Congregation Beth Israel Movie Night – “Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas”

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Larry Weinstein and released in 2017. The film profiles a number of musicians, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker, and Johnny Marks, who made a mark on contemporary culture by writing many of the most beloved Christmas music standards even though they were Jewish rather than Christian; it focuses, in particular, on the way these songwriters helped to create the 20th-century shift from traditional liturgical Christmas music toward contemporary pop songs that address Christmas through universal themes of love, joy, peace, family, and the sensual pleasures of winter rather than explicitly religious imagery.