As the father to five daughters, I get dragged into shopping often. So for 11 months of the year, I avoid malls at all costs. But come December, I actually look for any excuse I can to walk around a mall. (No, it’s not the holiday sales.) It’s a little embarrassing for me as a Rabbi to admit this, but it’s because I absolutely love Christmas music.

Maybe it’s the warm nostalgia for the winters of my childhood. Maybe it’s because many of the best Xmas songs were written by Jews. But whatever it is, when Carol of the Bells comes on I suddenly feel this urge to defend my imaginary home like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.

The fact that a Rabbi can love Jingle Bells just goes to show how seamlessly the holiday has been woven into the fabric of American society. But it makes me wonder, does our Jewish community get just as excited about our own holidays and traditions? Do we really well up with pride when I Had a Little Dreidel comes on? And who makes dreidels out of clay, anyway?

It all comes down to effort. It doesn’t take any effort to get into the Christmas spirit, just go to the mall! But it does take effort to maintain a proud and engaged Jewish life within a largely non-Jewish society. How many of us (my younger self included) don't know the words to Shema Yisrael, yet we know all the lyrics to Silent Night? Without making that effort to remain connected to our Jewish heritage–regardless of whether or not we enjoy Christmas music–our community stagnates.

Which is why I’ve devoted my own life and career to helping encourage the thousands of Jewish grad students and alumni who are at a reflection point in their lives, when they’re considering whether to remain involved in the Jewish community, to make that effort. Through building a platform on campus where grad students can comfortably explore their heritage, through inspiring them to swim upstream in increasingly hostile waters, JGSI is cultivating tomorrow’s leaders of our Jewish community–today.

So, this Rabbi won’t stop dreaming of a White Christmas (though it’s unlikely here in LA). But I’ll also never stop dreaming of a strong and vibrant Jewish future. In the meantime, see you at the mall :)