- Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz and his family are currently raising two children, both aged 3, who came from a Christian home.
- He dressed up as Santa Claus to surprise the children so they wouldn’t miss out on the experience due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Yanklowitz, an orthodox rabbi, comes from an interfaith family and hopes to promote religious pluralism and tolerance.
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Santa Claus came to town – thanks to an orthodox rabbi in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz and his wife Shoshana have been adoptive parents for years, in addition to having four children. Currently, they have two adopted children who are brothers, one who just turned 3 and the other who is about to turn 4.
In the past, Yanklowitz took adopted children to meet Santa Claus during the holiday season, but the coronavirus pandemic has ruled this out this year. Still, he realized the brothers ‘love of Christmas – singing “Jingle Bells”, watching the neighbors’ Christmas lights, asking about Santa Claus – and wanted to do something to help them celebrate.
A friend offered to walk down the street in Santa Claus clothes for a socially distant visit, but Yanklowitz didn’t think that was enough. When he posted on Facebook about his dilemma, another friend sent him a Santa Claus costume.
“I knew because of COVID that I wouldn’t let them go to see any Santa Claus or meet someone new, so when it became clear that it had to be me and someone sent me the clothes, it made a lot of sense to just do it myself,” he said. him to Insider.
Yanklowitz sneaked into the garage, put on Santa’s costume, put some Christmas music on the phone in the queue and rang the bell
Yanklowitz with one of his adopted children, whose face has been obscured to protect his privacy.
Courtesy of Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
“They were totally shocked when I opened the door,” he said. “I tried to be quick and I couldn’t believe they didn’t know it was me. I was sure they would say ‘Is it you?’ or that one of our children would give, but our children agreed. Worked perfectly. “
Yanklowitz gave gifts to the boys and made them sit on his lap, as they would at the mall.
“The oldest in particular was thrilled,” he said. “The youngest was actually a little shy and scared, which is quite typical of Santa Claus culture for very young children, so he was not so involved, but the older one was jumping up and down and went straight to on my lap and was looking at me and smiling, in shock and awe. “
He shared the experience on Facebook, although he met an orthodox rabbi dressed as Santa Claus who raised some eyebrows.
“I was very aware of posting this that would bring great critics who would say that I have crossed the line, that I am not a real rabbi, or that I am distorting tradition, or all these things that I have heard,” he said. “I decided that it is much more important for me to promote models of religious pluralism and tolerance and to promote involvement in supporting vulnerable children than to defend my reputation.”
Yanklowitz knows firsthand how important Christmas can be for children, having himself been raised in an interfaith home.
“As a child, Christmas was a big thing in our home – Christmas trees, ornaments, lights, Santa’s experiences,” he said. “I think about it and there is really nothing in my life that I can think of like that, this completely magical experience full of admiration, admiration, warmth and love that I remember feeling. I could not have imagined it as a child there one year when none of that existed. It was very much integrated into the life cycle and that consistency was very important to me as a child. I don’t know how Christmas was last year, but I wanted to protect my bets and make sure it was the most positive and as similar as possible to what they had in the past. “