0:00 who are you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to this special edition of the way to wow shows I'm your host Kevin bemel and I'm here to wish all of you who celebrate the festival a very happy Christmas so we're coming to the end of the year
0:37 and and sorry about that uh I always forget to close my email and it dings in the background we're coming to toward the end of the year and it's it's the holiday season and uh and and um I this is my favorite time of year from basically Halloween until New Year um things uh well in theory things slow down a little they didn't for me this year um the weather gets a little bit colder it's it's a an overcast day here
1:12 in Los Angeles and and it's it's chilly here in my house um the temperature hasn't broken above 65 yet um and I haven't bothered turning on the heat I'm just enjoying shivering a little bit and uh what I notice is people on the streets are are um a little happier um in many cases a little more patient although in some cases much less patient um and um there is there is definitely a a spirit of Christmas um that uh that
1:48 engulfs our country and um whether we celebrate the holiday or not I think we're all the beneficiaries uh of of the the the of the sort of happiness that that is endemic this this time of year so um as those of you who've watched the show before you know that I'm Jewish um I I live a um robustly Jewish life and so you may think it and and as well I'm I'm a rabbi so you may think it's it's
2:24 strange that I'm doing a show about Christmas uh I can tell you that uh you know having grown up in the United States um Christmas was around all the time um when I was a Cub Scout um I think I was the only Jewish Cub Scout in in my pack and uh my other my fellow Cub Scouts were um all I believe Christians um I don't think we had any um atheists or or agnostics in in my
2:59 pack when I was was a boy um and uh it was always an exciting time for us you know Cub Scouts were 8 nine 10 10 years old and looking forward to to presence and um and such um I remember being at one particular pack meeting and uh it was the pack meeting for December it was probably I I think it was December um 1968 I'm pretty sure maybe 1969 so the Vietnam War was going
3:34 on and um Santa Claus came to the pack meeting and one by one my fellow Cub Scouts all went up to sit on Santa's lap and answer his seminal question uh what do you want for Christmas and knowing that I did not celebrate Christmas I kind of hung out in the back and didn't you know had no intention of going up and sitting on Santa's lap um but it was fun to watch my uh my fellow Cub Scouts go up there and listen to what they had to say and so all the other Cubs went up
4:11 there and did their thing and the uh packmas I think it was asked you know have we missed anybody and I didn't say anything I I didn't feel like I had missed um but somebody saw that I hadn't been up there say well Kevin hasn't been up there uh and uh and so they insisted that I go up and sit on Santa's lap so I did you know and so I'm sitting on Santa's lap and and uh and Santa asked me uh what do you want for Christmas
4:46 so prous kid that I was I said well I I'd like world peace for Sant Claus right he was um but I will say without a beat he said well that's that's a tough one he said I'll I'll work on that um but isn't there something maybe you'd like for yourself and I said well I I appreciate that I said but I'm Jewish and and so I don't I don't celebrate Christmas but uh but but you know thank you for offering you
5:21 know got off his lap and you know went back with you know and and I it for me it was um an interesting experience uh I I maybe today people would be insulted by someone insisting that they go sit on Santa's lap if they're Jewish I did not um all the other Scouts were doing it it seemed perfectly fine I I knew who I was and um and all of that but but that you know memory has always stuck with me and and how um Santa Claus with with you
5:56 know hardly missing a beat basically said well that that's kind of a tough one uh you know I uh I'll uh I'll have to work on that so uh needless to say he wasn't able to bring about world peace uh really ever since then but I think the Vietnam War ended in what 7172 so took him a little while to to get that under control um but I remember too I um as a maybe a Cub Scout or maybe I was a boy scout at this point uh in an effort for um all the scouts to learn from each other we went
6:33 to one of our Scouts homes and he showed us the lighting of the Advent wreath which I'd never seen before I didn't know anything about it was uh I thought it was a lovely um ritual um and uh I i' I've never gotten to see it since I don't know if it's a widely practiced Uh custom to to tell you the truth but uh it was nice to be able to to to share in that and to uh understand how other people celebrated their their
7:09 holidays um over and above the more you know commercial aspects of of Christmas which um are I think you know somewhat unfortunate that it's it's even in my day even when I was a child I should say you know there were complaints about how commercialized Christmas was but uh even more so today um every year um you know this is when I was a child and a teenager this was still the days of of three the three networks CBS ABC and NBC and there were the shows every Christmas
7:44 season that my sisters and I watched H A Charlie Brown Christmas which always touched our hearts especially when lonus wrapped his blanket around the poor little tree and it sort of blossomed and and of course How the Grinch Stole Christmas A classic I watched it earlier this week um you know nowadays you can find it almost anywhere uh the original one the animated one um and uh you know my sisters and I we knew who we were but it was fun to be able to watch these shows um to watch um
8:22 It's a Wonderful Life the the amazing uh Jimmy Stewart movie was also something I did pretty much every year uh and and that movie is incredibly inspiring um whether you're you know Christian whether you celebrate Christmas or not and what was nice uh and this is different then than today is we you know most because there are only three channels and then a few independent TV stations but people watched all these programs everybody watched them so it
8:58 was something we did together as as a country almost uh and that that's that's a wonderful thing you know television is media in general is really no longer a sort of unifying uh phenomenon in our culture because it's so scattered with hundreds or thousands of channels and podcasts and all of that so everybody you know On Any Given evening we're we're not watching the same three programs are mostly watching the same three programs that they did when I was when I was a child so um I think we've
9:36 lost something there a as a as a country um but uh and especially during the holiday times uh that you know we're all watching these same iconic programs so those are you know those are my um memories of of Christmas uh and and two when I was a teenag um one of my absolute favorite things to do was to go caroling I I love that Christmas music is beautiful there's I'm you know um
10:11 again it may sound strange coming from a Jewish guy but but I have it on uh um good authority that even the what are called the gdle the the the great rabbis who live in you know New York City um when they're alone and private they you know they will listen I'm sorry what what was it he told me oh when they're in when they get into a taxi if the uh Taxi Driver tries to turn off the Christmas music um that he may be listening to they'll tell him no no no leave it on leave it on it's
10:46 fine um I have a a very longstanding friend uh Bruce who um starts listening to Christmas music I think right after Thanksgiving listens to it for an entire month um I I often time I one of the stations I listen to regularly switches to Christmas all Christmas music you know 24 hours a day and and all you know I listen to songs and in fact before the show to get in the M mood for it I was listening to some uh Christmas music it's it's it's beautiful it's very meaningful and um just because um I
11:22 don't um participate in the theology um behind Christmas doesn't mean that I can't um uh enjoy um the the various aspects of them of of the holiday and and um and and most importantly wish um my you know Christian friends who do celebrate it you know a happy Christmas and and all the joy of the Season which which I've been doing now for the last couple of weeks so again for those of you who have seen
11:59 one of my special editions before um I I do a reading of some sort and as you might have G as you might guess my my reading for um for this Christmas Eve um is uh the classic a visit from St Nicholas um to to me again as a as a you know kid who you know grew up in you know in the Gestalt of Christmas but not celebrating it um this this expresses uh the the wonderment of
12:35 the day probably this and The Gift of the Magi are are the two um um Christmas pieces that seem to me to express the the the heart of the holiday so uh for those if you don't happen to know this a visit from St Nicholas was written by a man named Clement Clark Moore um he was born in 1779 in New York City he was the son of Benjamin Moore a prominent Episcopalian Bishop probably not the inventor of the
13:11 paint because Benjamin Moore always sounds to me like you know Benjamin Moore Paint company he graduated from Columbia College which is the predecessor to Columbia University in 1798 you will note he was 19 years old when he graduated from college so so indeed in this in this time period people did graduate from college much younger than they do now uh he was a professor of Oriental and Greek literature as well as biblical learning at the general Theological Seminary in New York a school for which he donated
13:46 the land so in addition to being a professor and an author he was also a noted philanthropist um Far and Away Moore's most famous poem was is of course a visit from St Nicholas um which he wrote in 1823 so this you know today celebrates the 200 well not today but this year celebrates the 2011 anniversary of this poem um it was originally published anonymously and it
14:21 became an absolute holiday classic and it really um shaped AP the modern image of Santa Claus so in Europe he's known as variously as Father Christmas uh Chris Kringle and such here in the United States Santa Claus who's really how he's known um and the picture we have of him in our minds is is really an an evocation of uh Moore's uh poem describing um Santa Claus visiting this
14:57 uh this man's home um Moore lived much of his life in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood um so if if you live in Chelsea right now you're you're living at you know ground zero for the creation of a visit by St a visit from St Nicholas and he he contributed quite a bit to the area's development he was indeed a devoted New Yorker um and and he passed away in 1863 um just after the Civil War started um in Newport Rhode Island so um you know he he lived to to be uh 83 84 years
15:35 old um a a man of um of learning and of uh Phil philanthropy and and this this poem that's lived on for two centuries now um really is is a tribute to I think what what I surmise to be uh Clement Moore's desire to a sense of wonderment to to the Christian to the Christmas holiday so so you know I'm G to I'm going to read uh the uh the poem here and uh and and and
16:12 so and I do this uh again as a as a tribute to um all my Christian friends who are celebrating the holiday it was the night before Christmas went all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there the children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads and Mama in her cief and I in my cap had
16:47 just settled our brains for a long winter's nap when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter a way to the window I flew like a flash tore open the shutters and threw up the sash the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of midday to objects below when what to my wondering eyes did appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer with a little old driver so
17:22 Lively and quick I knew in a moment he must be St Nick more rapid than Eagles his sers they came and he whistled and shouted and called them by name now Dasher now dancer now Prancer and Vixen on comet on cupin on Doner and Blitzen to the top of the porch to the top of the way wall now dash away Dash away Dash away all As Leaves that before the wild hurricane fly when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky so up to the Housetop the coursers they flew with the sleigh full of toys and St
17:58 Nicholas to and then in a twinkling I heard on the roof the Prancing and pawing of each little hoof as I drew in my head and was turning around down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound he was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot and his clothes were all tarnished with a ashes and soot a bundle of toys he had flung on his back he looked like a peddler just opening his back his eyes how they twinkled his dimples how merry his cheeks were like roses his nose like
18:34 a cherry his draw little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath he had a broad face and a little round belly That Shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly he was chubby and PLU a right Jolly Old elf and I laugh when I saw him in spite of myself a wink of his eye and a Twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to
19:11 dread he spoke not a word but went straight to his work and filled all the stockings then turned with a jerk and laying a finger aside of his nose and giving a nod up the chimney he rose he sprang to his sleigh to his team gave a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle but I heard him exclaim a he drove out of sight happy Christmas to all and to all a good
19:47 night H yeah I was um practicing the reading um a little while ago and getting to that last line um it actually made me well up um emotionally um would that my wish as an eight-year-old Cub Scout would come to our world and would that Santa Claus could bring it um but uh maybe if we
20:22 all pray deeply enough and work hard enough maybe we can have world peace and if we do it will be at least partly in the spirit of Clement Moors a visit from St Nicholas so I wish all of you celebrating a very very Merry Christmas all the joy of the season and I hope that you're able to be with friends
20:57 family loved ones on this night and and throughout the holidays signing off as I always do my dear friend Marie who who did celebrate Christmas um a lovely woman you're my bell Marie you always will be courage at all times my friends