A colleague of mine would take his young children to the mall on Halloween so they wouldn’t be influenced by its “pagan” nature. I told him he was nuts. “You’re going to shield your children from everything that’s not Jewish? With all due respect, that’s ridiculous!” He wasn’t happy, but years later he said he should have listened to me.

And that takes me to my latest “issue,” actually one that’s been bugging me for a decade now. That’s the politically correct “Happy holiday!” “Have a wonderful holiday season!” “It’s the holiday!” I see commercials on tv with a “tree,” green and red decorations, angels, and mistletoe. Gee, I wonder if it’s the Fourth of July or maybe could it be Yom Kippur??

I happen to like hearing “Merry Christmas,” saying “Merry Christmas,” and the entire Christmas atmosphere. I love Christmas music (unless it’s heard before Thanksgiving…that’s annoying). Not living in a cocoon didn’t lead us and our children to celebrate Christmas. We even took our oldest (he was all we had at the time) to midnight mass with good friends of ours and, yes, he ran up to the altar before any of the other Christian children to hear the minister’s message to the kids! Did he convert? No, in fact he was even president of his synagogue!

I think this ridiculous neutralization will be counterproductive in the long run. We’ve got enough secularization already. So, say “Happy Chanukah” to your Jewish friends and neighbors; say “Happy Kwanzaa” to African-Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa; and for heaven’s sake, say “Merry Christmas” to the rest! After all, ‘tis the season!