(festive music) ♪ (narrator) Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year, when families decorate their trees and children squeal with delight as they open gifts from Santa.

It really is the most magical of holidays.

When I was a kid, it seemed like everybody celebrated Christmas.

♪ In every home there were images of red-nosed reindeer and glistening treetops covered by snow and the sounds of sleigh bells and laughter.

♪ Except at my house.

♪ (Klezmer-style "Deck the Halls") You see, my family was Jewish.

And like many Jews, we were determined not to be left out.

♪ So every Christmas my parents would pack my sister and me into the car and off we went.

♪ Although we weren't technically supposed to be celebrating the birth of baby Jesus, Jewish families had their own special way of taking part in the holidays.

♪ (music softens) ♪ (host) ♪ Sleigh bells ring, are you listening ♪ ♪ In the lane, snow is glistening ♪ ♪ A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight ♪ ♪ Walking in a winter wonderland ♪ (waiters) ♪ Gone away is the bluebird ♪ ♪ Here to stay is the new bird ♪ ♪ He sings a love song as we go along ♪ ♪ Walking in a winter wonderland ♪ (Senator Graham) Where are you at on Christmas Day?

(Elena Kagan) You know, like all Jews I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.

(laughter) (narrator) Back then, I was already a budding filmmaker.

Capturing people's stories on film would become my passion.

Like these people.

Why did so many Jews go to Chinese restaurants at Christmas?

Why couldn't we have turkey at home like everyone else?

The answer is we wanted our own traditions.

(Ben) There are two things that Jews did on Christmas.

During the day they went to the movies and at night they went to a Chinese restaurant 'cause those were the only places that were open.

Christmas is the busiest day for many Chinese restaurants.

Like they will--they can do like five sittings.

The Jews found their natural pairing.

Chinese food.

(narrator) But Jews have an even more important connection to Christmas.

One that would fascinate me for the rest of my life: the music.

So many of those images and sounds of sleigh rides and roasting chestnuts came from songs, songs that were written by Jews.

(waiter) ♪ In the meadow we can build a snowman ♪ ♪ And pretend that he is Parson Brown ♪ ♪ He'll say, "Are you married?"

We'll say, "No, man ♪ ♪ But you can do the job when you're in town" ♪ ♪ Later on we'll conspire as we dream by the fire ♪ ♪ To face unafraid the plans that we've made ♪ ♪ Walking in a winter wonderland ♪ ♪ It's amazing when you think of songs like "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," they're all written by Jewish composers.

And, of course, a lot of people might think that's an odd thing, but it's not very odd if you think it through logically.

You could write a song that three percent of the population will buy the record or you could write a song that 97% of the population will buy the record.

The businessman in me says go for the bigger market.

It's no big trick to write a song.

Why does it have to be your own religion to write a song about it?

You're living in a Christian world and you hear about Christmas all your life, so you don't have to have-- it doesn't have to be your own holiday.

It's not that hard identify with it.

If everybody sees you and wishes you a merry Christmas, how hard is it for a songwriter to decide to write a song about it?

Why not?

(narrator) To understand why so many Jewish songwriters wrote Christmas music, it's helpful to go back to when it all began.

(Rob B.)

From 1910 to 1940, American popular music is dominated by Jewish composers.

So, of course, they're writing all the love songs, they're writing all the patriotic songs, they're occasionally writing Easter songs.

So of course they're writing Christmas songs.

(old-time music) ♪ (Ben) Between the 1880s and 1920s, let's say a million Jews moved into the Lower East Side of New York.

A thousand years of persecution came to an end when they arrived at the shores of New York.

Coming to America was the Promised Land.

♪ (Ben) A hundred years ago, Jews in North America were not considered white.

They weren't considered black, they were kind of thought of as Oriental.

So, the businesses that they were allowed into were circumscribed.

♪ (Rob K.) Not only were Jews discriminated against, but then they came not speaking the language, often poor because you couldn't bring a lot of money with you when you came as an immigrant.

Huddled in these apartments on the Lower East Side, you know, ten people in a two-bedroom apartment.

So the opportunities were very few, yet the world of songwriting was open to talent.

(somber music) ♪ (Robert) These Jews that were coming to North America in the 19th century, when their little ship, you know, came into New York Harbor and they looked up at that Statue of Liberty, that was no conventional sort of symbol.

Like, that meant something to them, you know, the American dream meant something to them because they actually lived it.

So they were the perfect people to reflect it.

America had gotten to a place where it wanted to create a sense of being American, not being Lithuanian or Latvian or Polish or German or, you know, Irish.

And so the Jews, because they were basically rootless, were the perfect people in the perfect place to try and create this merging of outside and inside.

And they did, they were unbelievably successful in doing this.

(soft jazzy music) (narrator) Maybe it's because we were outsiders that Jews were so good at writing these songs.

"Winter Wonderland," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Sleigh Ride," "Let It Snow," and "The Christmas Song."

Christmas seemed to be the perfect holiday to capture the need everyone has to belong.

♪ Christmas brings people together, it makes the world stop.

Yes, it's about the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of our religion, if you will, but Christmas is not owned by the church.

Christmas is a celebration for humanity.

(female vocalist #1) ♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ♪ ♪ ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose ♪ ♪ ♪ Yuletide carols being sung by a choir ♪ ♪ And folks dressed up like Eskimos ♪ ♪ Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe ♪ ♪ Will help to make the season bright ♪ ♪ ♪ Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight ♪ ♪ (narrator) "The Christmas Song," better known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," was composed by a young Jewish kid from Chicago named Melvin Howard Tormé.

♪ That song is played every year.

It's not like they take a year off and, "We won't play it that much this year."

Every year you hear "White Christmas" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "The Christmas Song."

♪ My dad worked with a guy named Bob Wells who was his writing partner.

And it was a very warm day and they were scheduled to work at about 10 in the morning to try and beat the heat.

So, he walks up to the front door and knocks on the door, it's open, and he walks in, and he can hear that Bob's in the shower trying to cool off at 10 a.m. in the morning.

And he walks over to the piano and there's like a 4x5 index card with four lines of lyrics.

What had happened was Bob was writing these lyrics to try and stay cool.

He wasn't trying to write a song.

He was literally-- when Mel said, "What is this?"

He said, "I was just trying to think of cool thoughts," you know, chestnuts roasting on a cold night, because Bob grew up in Boston and they actually sold chestnuts in brown paper bags.

Folks dressed up like Eskimos.

And I guess it sparked something.

And my dad sat down, started writing the melody, and, so the story goes, they wrote the song in about 45 minutes.

♪ They know that Santa's on his way ♪ ♪ He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh ♪ (Robert) If you can find anything Jewish about "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," good luck to you, you know, because they're not Jewish songs.

When the Jews wrote those songs, they weren't writing them as Jews, they were writing them as Americans.

♪ And every mother's child is gonna spy ♪ ♪ To see if reindeer really know how to fly ♪ ♪ And so I'm offering this simple phrase ♪ ♪ To kids from 1 to 92 ♪ ♪ ♪ Although it's been said, many times, many ways ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas to you ♪ ♪ (playing piano) "Everybody knows a turkey."

I mean, that word, "everybody knows," that's really what these Christmas songs are all about, creating a national unity, an image that everyone can come to, you don't have to be Christian, you don't have to be Jewish, you could be black, you could be white.

And it's no coincidence the song was made famous by Nat King Cole.

♪ (Ben) When Mel Tormé brings a song to Nat King Cole, clearly there's a political undertone to the moment.

Here we have this coming together of Jews and blacks in a quintessentially American song.

(vocalizing "oooh") ♪ ♪ And so I'm offering this simple phrase ♪ ♪ To kids from 1 to 92 ♪ ♪ Although it's been said many times, many ways ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas to you ♪ ♪ From the very beginning, all of these Jewish songwriters, first thing they ever did was change their name to make it less Jewish.

Israel Beilin becomes Irving Berlin.

Hyman Arluck becomes Harold Arlen.

Asa Yoelson becomes Al Jolson.

So, I mean, the first thing that these people did was remove any sign of Jewishness from their own name.

What it meant to be Jewish was to assimilate.

We want to assimilate but we don't want to assimilate.

We want to be part of this, you know, mass culture, and yet, on the other hand, we want to be distinct and separate.

It's always a conundrum and it's always a dance between those two things, and certainly true in my case and everything I do in my life.

Look, I'm dressed like a Republican.

Who cares if it's your own holiday?

If I see a lot of cows in the streets, I might want to write about a cow.

(chuckles) Do I have to be a partner with cows?

Do I have to live with cows to write a song about it?

If everybody's a Christian, it's more likely to be popular, so that's what they want to write about.

They want to write abut the things that will be celebrated so that you'll be a big shot if the song becomes a hit.

(soft piano music) (narrator) It's impossible to tell the story of Jewish Christmas songwriters without talking about the biggest of them all.

He was born in Russia and emigrated to New York City as a young boy in 1893.

His name was Irving Berlin, and he not only wrote the biggest-selling Christmas song in history, it was the biggest-selling song in history.

(Ben) Irving Berlin wanted to write songs for average people, everyday people, in the vernacular.

And when he was asked at one point, "Mr. Berlin, what does being a Jew have to do with your songwriting?

He said, "Absolutely nothing, I'm an American.

I write as an American not as a Jew."

But, to me, that's the most Jewish thing he could have said.

Irving Berlin had a doubly complex relationship with Christmas.

First, he had had a child who had died on Christmas Day.

And they went to that child's grave every Christmas, so Christmas was anything but a joyous occasion for him.

But no one was more aware of commercial potential than Irving Berlin.

And it was really "White Christmas" that got the entire genre of secular Christmas songs started.

(Bing Crosby) ♪ I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ♪ (Ben) "White Christmas" was written by Irving Berlin in 1941 for a film called "Holiday Inn."

("White Christmas") (Bing Crosby) ♪ Where the tree tops ♪ (Ben) That song is the song where Irving Berlin de-Christs Christmas.

He turns Christmas into a holiday about snow.

(Bing Crosby) ♪ Sleigh bells in the snow ♪ (Ben) Shooting for "Holiday Inn" began in September of 1941, and the first recording of this song by Bing Crosby actually was aired on December 25th, on Christmas, in 1941.

Now you've gotta remember, this is really shortly right after Pearl Harbor.

(somber string music) ♪ All of a sudden, December 7th, 1941, the entire world changes.

♪ By Christmas 1942, these American boys were overseas, away from home, and all of a sudden it had kind of a nostalgic appeal to all those people longing for home.

(somber organ music) All of a sudden, this was the America we were fighting for, this mythic golden past that truly never existed anywhere but in the imagination of a Jew from Russia inventing a secular Christmas.

(sizzling) (narrator) What Berlin managed to achieve was to invoke sheer delight for the holiday, no matter what culture you came from.

It was that joyfulness that other writers would pick up on.

(rhythmic tapping) Jews in the 20th century found a way to make Christmas their own.

♪ It was more than about writing songs.

It was about creating new traditions.

♪ Jews and Chinese are the two largest non-Christian immigrant groups to America, so it was a place they could go and not feel self-conscious about being immigrants.

The Chinese were never gonna look down at the Jews for being foreign.

(cook) ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas, baby ♪ (vocalizing) (mellow music) ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas, baby ♪ (vocalizing) ♪ ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas ♪ ♪ It's the best time of the year ♪ ♪ I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer ♪ ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas, and when you walk down the street ♪ Like Chinese food is designed for sharing, and that appeals to Chinese people and that appeals to Jewish families.

Jews and Chinese people are both loud, we sit around with family and kibbitz, though I'm sure there's a word in Chinese for kibbitz.

(Jennifer) In a way, it's a very interactive meal, Chinese food, 'cause a whole group of people ordering a group of dishes means that they can all argue with each other.

(Ophira) What other restaurant do you go into where the tables are the size of, you know, massive trampolines?

Everyone can talk loud and be expressive and spin the Lazy Susan around.

It's actually a fun experience.

It's like Christmas.

(cooks) ♪ Oh, by golly, have a holly jolly Christmas this year ♪ (lively music) ♪ ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year ♪ ♪ I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer ♪ ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas ♪ ♪ And when you walk down the street ♪ ♪ Say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet ♪ ♪ Oh, ho, the mistletoe, hung where you can see ♪ ♪ Somebody waits for you ♪ ♪ Kiss her once for me ♪ ♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas ♪ ♪ And in case you didn't hear ♪ ♪ Oh, by golly, have a holly jolly Christmas this year ♪ (lively music) ♪ (cheering, applause) Jews have this amazing ability to get out of their own skins and get out of their own cultures and write the greatest things about other people's culture.

America's voice was created by a nation of immigrants, and these people were defining what the American voice was in terms of films, in terms of radio, in terms of all the arts, in terms of literature.

It's just not only Christmas.

I mean, George Gershwin writing about the Suwannee River.

I mean, he had seen only the Hudson River and the East River.

A guy named Goldwater writes Archie comics.

You know, he never met Betty or Veronica.

He met Shulamith and, you know, Beth.

(narrator) It's true that Jews have made an outsized contribution to popular culture, and not just Christmas music.

Jazz, Broadway, Hollywood.

From the movies we watched to the people who starred in them.

They even created many of our favorite comic books.

Guys like Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Stan Lee.

(dramatic music) A lot of superheroes, Captain America and--and Superman and all those were actually fighting against fascism.

♪ So it's a Jewish idea of overcoming the situation in popular culture as it was invented.

Jews were at the core.

And popular culture as we know it today, it's not exclusive.

It relates to universal ideas in that.

It doesn't draw a distinction whether you're Jewish or you're Christian or you're Muslim.

So it was a new society where everybody could find a new place.

(narrator) After the success of Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, and Bob Wells, many other Jewish songwriters tried their hand at Christmas songs.

Their lyrics were often joyful, but their music sometimes had a hint of sadness.

(soft music) As much as Christmas is a time for celebration, it's not a happy time for everyone, Jews included.

(Ophira) The holidays are super stressful on people.

People are estranged from their families, whether their families are around them or not.

Sometimes they're alone.

A Jewish Christmas is feeling left out, is feeling like you got off at the wrong exit, is feeling like it's not your holiday, it's feeling like everyone is talking about something in some foreign language that you don't understand.

♪ Being left out and waiting for Boxing Day.

♪ ♪ Silver bells ♪ ♪ ♪ Silver bells ♪ ♪ ♪ It's Christmas time ♪ ♪ ♪ In the city ♪ ♪ ♪ Ring-a-ling ♪ (backup singers) ♪ Ring-a-ling ♪ ♪ -♪ Hear them ring ♪ -♪ Hear them ring ♪ ♪ ♪ Soon it will be ♪ ♪ ♪ Christmas Day ♪ ♪ ♪ City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style ♪ ♪ In the air there's a feeling of Christmas ♪ ♪ ♪ Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile ♪ ♪ And on every street corner you'll hear ♪ ♪ (Marilyn Maxwell) ♪ Silver bells ♪ (bells ring) ♪ Silver bells ♪ (Rob K.) "Silver Bells" originally appeared in a film with Bob Hope called "The Lemon Drop Kid."

(Marilyn Maxwell) ♪ ...in the city ♪ (Rob K.) And what's really interesting is in this scene there's a real tension between, in a way, myth and imagination of this holiday, this wonderful holiday, and the reality of the scene.

Because, actually, Bob Hope is a thief and conman.

-♪ Silver bells ♪ -♪ ...das is good ♪ (Rob K.) So he somehow worms his way, gets a city license, hires all his fellow conmen, and their idea is to go around the city collecting all this money.

(Bob Hope) Uh-uh, city license.

(narrator) It was fun to watch Bob Hope swindling while Marilyn Maxwell sang, but "Silver Bells" was inspired by Santa's collecting for the poor, reminding us how hard the holidays can be.

♪ It was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

They were one of the most successful songwriting teams in history, winning three Oscars for Best Song, including "Que Será, Será."

But my favorites were the TV themes for Bonanza and for Mister Ed, the talking horse.

♪ The music they wrote for "Silver Bells" captures the happy and sad sides of the holiday.

♪ -♪ Ring-a-ling ♪ -♪ Ring-a-ling ♪ -♪ Hear them ring ♪ -♪ Hear them ring ♪ ♪ Soon it will be Christmas Day ♪ ♪ ♪ Silver bells ♪ ♪ ♪ Silver bells ♪ ♪ ♪ Silver bells ♪ ♪ ♪ Ring ♪ ♪ (soft brass music) ♪ I have to say, the gentiles are very good with the prettiness of their holidays.

Hanukkah just doesn't-- it just doesn't match up.

You get a little wooden dreidel, you spin it, and you get some stale chocolates.

("Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel") (Lisa) They couldn't write us more than one Hanukkah song, of all that prolific writing for Christmas, all we get is "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay"?

Christmas and Hanukkah were never supposed to compete with each other.

It is an unfair thing that they are butted up against each other.

And traditions around Hanukkah have morphed to really be more like Christmas.

♪ It's something hard we have to live up to, because our own holiday just doesn't cut it.

So we have to secularize it, we have to buy kids presents.

When I go to the toy store two weeks before, it's full of Jews, it's full of Jews buying presents for their kids.

(lively music) (Ophira) I asked my mom who brought us presents and she made up this story that I knew had a wink in it that Moses brought us presents.

That Moses came down the mountain every year and gave Jewish girls and boys presents of dreidels and socks.

("Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel") ♪ Throughout Jewish history, Jews always redefined their traditions.

(Rabbi Plaut) Christmas is an opportunity to negotiate one's identity.

How do we respond?

Do we ignore it, like many Orthodox Jews?

Do we embrace it and make it our own by celebrating in a Jewish way?

Or do we reject it completely?

("Deck the Halls") ♪ I think every Jew has a small sense of guilt about embracing Christmas traditions.

One, because we have a small to large sense of guilt about everything.

♪ But also it feels sort of like selling out or something, like it's admitting that this commercial, superficial aspect of a holiday that is all about going and buying things, that's the part you like.

(laughs) Another part of you goes, "Well, of course it's the part you like."

(Father Rosica) There are some who complain about the commercialization of Christmas.

I'm not uncomfortable with the commercialization of Christmas.

I worked as Santa Claus in a shopping mall.

But even in the midst of all of that, what's at the heart of all of that, it's calling forth people's goodness, calling forth people's charity, it's the desire to acknowledge other people with gifts.

It's the desire to make people happy.

(soft blues music) ♪ (narrator) In every culture, there's a tradition of charity in goodness.

(male singer) Ridin' on the rails, baby.

(narrator) In Judaism, it's sometimes referred to as tikkun olam, meaning to heal the world.

(male singer) ♪ I'm just watching the snowfall ♪ ♪ ♪ And it's so beautiful ♪ (narrator) Jewish songwriters wrote songs that would include everyone in the holiday.

♪ (male singer) Look up there.

♪ Look at that little red light racing across the sky.

♪ ♪ You know, there's Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen ♪ ♪ Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen ♪ ♪ ♪ But do you recall ♪ ♪ ♪ The most famous reindeer of all ♪ ♪ ♪ Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose ♪ ♪ ♪ And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows ♪ (Rob B.)

If you look at virtually every Christmas song written by a Jewish composer, they're not religious.

This is taking Christmas out of anything about a baby Jesus and, you know, the manger and all of that stuff, and it's creating a new mythology, the mythology of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

What a fantastic story.

♪ Robert May, 1939, gets a commission from the Montgomery Ward company, who had been giving out these coloring books to their buyers and they decided, "Well, wouldn't it be better to make our own coloring book?"

And they commissioned Bob May to come up with a Christmas coloring book, and he comes up with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

♪ (Robert) So "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is the most Jewish Christmas song of all, because Robert May based the story of Rudolph, you know, with his nose so bright, you know, who all the other kids wouldn't play with and used to call him names.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose."

Okay, big nose.

You know, all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, they wouldn't let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games.

He based that on his own childhood, his own childhood as a Jew in New Rochelle.

I just--this story's so amazing to me.

So "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is the story of a young Jewish boy in the United States.

And you know what's so interesting about Rudolph, is that Rudolph doesn't get a nose job, okay?

So the point of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is not for Rudolph to blend in and become another reindeer.

The point of "Rudolph" is for Rudolph to be-- to be appreciated for what he is, you know, that is the key.

I can't tell the story without tearing up because it is the Jewish story, it is my story, it is my parents' story, it is my grandparents' story, you know?

We don't want to not be Jewish, but we don't want to be alone.

♪ All of those other reindeers used to laugh and call him names ♪ (blues music) ♪ They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games ♪ ♪ ♪ Then one foggy Christmas Eve ♪ ♪ Santa came to say ♪ ♪ "Hey, Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight" ♪ ♪ ♪ Then all the reindeer loved him ♪ ♪ And they shouted out with glee ♪ (delighted shout) ♪ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ♪ ♪ You'll go down in history ♪ (vocalizing) ♪ It's a story that has nothing to do with Christmas in any kind of religious tradition.

It's an invented myth about an invented holiday.

So not only is Santa Claus an invented idea, but now we add an extra imaginary reindeer to the already imaginary reindeer.

I mean, it is truly the Jews who invented Christmas is an extraordinary story.

(lively Klezmer-inflected music) ♪ (narrator) In 1949, Robert May's brother-in-law set the story of Rudolph to music.

Johnny Marks would go on to become the most prolific Christmas song writer of them all, writing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Holly Jolly Christmas," and "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

But it was "Rudolph" that captured the imagination of the whole world.

(male singer) ♪ Then one foggy Christmas Eve ♪ ♪ Santa came to say ♪ ♪ ♪ "Hey, Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleight tonight?"

♪ ♪ ♪ Then all the reindeers loved him ♪ ♪ As they shouted out with glee ♪ (delighted shout) ♪ ♪ Oh, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ♪ ♪ You'll go down in history ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (blues music) ♪ I do remember the moment I realized, still in elementary school, that Jesus was Jewish.

And that just illustrates how far we are away in this tradition of Christmas, as kids, what we learn about it, to remembering that, yeah, Jesus born in a manger was born Jewish, right?

I mean, this is all about the birth of Christ.

Jewish family, as far as I can tell.

Not doing so well at the time that he was born.

I remember my friends were like, "No, he's not, no, he's not."

The secularization of Christmas started almost before Christmas, you know, so, like they decided that Christmas was gonna be December 25th in 300 AD.

Christmas wasn't celebrated before that, really.

It's not a major Christian holiday at all.

("Silent Night") So, in fact, people were celebrating the winter solstice, you know, for millennia.

All of the things we associate with Christmas are pagan symbols, pre-date Christianity by thousands of years, and the church tried to sort of culturally appropriate these for their Jesus story.

(jazz rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas") (narrator) It may be hard for us to believe today, but for centuries Christmas was nothing more than an excuse for a drunken party and to abandon all inhibitions, a solstice celebration true to its pagan roots.

♪ In the first law books of Massachusetts, it was a crime in Massachusetts to celebrate Christmas.

In fact, it was a crime in Massachusetts to not work on Christmas.

Christmas, by the Puritans, was seen as a heathen holiday.

(group) ♪ Silent night ♪ (narrator) The Christmas carol that we love, the Christmas carol was a radical, radical populist innovation, all right?

♪ In church, you sang hymns, but the people outside of church got these popular songs that they sang, and the church fathers and mothers did everything they could to suppress Christmas carols.

♪ And mild ♪ (Robert) It's so interesting, this Jewish involvement in Christmas music isn't an isolated incident at all.

It's, in fact, part of the history of Christmas that goes back literally thousands of years.

♪ So, in fact, Christmas was secular long before it was Christmas.

The Christians are the ones who appropriated it.

The Christians took over Christmas.

It wasn't the Jews stealing Christmas.

The Christians stole Christmas.

(soft ambient music) ♪ ♪ Do you see ♪ ♪ ♪ Said the night wind ♪ ♪ ♪ To the little lamb ♪ ♪ It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

♪ Way up in the sky ♪ ♪ ♪ A star ♪ ♪ ♪ A star ♪ ♪ (Rob B.)

"Do You Hear What I Hear" is a really interesting composition.

It was written by a husband and wife team.

It was a song written, in many ways, as a protest song.

This was written in October 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was a terrifying time for Americans where really the world was poised on the threshold of nuclear destruction.

I mean, it really seemed, for those 10 days, that the world could literally end.

♪ Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy ♪ ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ ♪ Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy ♪ ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ ♪ A song high above the trees with a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ With a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ (Rob K.) I mean, this was really written as a prayer for peace.

And as is so often the case, when you have an uncomfortable, unthinkable present, the threat of nuclear annihilation, you often retreat to a distant past.

And it's interesting that this song actually does hark back to the Christian meaning of Christmas.

I mean, this literally is a retelling of the story of the birth of Christ.

♪ Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know?

♪ ♪ ♪ In your palace warm, mighty king ♪ ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know?

♪ ♪ ♪ A child shivers in the cold ♪ ♪ We can bring Him silver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring Him silver and gold ♪ ♪ (narrator) Gloria Shayne Baker, the composer of "Do You Hear What I Hear," was a peace-loving, left-leaning Jewish woman from Brookline, Massachusetts.

As a child, she grew up in the house next to John F. Kennedy, someone who, we all believed, could save the world.

♪ (Rob B.)

One of the ideas of Christmas is it's a peaceful time of year.

Peace, goodwill to all men, brotherhood.

And "Do You Hear What I Hear" captures that sentiment in a very poignant way.

It's about something bigger than being Jewish or being Christian.

It's about trying to find a unity, a place where we all come together.

I mean, to defeat the Cuban Missile Crisis, we needed to be bigger than Jewish, we needed to be bigger than Christian.

It was kind of a crisis that affected everyone.

And I think the power of these songs, and in this one, is that it's Jewish in the best sense of Jewish, which is a concern for everyone.

(female vocalist) ♪ Said the king to the people everywhere ♪ ♪ Listen to what I say ♪ ♪ ♪ Pray for peace, people everywhere ♪ ♪ Listen ♪ ♪ ♪ Listen ♪ ♪ A child sleeping in the night ♪ ♪ He will bring us goodness and light ♪ ♪ He will bring us goodness and light ♪ ♪ ♪ Listen to what I say ♪ ♪ Pray for peace, people everywhere ♪ ♪ Listen ♪ ♪ Listen ♪ ♪ Pray for peace ♪ ♪ ♪ Listen ♪ ♪ ♪ Peace ♪ ♪ (narrator) "Do You Hear What I Hear" was one of the last great Christmas songs written in the years following World War II.

♪ All of these songs expressed a kind of innocence, a nostalgic idea of the holidays that was imagined by these songwriters.

It was an innocence we were losing.

♪ (Mirjam) Music can be such an expression of longing, of remembering something that you lost.

It's a highly emotional medium.

And I think migration always leads to a loss.

And maybe music is a form of remembering what you lost.

That's what it's about, it's about loss and that sense of trying to recover that loss by singing.

You know, it's an old, old, ancient tradition that you use songs both to reflect what you have but also to gain what you don't have, you know?

That's what song is about.

(singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" in Yiddish) ♪ (waiter) ♪ Snowman ♪ (singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" in Yiddish) ♪ ♪ Snowman ♪ (singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" in Yiddish) ♪ (energetic shout) (lively music) ♪ (Rob K.) Everyone has found power in these songs, no matter what their walks of life.

(Rob B.)

They capture a sense of this holiday, and, you know what, it made a lot of people happy.

♪ (cheering) ♪ (Rabbi Plaut) Many Jews will tell you, "Christmas is my favorite Jewish holiday because I can express my Jewish identity more than any other day of the year."

♪ There is a little bit like, whether you hate it or not, of magic.

People are nice to each other, maybe, for that one day.

♪ (Father Rosica) So I'm grateful for those songs that evoke emotions of hope, of family, of gratitude.

It's all the things that make us human.

(Jackie) I don't feel any great difference between saying Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

Generosity and helpfulness and compassion is part of everything a religious Jew learns from the day he's born.

♪ What would Christmas be like if none of those songs had been written?

The emotional mood of North America would be completely different.

'Cause it's about universality.

♪ (narrator) Feeling like you belong, that you're accepted, is not something to be taken for granted.

These songs seem more relevant today than ever.

When so many people choose to stress our differences, it's important that we reach out to include one another.

These are songs that were written for all of us, and that, to me, is what Christmas was always about.

(excited exclamation) (Klezmer-inflected "Deck the Halls") ♪ ♪ (bright music)