“Can I interest you… in Hanukkah?”
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Having been raised with secular Christmas as well as… well, secular Hanukkah and secular pretty much every other holiday, I find this time of year an odd one, especially now that I live at the Ravenna Kibbutz and am, for the first time in my life, surrounded by Jews my age from many different religious and cultural backgrounds. My dad’s first wife wasn’t Jewish, so they raised their kids with both Christian and Jewish holidays; when he married my mother, who was raised Jewish, he just couldn’t give up Christmas. So I had stockings, Santa, a tree, angel chimes, carols… you name it.
Now I find myself getting into interesting discussions with other Jews who aren’t as keen on Christmas, or at least not on the de facto Christianity of the U.S.—a country that isn’t supposed to be affiliated with any religion. I still like Christmas but reflect every year on what it means to be a Jew who’s fond of it, and how to enjoy it without getting into the unwise (but not uncommon) state of mind that life would be better if I were part of the cultural mainstream that has made Christmas Day a federal holiday (which, of course, it really shouldn’t be).
Anyway, it’s in that spirit that I present to you this except from A Colbert Christmas, which will surely inhabit plenty of Christmas and Hanukkah stockings this year:
