Nativities!

[Chattenoire]

My DS is having his first Nativity. He's a shepherd (part of me is not annoyed as they were Jewish!).

Bow the question is how do I explain to him we don't believe in that? And that it's just play? He's 5 so I think the concepts should stick.

I’m not religiously Jewish, but I do have little children. I think I’d just go for the ‘everyone has different beliefs’ line. I’d say that it’s good to learn about other religions and Christians believe in this story, but we believe in this. Children learn about lots of religions, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Same as @PeachPumpkin
I work in schools and virtually all children are in the Nativity regardless of beliefs so hopefully he won’t be the only non-Christian there! Also I was when I was a child and it didn’t make me question things. keep it simple and he’ll be fine, it is tricky though with so much emphasis around Christmas depending on how much or little you celebrate it.

Not nativity based but it might be fun to listen to Christmas songs written by Jews just as a talking point about different religions and how cultures can overlap…

We celebrate in an extremely secular way because my DH missed celebrating it.

I really dislike songs that mention Jesus, but I don't mind those that are winter themed. So I like that suggestion!

My kids and I are Jewish but my husband is not. We always talk about celebrating each other's holidays with them - so we celebrate Christmas with Daddy and he celebrates Sukkot with us. I was actually super surprised by our first nativity as I immigrated to Scotland from the states and there's a clear no-religion policy in states schools where I grew up but I just used the same sort of language about 'sharing' holidays.

Our primary school was lovely and my kids always did a presentation / story / dreidel time with their class as well so it felt a bit more balanced.

Most British children aren't practising christians these days anyway, so most kids in the nativity aren't believing it as anything more than a story. My DCs one includes 3 hindu kids, 1 Jewish, 1 sikh. There's only one church attending kid in the class & thats the local priests daughter.

Im intrigued by the idea of 'believing' in the nativity. Im an atheist so I don't believe that Jesus was the son of god & dont believe in the virgin birth etc. But much of the story is historical fact, so its not a matter of belief that a man called Jesus existed, and that he was Jewish. so does it not have some resonance? On just a human level I've always found the nativity a really moving story, especially since I had children.

I am Jewishly semi observant but was not raised Jewish.
To me, Jesus has no relevance to my life, however the hope that one day a Messiah will emerge, or that a person or people will bring about positive change and an era of hope, peace and equality, is very relevant.

To me it's a very poignant concept that in the middle of darkness and winter, a child is born, with all the wonder, awe, thanks and emotion around that, and the hope that maybe this will be a child that will make a difference in the world....every child born is a hope for the world.

In these times, it's even more poignant that the child that Christians regard as having been so special, was born in the land of Israel to one of the most continuously persecuted peoples on earth.

That's interesting and very beautifully put. I was talking to a Christian friend recently and she was talking about how she has gradually come to think more deeply about the Jewishness of Christianity - not in terms of practice so much as roots and history. And how this enhances her religious understanding (? not even sure if I am expressing this accurately) and particularly the meaning of Christmas.

Lovely. I am stealing some of this for my kids! 😉
I don't mind a nativity, but what I really love is the kids singing the Xmas songs and carols.

They get Little Town of Bethlehem and Little Donkey and we get Neil Diamond and his shit Channukah rhymes!