December 24, 2021
FELIZ NOVY GOD:
For a growing number of Jews in Israel, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: An influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, combined with tech firms trying to project image of cosmopolitan savvy, mean the festival is becoming increasingly mainstream (ASAF SHALEV, 12/24/21, Times of Israel)
Signs that similar sentiments are widespread can be seen all over Tel Aviv, the bastion of secular Israel. The party stores near Tel Aviv's Levinsky Market carry Christmas-themed decorations and clothing accessories. Tiv Ta'am, a supermarket chain notable for selling food that doesn't meet kosher dietary rules, has a large Christmas tree display at the entrance to its flagship store. Only about 2 percent of the population of Israel are Christian, the vast majority of whom identify as ethnically Arab, according to the Pew Research Center.One of the factors likely driving this trend is the influx over the past 30 years of more than a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many of whom were deeply secular and, in some cases, identified as Christian or had Christian spouses. The highly assimilated immigrants also brought with them a civic holiday called Novy God that resembles Christmas.
Globalization is Anglofication.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 24, 2021 8:17 AM