In an Age of Darkness, A Festival of Lights
By Grace Bydalek
FOX News Media
On Monday evening, the FOX News family gathered for the fourth time to light the All-American Christmas Tree at NewsCorp's headquarters. What, in past years, has been a cheeky Christmastime celebration draped in red, white, and blue, was instead something more poignant—a Judeo-Christian commemoration of Western values. An interfaith community standing in defiance of evil. A much-needed festival of lights in a season of darkness.
In the initial minutes of the program, "The Five" host Dana Perino paid homage to the victims of the October 7th terrorist attack. “The holiday season always reminds us to remember what is most important. This year, the Fox family is thinking of Israel and the Jewish people,” she said, affirming nods from Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters. “Believe me, we hear you and we are standing with you. It has been a heart-wrenching 44 days since Hamas terrorists launched an attack on the Israeli people. More than 200 are still being held hostage, including babies as young as ten months old. And we are all hoping and praying that their families get to hug them again very soon.”
During the broadcast, FOX News Media donated 1000 gifts to the First Responders Children’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing financial support to children who have lost a parent in the line of duty, as well as families enduring significant financial hardship due to tragic circumstances. Beneficiaries Marsha and Adrianna Slack were interviewed by Judge Jeanine Pirro, flanked by first responders and NYPD.
Reverend Lawrence Akers, Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein stood together to dedicate the 50-foot tall tree from Mt. Vernon, NY, a religious symbol on display in midtown Manhattan. “I’m in favor of religion in America,” said the famed Rabbi. “America is founded on the biblical tradition, the biblical tradition of the prophet Micah who stated, “what does God want of us but to do justice, to dispense kindness, and to walk humbly with God? (Micah 6:8)”
“We praise you for the light of Israel—the law, the prophets, and the wisdom of the scriptures,” added Cardinal Dolan. “We praise you for Jesus Christ your son; he is Emmanuel, God with us, the Prince of Peace who fills us with wonder and love.”
As sons and daughters of Abraham stood before the 340,000 bulbs illumined like skyscraper windows, I felt a swelling reverence for the Judeo-Christian communities of New York City. Millions of lights flood the five boroughs—wearing kippot on Park Avenue, singing in makeshift chapels in Flushing, bringing Dunkin’ sufganiyot home for Hanukkah or challah home for Shabbat—shining visibly and vulnerably against a scrim of cultural darkness.
“I say to my Christian brothers and sisters, Merry Christmas to you,” bid the Rabbi. “And to all Americans, I say may we be able to live together in a land, and as a nation, undivided, indivisible, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Grace Bydalek is a Nebraska native living on the Upper West Side. She is the Director of the Dissident Project, a theatre critic for the New York Sun, and an independent journalist focused on culture, politics and faith.
