December 2024 Chronicle
Dear Friends,
With Chanukah falling at the end of December the greeting “Happy Holidays” is more accurate than in other years, when Christmas is almost a month after Chanukah and one wonders which other “Holidays” are included in what used to be “Merry Christmas.” As Christmas celebrations became more expansive in the 1950’s and beyond, the Jewish reaction was interesting, and it led to two outcomes. First, Chanukah grew into something much larger than it ever was. From playing a dreidel game with some coins and lighting a Menorah for the minor Jewish holiday of Chanukah that is nowhere mentioned in the Torah, it became a Jewish “Celebration of Lights” with eight nights of gifts so Jewish kids could feel as good as their Christian counterparts who received many gifts under their Christmas trees.
As Seinfeld once said, “Not that there’s anything wrong with it.” Chanukah commemorates a bold attempt to resist assimilation into Greek culture a few thousand years ago in Israel. The Maccabees fought a guerilla war against Syrian Greek troops in the 160’s BCE, but were also at odds with many in the Jewish state who had made alliances with the Greeks and many who were already taking on pagan religious traditions. While the Jewish State expanded into its largest land area over the next fifty years, including parts of what is today Jordan and Saudi Arabia, ultimately the Romans conquered the entire Middle East, and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the city was burned as most of the Jews were expelled from their Homeland. Israel was renamed Palestine, to erase the 1,000 year history of Jewish monarchy over the land. The Philistines had lived along the coast, in what is now Gaza. King David conquered them almost three thousand years ago, and the Romans used the name of that long defeated nation, and it became known as Palestine. The only “Palestinians” living there for well over a thousand years, were Jews.
So is there anything wrong with giving gifts to Jewish kids on the holiday that commemorates the battle against assimilation into Greek society, which ultimately led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of Jewish rule? I suppose not. But it is hardly the holiday celebrating the Christian story of the birth of Jesus as retold in the Christian Bible, which mention the giving of gifts at the baby shower.
The second outcome since the 1950’s is that Jews became less comfortable with Christmas being overwhelmingly celebrated. While Jews had no problem assimilating the gift giving of Christmas into Chanukah, for some reason the Christmas tree became a major issue. I’m not sure why. No Christian I know sees any religious significance in the Christmas tree. Ask your friends and relatives- aside from some religious ornaments that might appear on some trees, the rest of the holiday is as Hallmark as you can get. But Jews never became comfortable with it, and to this day most see it as an extremely Christian and exclusionary item. And so everywhere there is a Christmas tree, a Chanukah menorah must be present, even when Chanukah ends before most people put up their trees! And the blessings we say over that Menorah are entirely exclusive to Jews! We Praise you God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has COMMANDED US (Jews) to light the Chanukah lights.
The lights Jews should be paying closer attention to are the Shabbat candles which signify the Light of God and Torah in our lives every single week. Jews need to focus more on what makes us appreciate the daily blessings we have. But by all means, Have a Happy Chanukah!
–Rabbi Larry Kaplan
