Hanukkah Song Removed From School Concert in Rochester, Minnesota [View all]

[Behind the Aegis]

A choir teacher removed a Hanukkah song from a middle school holiday concert in Rochester, Minnesota, after students “expressed concern that singing a traditionally Jewish song could be perceived as taking a side in the ongoing international conflict,” according to a report by KTTC-TV.

The story, by reporter Megan Zemple, says the incident involves Kellogg Middle School and was confirmed by the School District, which stressed it does not have a district policy banning religious songs.

According to Zemple’s report, the teacher also removed a Kwanzaa song from the concert. The teacher was not identified in the report.

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The district also told KTTC:

A teacher removed two songs from the planned repertoire of holiday songs: a Kwanzaa song and a Hanukkah song. Both proved too difficult to learn to the quality expected within the time available. In addition, several students expressed concern that singing a traditionally Jewish song could be perceived as taking a side in the ongoing international conflict. The teacher engaged in dialogue with the students, which led to the teacher’s decision to remove these two songs from the concert program in early November. The District does not consider a song from any faith tradition to be inherently controversial.

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