JERUSALEM ? Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau yesterday urged Jews in Israel not to celebrate Christmas or New Year's Day, warning that such observances threaten the identity of the Jewish state. Lau encouraged Christian Israeli Arabs, foreign workers and immigrants to mark the holidays. But he said Jewish families should not "be swept into keeping a way of life that is not their own, while obliterating and losing their self-respect."

In recent years, small numbers of Israeli Jews have begun celebrating Christmas, putting up lights in shops and even trees in homes. The trend began with the influx of thousands of Christians ? many of them married to Jews ? in the early 1990s as part of a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.

This week Israeli radio stations have occasionally played Christmas songs like "Jingle Bells" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." Israel's national radio station even played "Silent Night."

According to Israeli government statistics, 142,000 Christians live in Israel, including 115,000 Christian Arabs