I am Jewish and I am not offended in the least by seeing Christmas
trees. (my husband is not Jewish and we do put one up at home--I get
more excited about doing it than he does!) I am more offended, or rather
shamed, by well-meaning non-Jews who try to include the holiday of
Chanukah in their public holiday celebrations and do it incorrectly.

I would like to put in a plug for those who choose to interpret symbols
from other cultures:  please find out (by asking those who know) what
"the" written authority is on the holiday (i.e., for Chanukah, try the
Encyclopedia Judaica which is included in the library of any large
synagogue or any university library) and consult it, then footnote it
somehow.  If there is nobody to ask, there exists a giant compendium of
holidays from around the world that gives bibliographic citations for
most of the information contained therein.

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center