Halachot and Customs
Is It Permitted to Celebrate the New Year Holiday?
Question
Hello, honored rabbi.
I am becoming more observant. Over the years my family and I, Jews but not religiously observant, have celebrated the New Year holiday. This is a holiday that I have loved since infancy, but recently a religious friend of mine said that it is a Christian holiday because the tree is a symbol of Christianity. My friend claims that if I want to celebrate the New Year holiday, I should buy a tree that was cut down by Jews, since a tree cut down by non-Jews is impure and it is forbidden to celebrate with it. I have several questions on this matter:
1. How can I know whether the tree was cut down by a Jew? For example, what if the tree was imported from abroad?
2. What if the Jew is not observant of mitzvot and Shabbat (like me at present, though I am in the process of becoming stronger), and in fact he is not really Jewish?
3. What if the Jew is traditional but does not keep kosher and then touches the tree? Is the tree impure?
I would appreciate your answers
Answer
Hello and blessings
It seems that this is not outright idolatry, and you do not need to quarrel with the family.
The tree does not become impure under any circumstances. There is concern that when the tree is cut for idolatry, it is forbidden to derive benefit from it. But one cannot say that a fir tree has the status of idolatry even if a Christian cut it down for the holiday.
With blessings,
Binyamin Shmueli
