The old-world antisemitism in a Christmas pageant near you

[Mosby]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP)

The pageant isn’t short on spectacle: The Holy Family, richly robed wise men, armored Roman soldiers and peasants dressed in bright Ukrainian embroidery all catch the eye. But even amid that explosion of color, the Jew is easy to spot.

He appears on stage as a caricature of a Hasidic innkeep, including payot sidelocks. The character’s name is Moshko the zhyd — a slur for “Jew” — and he is there to remind audience members of the evil in their midst.

“If you need to borrow money, Moishe Yakovlevich will gladly provide,” Moshko says, tempting the shepherds and wise men away from celebrating the Nativity.

"You lend money, then kick people out of their homes,” a shepherd replies.

Moshko responds by cursing the believers, summoning the Devil as well as “the Roma” — the other ethnic villain of the play — to help him defeat Jesus.

This vestige of medieval antisemitism was just publicly live-streamed by St. Mary Protectress Ukrainian Catholic Church in Orlando, Florida, whose Facebook page invites viewers to “immerse yourselves in the magic of Christmas.” But I don’t mean to single out this church; its pageant is not unusual. Every winter, hundreds of Moshkos don the Jewish equivalent of blackface and scuffle onto stages in churches and community centers from New York to Chicago, Connecticut to Ohio, Dublin to Dubai. And many of the pageants, called verteps, are propagated by a branch of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Washington Post

[Bluetus]

1. I have not seen one of those shows. It sounds really offensive, intentionally.

And as I point out to my Christian friends every year, Jesus was born a Jew and Rabbi Jesus died a Jew. "Christianity" didn't exist for another 400 years in any recognizable form. So if they are portraying the baby Jesus, no crib for a bed, placed in a manger because the inn was full, this is a Jewish scene, although it might not be featured in Jewish traditions.

It is all complicated. Beware people who try to offer simple answers to everything.

To all my friends of various faiths, or not, I wish you all peace and happiness in the season and the new year.

[harumph]

2. Minor quibble: while the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is in communion with the RCC,

...meaning it recognizes the Pope as the head of the Church, it is autonomous and follows its own Eastern Rite traditions.
Still, this cultural practice (I had no idea this was a thing) is completely shameful and you have to wonder about what is being taught or not taught in the homes of the parishioners. I'm certain that Pope Leo would personally be disgusted. In my experience, the RCC is not a hive mind inasmuch as there are both very liberal minded parishes with people trending to the righteous and hopelessly retrograde ones.

[mountain grammy]

3. Extremely offensive and perpetuates antisemitism

I don't know if the younger generations of a culture even recognize it for what it is, but they're young and easily indoctinated. It's beyond time for these programs to be updated and discard the old ways of old Europe that never did anyone any good.

But American suburbs aren’t the wasteland. And “the Church does not tolerate antisemitism” isn’t a statement of fact — it’s an ideal. The reality is that right now bishops and priests across the globe, including in Pope Leo’s hometown of Chicago, are carrying out an annual tradition of teaching children to hate Jews and Roma. Will the church continue to tolerate it?

and they wonder why church attendance is down.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Disgusting and infuriating.