Happy Chrismukkah to those who celebrate either one or both holidays like our family does emanating from Cecile’s ancestral heritage. “This year, for the first time since 2005, Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day. We figured, there’s no better way to celebrate ‘Chrismukkah’ than with a tribute to the Jewish Americans like Irving Berlin.
“Berlin drew on Yiddish and the rhythms and chords of traditional cantorial music to create our most beloved Christmas tunes. His melancholic masterpiece, of course, is ‘White Christmas,’ and he didn’t write it until he was in his 50s, when his career might have been winding down. The original was recorded in 1942 by Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby singers,” and Frank Sinatra two years later. White Christmas is still thought to be the biggest-selling single in the history of recorded music, bigger than ‘Billie Jean,’ I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ or anything Elvis.”
Attributed to Eli Lake, of The Freepress
