Most of the most famous and beloved Christmas songs composed since the 1940s - "White Christmas", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Do You Hear What I Hear?", "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)", "Winter Wonderland", "Silver Bells", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", and more - were written by Jewish composers and lyricists.
Here's an explanation of the historical context behind them. It's worth reading in full, as there are several conspicuous parallels to our current age.
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Each of these Jewish songwriters took their own individual path toward assimilation, but together they created the soundtrack for a truly melting-pot Christmas in which people of all faiths could participate. Everyone was invited to this new, democratic Christmas party and that inclusive, joyful, welcoming spirit is part of what makes these songs so appealing.
The new secular Christmas they helped invent reflected the country’s deepest hopes and dreams of connection, and it brought people together in a profoundly divided world.
[...] However, as the holiday season approaches, it is important to remember that [these songs] came from the children of Jewish immigrants, desperate to leave their pasts behind and join mainstream America. And today, at this polarizing moment in our history, when the place of immigrants in our society is under intense scrutiny, it might be valuable to remember that these songs of immigrants, songs that came out of America’s melting pot, have become the voice of the world’s Christmas.
They have become the soundtrack of our holiday dreams.
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