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December 20, 2002/Tevet 15 5763, Vol. 55, No. 17
Dressing as Santa has meritMEYER TURKENI own my own Santa costume. And every year on Christmas Eve, I dress as Santa and go visit a few of our friends who are Christian and have young children. It is a fabulous and fun and exhilarating experience.I am not Christian. I am Jewish. However, I consider myself to be a tolerant and an interfaith type of person. I try to look at the "big picture." I don't believe that doing this is a confirmation of any particular deity or prophet, but the spirit of peace on earth, which is interfaith in nature. This is just the way that this spirit is expressed by the majority of the people that I know, because I live in America. In my own little way I try to instill in these kids that we all should treat our fellow human beings with fairness, equality and justice, no matter how we pray. At this time of the year, in this country, the big picture is commonly expressed as "peace on Earth, good will to all." Back to the story of my last year's experience as Santa. I went to visit a friend's home, and guess what? My friend's 12-year-old daughter recognized old Uncle Turkey. (That's what they call me.) She talked to her father about this, and he told her to e-mail me. I responded with this e-mail to her: Dear Alex, I could not have expressed it better even if I was the real Santa. Meyer Turken is a native Phoenician and local businessman. |
