THE CHRISTMAS MENORAHS, HOW A TOWN FOUGHT HATE
By Janice Cohn
Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
Albert Whitman and Company, 1995
Category: Illustrated story
Christmas in July? Well, sort of.
I am doing some curriculum work this summer. Firstly, I am working on a curriculum guide for TRACKING TRASH. Secondly, I am writing several curriculum stories based on the history of my Unitarian Universalist (UU) church. Both have been rewarding, if somewhat difficult, projects. It was while working on the UU lessons that I came across THE CHRISTMAS MENORAHS.
The book is based on actual events that occurred in Billings, Montana during the 1993 holiday season. A rock was thrown through the menorah-lighted bedroom window of a boy named Isaac Schnitzer. Isaac is shocked—to say nothing of frightened—to learn that his family was targeted simply because they are Jewish. When the local paper prints full-page menorahs, the Billings community responds in force: thousands of menorahs are displayed in windows—windows of all classes and all creeds—across the city. Take that, haters!
I like this book as a tool for framing discussions about hate crimes and standing together against bigots. And I like it for reminding me to stand up, too … in my own small way in my own small life.