This is the time of year that I like to channel what I call my inner Irving Berlin.

We’re both Jewish guys who lived in the Catskills and have a passion for Christmas music.

Practically brothers from another mother.

If you don’t count the fact that our mothers gave birth 72 years apart and half-a-world away, or that I can’t write a note of music or sing anything in key, whereas Irving Berlin is one of the most prolific songwriters in American history — including those songs about Christmas. But why dwell on our differences?

It was while he was living in Lew Beach, a hamlet in the northern tip of Sullivan County, that Berlin found the inspiration in 1940 to write “White Christmas” — one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Not bad for a guy born Israel Baline in Russia. His father, Moses, was a cantor.

It’s not hard to imagine Berlin being inspired to think of a white Christmas while wintering in the rural reaches of Sullivan. He probably could have penned a song called White Easter. But it’s just as easy to understand why Berlin and so many Jews, myself included, treasure the music surrounding Christmas.

It’s not the religious significance, but rather how the music reminds us of the importance of friends and family in our lives. It cultivates a spirit of childhood kindness, allowing us to reflect in a time when even our greatest worries seem to pale from the troubles we face today.

Of course, you don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate the warmth of Christmas music. Nor do you have to be Christian to create these songs.

Berlin is one of many of my bar mitzvah brethren who are responsible for some of the most enduring Christmas standards ever written.

The history of Jews orchestrating Christmas goes back to the early 1800s, when composer Adolphe Adam wrote the music for “O Holy Night.”

These days, it’s hard to imagine Christmas without hearing “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “A Holly, Jolly Christmas.” They were all written by Jewish composer Johnny Marks from Mount Vernon. He also wrote “Silver and Gold” and “Run Rudolph Run.”

“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” was written by composer Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn (born Samuel Cohen), both Jewish.

“Silver Bells” was written by Jewish composers Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman), will forever be known as the man who wrote the theme song for Gilligan’s Island, but years before he teamed up with fellow Jew Edward Pola (born Sidney Pollacsek) to write, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

Nat King Cole immortalized, “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” but the music was by Melvin Howard Torme, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, better known as Mel Torme, nicknamed “The Velvet Fog.” He co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells (born Robert Levinson), also Jewish.

And while everyone knows Dr. Seuss created the Grinch, the song, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” was written by Albert Hague, born Albert Marcuse in Berlin. His family raised him Lutheran to avoid the taint of anti-Semitism. He came to America in 1939.

(Trivia time: Albert Hague played Mr. Shorofsky in the movie and TV series “Fame.”)

So, to my fellow Jews who complain this time of year about all the Christmas sounds on the radio, on TV and in the mall — we have only ourselves to blame.

Be it Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song” or “We Need a Little Christmas” by Jerry Herman, another Jewish composer whose family ran a summer camp here in the Catskills, let’s tone down the hatred and turn up the music and enjoy the sounds of the holiday season.

Barry Lewis is a longtime journalist and author who lives with his wife Bonnie in the Town of Neversink. He can be reached at      barrylewisscdemocrat@gmail.com.