Dear readers: We are especially delighted this year to be able to offer a holiday twofer. The coincidence of Christmas and Hanukkah offers us the opportunity to wish you, the members of LU Nation, a Merry and Happy in the same breath.
This particular holiday season offers a reason for optimism unparalleled in previous years as our nation charts a course forward under new leadership. We enter this season of blessing, hope, and light with the promise of better things to come and the restoration of the values and sacred beliefs that have made America a singular beacon on planet Earth.
In the spirit of Christmases past, let us renew our wish this Christmas for “peace on earth and good will toward men.”
In an observance of the holiday season that ideally covers all bases, I would like to share two musical selections from my youth that have an even more special meaning this year. The first is Leroy Anderson’s “Christmas Festival,” which my high school orchestra played at our annual Christmas program. The second is the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s “Messiah,” which the orchestra and a capella chorus, of which I was a member, would perform afterwards as the finale of the program.
The performance was always met with thunderous applause by an audience that — like the musicians — was about 90% Jewish. There was no such thing as political correctness. Here’s hoping fervently that the same will be able to be said of generations hence.
https://youtu.be/VI6dsMeABpU
