’s success is the separation of church from state. This is terribly important to maintaining civility and tranquility, especially in our multi-religious context. The recent disgusting Highway Bill, with its thousands of special interest riders, demonstrates how politicians use their power to advance the material interests of their clientele and big contributors. Just imagine the consequences if these officials could use their positions to favor specific religions. A terrifying thought indeed. Perhaps the Founding Fathers really were divinely inspired when designing our Constitution to preclude this possibility.

I am hopeful America will not only escape but actively counter the new wave of anti-Semitism afflicting Europe. I have read numerous examples of European intellectuals, academics, artists, cartoonists, clerics, and journalists who equate the Star of David with the Nazi swastika.

I am repulsed when American academics join this sorry rabble. Anti-Semitism ultimately adapts to the Zeitgeist, even to the “blame America first” mantra of our self-styled progressives. Like a pandemic flu, anti-Semitism is an extraordinarily cunning disease exploding with renewed force when it should be extinct or at least in remission.

This year’s concurrence of Christmas and Hanukkah offers an excellent opportunity to celebrate and respect the common ideals shared by Christians and Jews, and to welcome any others who respect American principles.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.