The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...to be Jewish

Being Jewish on Christmas always reminded me of that early 1900's song, Teddy Bear's Picnic, where people are warned not to go into the woods because it has been taken over by the entirety of the teddy bear population. Teddy Bear's deserve their own holiday in a world that is dictated by human action, just as the holiday that the Jewish Community gets on Christmas. At some point over the past 50 years, Christmas revealed that 614th mitzvah and phenomenon: the mass. Not the kind of mass a church holds, but the mass consumption of a good movie and good Chinese food. About six years ago, Saturday Night Life captured this whole phenomenon in their claymation short, Christmas Time for the Jews. 

We in the Philadelphia Jewish world take every opportunity we can to celebrate this rare and exiting time when the city becomes our playground. Let's start with Christmas Eve, shall we? 

Our featured event that evening, and the place where the Collab team will be hanging out is the 13th Annual "To Life Party" at the Public House and Mission Grill. Each location will have it's own DJ, bottles to be popped and definitely the place to see and be seen. I hear that the VIP tickets are going fast and general admission tickets are still available. Click on the link above to get your tickets for this fantastic event! Here is the formal event description:

Making a return appearance for the 7th consecutive year will be no other than DJ YAN spinning some of the best House and Dance beats you ever heard at Mission Grill. Making their first appearance at our TO LIFE party will be Double Down DJs Jason Weiss and Josh Schreiber spinning Top 40 Dance and all the tunes that you know and love at Public House. In honor of our 13th Year (Bar-Mitzvah) we will be giving out 600 grab bags graciously donated by SUGARHOUSE CASINO to our attendees.  The Grab Bags have a value of over $250.00 and contain coupons, gift cards, and other items.

After you have had a more than adequate opportunity to sleep in and recoup from the night before, leave it the Philadelphia's newest addition, the National Museum of American Jewish History, to be open on Christmas day! It makes too much sense. And hey, if your family's around and looking for things to do as well this is a great way to spend some time together too. There is an entire day planned for Being Jewish at Christmas. But listen, if people outside of the 20s and 30s demographic make you uncomfortable, the Collab team has partnered with some of our favorite buddies from the Moishe House and the National Museum of American Jewish History for our own "Being Jewish on Christmas: After Hours" event! From 5:30-8:30 be prepared to eat Chinese Food to your heart's delight and watch a classic film picked by the event's coordinators. It's still a surprise, so you'll have to wait and see.