MRFF Quickly Resolves Attempt by Installation Commander to Religiously Brand Their Command While Professing Judaism as Essentially a Christian Denomination

December 9, 2025

MRFF President/Founder Mikey Weinstein was contacted via email on Friday, December 5, 2025 by a client seeking assistance in responding to their installation’s commander deeming any non-Christian displays this holiday season as Woke/DEI military and nation destroying distractions. When MRFF’s client took advantage of this Commander’s ‘Open-Door Policy’ to request placement of Hanukkah displays, this Commander displayed their incredible theological perspective that “it is well known that Hanukkah is the Jewish Christmas” and therefore any Jews under his command should be satisfied they are represented by the Christmas displays.

MRFF’s email from this client provided additional details as well as what led them to contact Mikey & MRFF:

From:  (Active Duty Military Member/MRFF Client’s email address withheld)
Subject: Commander only allows Christmas decorations and calls Hanukkah the “Jewish Christmas”
Date: December 5, 2025 at 1:20:42 PM MST
To: Michael L Weinstein  <[email protected]>

This message is to Mr. Weinstein and the MRFF.

Thank you for helping us through the difficulties we are experiencing here at our U.S. military nstallation.

I am a Jewish active duty military member. My spouse is also in the active duty military. We are starting a family. My spouse is also Jewish.

Earlier this week our commander announced that only Christmas decorations were allowed in the headquarters facility where I work and under his command. He made it clear that the recognition of any other type of celebration would be unacceptable “wokeness” which would not be tolerated under his command. He often speaks his views that DEI is a cancer. He says it is destroying our country and our military. The next day there were four nativity scene displays erected in our headquarters complex.

He says he has an “open door policy”. So I made an appointment to come see him and asked about whether we could also have Hanukkah displays up. He seemed upset and said that since “it is well known that Hanukkah is the Jewish Christmas” Jewish personnel should be satisfied when they see a Christmas display that it also includes Hanukkah. Obviously that statement is just FUBAR!

He also stated that since the events of Hanukkah occurred several hundred years after the birth of Christ, this shows that Hanukkah is part of Christianity. Also incredibly insulting and just plain wrong. The Maccabean rebellion involving Hanukkah occurred more than one and a half centuries prior to the birth of Christ.

The commander made it very clear he wasn’t going to move on this. He has no interest or any clue in how his statements might be viewed as antisemitic or prejudicial.

My wife and I agonized over this as to what to do? My immediate supervisor (name and rank and title withheld) suggested that I contact you and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. We know that it would be fruitless to file an EEO or inspector general action. We significantly fear many different types of reprisal if we directly take this on. This is why we decided to reach out to Mr. Weinstein and the MRFF to at least let people know what has happened here. I’m sure our current Secretary of Defense would condone it. And perhaps even the President. But this is as much as we can do at least anonymously. As you promised to us please do not reveal any of our identification information at all. How is it “woke” to allow so many Christian nativity scenes all over our headquarters complex but to not allow even one little display, perhaps a single small menorah, for Hanukkah? Mr. Weinstein and the MRFF thank you for being the avenue through which we can express our shock and anger at our commander’s hateful decision.

(Active Duty Military Member/MRFF Client’s name, rank, AFSC/MOS/SFSC, unit, and installation all withheld)

MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda publicized this display of constitutional and theological ignorance in an article for Daily Kos and described the stunning level of clueless understanding of the basic history of the faith this installation Commander is trying to unconstitutionally dictate to his subordinates:

Apparently, this holier-than-thou commander hasn’t read the part of his revered holy book where Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Dedication, a.k.a. Hanukkah. Now, this isn’t some little minor story about Jesus going to the temple. This is when Jesus supposedly first asserted his divinity, uttering the words, “I and the Father are one,” followed by some of the Jews trying to stone him for blasphemy (John 10:22) — sort of a big deal event in the Jesus story that you’d think any Christian as devout as this Christmas-only commander would know about. But, no, he doesn’t have a clue. Bible reading is clearly not a prerequisite for Bible thumping.

One day after MRFF publicly and loudly exposing this situation, MRFF’s client emailed the results of MRFF’s intervention in this matter:

From: (Active Duty Military Member/MRFF Client’s E-mail Address Withheld)
Subject: Christmas nativity displays relocated to our installation chapels!
Date: December 9, 2025 at 2:28:52 PM MST
To: Michael L Weinstein  <[email protected]>

Dear Mr. Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

On behalf of my spouse and myself and our fellow members of the military Jewish community here at (military installation, name, and location withheld ) we would like to thank all of you so much for helping support us in our efforts against our commander and his erection of four Christmas nativity scenes in our command headquarters complex.

My military supervisor(name, rank and title withheld) advised me just a short while ago that all four of these Christmas nativity displays are being taken down and relocated before the close of business today. They are being placed instead at our installation chapels. The MRFF has confirmed for us that this relocation is completely legal under our constitution.

Our installation has at least half a dozen chapels. And we already have Hanukkah menorahs and other Hanukkah decorations up at three of them with the approval of our chaplains. Hanukkah is just a few days away now!

The media exposure that MRFF gave to this matter is clearly what caused this success to happen. As you may recall it was my military supervisor who steered my spouse and myself to MRFF in the first place to seek relief.

My spouse and I remain concerned about any sort of retaliation from my commander. Especially now with the nativity scenes being removed to the various chapel grounds. We will immediately contact Mr. Weinstein and the Foundation should anything like that occur. Please continue to protect all of our identification info.

We just cannot thank everybody associated with the MRFF enough for the support. The stress over this has been very bad and my spouse who is also active duty military like me is carrying our first child.

V/R, (Active Duty Military Member/MRFF Client’s name, rank, AFSC/MOS/SFSC, Unit and Installation all Withheld