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12,826 shares Russian solders, left, take pictures with a tree decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Moscow, Russia, December 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) JTA — Growing up in metro Detroit, I used to watch my Jewish mother, who immigrated from Riga, Latvia, decorate a tree in our living room each December. “But we’re Jewish, so why do we have a Christmas tree?” I recall thinking. While I didn’t understand the tradition at first, I grew to understand it over time. It wasn’t about assimilation, and it wasn’t even a Christmas tree: It was a yolka, a secu...

A yolka tree in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (Yelena VereshchakaTASS via Getty Images) Advertisement (JTA) — Growing up in metro Detroit, I used to watch my Jewish mother, who immigrated from Riga, Latvia, decorate a tree in our living room each December.  “But we’re Jewish, so why do we have a Christmas tree?” I recall thinking. While I didn’t understand the tradition at first, I grew to understand it over time. It wasn’t about assimilation, and it wasn’t even a Christmas tree: It was a yolka, a secular symbol connected to Novy God, or the Russian New Year. A...