LEWISTON – Rabbi Hillel Katzir laughed Tuesday as he recalled his Santa Claus moment. No embarrassment. No anger.

“I think it’s kind of cool,” the Jewish leader said of his handshake with Kris Kringle, who was surrounded by children at the city’s downtown holiday celebration.

Each child had a hug, a handshake or a present request for the Christmas elf.

As a younger man, feeling the bite of a minority, Katzir might have been upset, he said. He might have recoiled if someone wished him “Merry Christmas.”

No more. Katzir and a number of religious leaders around Lewiston-Auburn are trying harder than ever to make room for other faiths.

Particularly now.

Besides Christmas’ arrival on Monday, the Jewish observance of Hanukkah continues until Saturday. Pagans will celebrate Yule on Thursday. Kwanzaa begins on Dec. 26. And Muslims will recognize the start of Hajj on the 29th and Eid al Adha two days later.

“There are all kinds of holidays,” said Katzir, who believes that the city does its job best when inviting everyone to play a role.

“I think it’s becoming common in America,” he said.

It’s the kind of work that the Rev. Bill Blaine-Wallace does year-round.

The chaplain at Bates College and an Episcopal priest, Blaine-Wallace works with students from a variety of religions. Besides the expected – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – students attending the school include Hindus and Buddhists, who are few in Maine.

Blaine-Wallace said he listens and asks questions about faiths and traditions.

“I follow my curiosity,” he said. “I ask, ‘Who are you with?’ and ‘What do you eat?'”

Since arriving this summer, the chaplain has been working with the school’s Multi-faith Council of 15 to 18 students, who are becoming increasingly active in Bates events. The group has changed its name to Wellroot.

“It organically evolved,” he said.

In anticipation of the holidays, Blaine-Wallace hosted the group at his home for a gathering that was heavy on Christianity and Judaism but included folks of all faiths and even an atheist Wellroot member.

Katzir believes such activities are largely a showing of respect for others, something that ought to be part of the holiday season.

“A lot of the problems get better as we learn more about people,” he said.

Shortly after arriving in the area in 2003, when he was hired to lead Temple Shalom Synagogue Center in Auburn, Katzir was asked to join organizers of the city of Lewiston’s holiday celebration.

Unknowingly, the group scheduled its first event on a Friday night, during the Jewish Sabbath.

“I told them I’ll be happy to help, but I can’t be there,” he said. “Since then, it’s been held mid-week.” This was his second year at the celebration. Both times, he has lit a Menorah a few feet from a tall Christmas tree.

“There is something to be said for political correctness,” Katzir said.

Though it can be taken too far, as in the recurring controversy over simple greetings.

The Rev. Ted Toppses, who leads Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Lewiston, said he wishes fewer people worried about greeting someone with “Merry Christmas.”

He wouldn’t mind if someone wished him a “Happy Hanukkah,” he said.

“People should be free to express their feelings,” he said. “It’s not like someone’s trying to convert or hurt you.”

Katzir said he once bristled at “Merry Christmas” but he got over it as he matured, he said.

“They’re trying to be nice,” he said.

And to his friends who are Christians?

“I tell them, ‘Have a happy and holy Christmas,'” he said.