I personally have no desire to partake in anything that is attached to Christmas. I’m not against it for Christians - I just see it as a meaningless, historically inaccurate holiday that supposedly celebrates a Jew( although no one wants to admit it). And especially now I find it hypocritical when most of the people celebrating it during “university break” are pro- Palestinian retards. Sorry to be a sourpuss- but the hypocrisy is overwhelming. Great article though- as usual!
"I just see it as a meaningless, historically inaccurate holiday that supposedly celebrates a Jew( although no one wants to admit it)."
Below from Tzlil Berko's Substack today:
"Billions of people around the globe are about to celebrate the birthday of a Jewish man, born in Bethlehem 2000+ years ago, but some don’t think Jews lived there before 1948🙄brilliant…"
Now that's true and funny.
Being Christian I can see others not participating in Christmas, but there's a non-religious reason for liking it: It tends to irritate Muslim fanatics just like Jewish religious holidays.
I think we all need to find our own way to address these kinds of issues which have no right answers, just a variety of possible responses. I decided to go to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art today with a new friend, Christian, from Germany, who is visiting Israel for the first time. We saw some edgy contemporary exhibits by Sasha Okun and Yossi Mark and then I came across a painting by Mauricy Gottlieb that I had never seen before. It's part of a series that he did in the 1880s depicting Jesus preaching and teaching. As a Jew in the Jewish community. Something that really bent everyone's brain, then and now.
We did Chinese food from the frozen aisle at the supermarket. We call it "Jewish Christmas."
It is not easy to explain to a child why the holiday with all the pretty lights, presents and fun is not yours but you do it and your child is better off for it. BTW explaining to them about Hanukkah and what it actually means not just the dreidel song, but the actual underlying meaning of Hanukkah makes it rather easy not to celebrate Christmas.
But it also doesn't mean that you completely ignore the Xmas holiday-
Once when my son was 7 i got him a christmas tree shaped cookie. Harmless. Fun. Allowing him to be part of the wider culture.
I told him but all he heard was christmas tree
"You got us a christmas tree!"
"No I got you a cooke shaped like a christmas tree."
Then without skipping a beat he said, "well I can have a christmas tree since I am half Christian."
"No you are not." I immediately said (Both of my husband and myself are Jewish all the way back to Avraham Aveinu)
He then sulked since his trick didn't work, but he happily ate the cookie.
He's in his 30s now and quite proudly Jewish.
Wait so apartheid Israel has Christmas trees, and Christmas markets throughout the country, and the christian community is one of the more accomplished and only growing one in the entire MENA. Hmmmm.....
I was taken to Macy's for Santaland....though not clear if I actually did the lap thing....but that kinda stuff didn't bother my mother. Or the magical Christmas windows at Saks and Lord and Taylor. I could enter St. Patricks but could only walk to the back pew....otherwise I'd apparently dematerialize.
Doesn't bother me at all that the biggest holiday around much of the world is in honor of Rabbi Jesus, who was an observant Jew crucified by gentiles (Romans) along with hundreds if not thousands of other Jews crucified by Rome. I enjoy looking at the brightly colored trees, all the lights, and the sense of good cheer. I don't mind when folk who don't know me greet me with a "Merry Christmas," they mean well. I don't wear a yarmulke so not clearly Jewish. My Christian friends wish me "Happy Hanukkah" or "Happy Holidays." We never had a tree in my house, not growing up, not while my kids were growing up, and not now. But the trees are lovely and cheerful. I keep my window menorah glowing with all nine lights after the 8th night of Hanukkah, and don't take it down until my neighbors take down their Christmas displays. Where all my Jews at?? We should all keep those candles lit. Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!
As we celebrate our festival of lights, for the past 40 years, I hang blue, white and yellow lights outside our various US homes ( we've moved around a bunch of times). We decorate inside the homes throughout the years with blue and white lights, blue and silver garlands, and hanging Chanukah cardboard images. The lights also help me with SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder) - to come home on an early dark day to welcoming and comforting lights that have always reminded me that we can openly celebrate our festival of lights holiday of religious freedom and recommitment to the one God ( and not to a bunch of statued gods).. We also always light our hanukkiahs at our dining table in front of our large front window. BTW for dinner on 12/24, we enjoyed delish Chinese food while watching the hysterical movie, The Grinch.
This year was even more poignant to do all of this with the Bondi Beach massacre of Jews and so many other anti-semitic crimes worldwide.
Chanukah should be explained to non Jews as a religious freedom holiday because even the Christians ( whose roots do include this holiday and the Maccabeen story) are losing their religious freedoms horribly in Africa and have been for a long time in Muslim majority countries, and when many of the traditional European Christmas markets have been overrun in the last few years by Muslims and protesting pro-pal thugs.
Thank you for a wonderfully written reminder of the reality for many of us. Personally I'm happy in Israel where the day is not really noticed by most of us. I would be uncomfortable figuring out how to manage it in a Christian country.
What a confusing time it was for me as a child and for my children as well. My grandkids are proud Jews, and get all the Xmas gifts and food with their non tribe family. We all have to find a way through this strange holiday.
Back when I was much thinner skinned, I wouldn't let my girlfriend who I lived with have a Christmas tree in our apartment. Now I am not so foolish. For many years, my wife had a small artificial Christmas tree that she decorated with some colorful bulbs each year. A few years ago, after the pathetic little fake tree, sufficiently deteriorated to the point of being said, we got a much larger fake tree that looks fantastic when decorated. My wife decorates it with blue and white balls to represent the colors of the Israeli flag, which can also be seen perched in a vase on our bookcase. At the top of our tree, there's a star of David that lights up, and which these days, is the last thing I shut off before going to bed. I don't recall exactly what ornaments are hanging from the tree, maybe bagels or dreidels or challahs, but whatever they are, they're Jewish themed plastic made in China. Did I insist on Jewish ornaments? Of course not. I don't waste time on this, but I appreciate that my wife thinks of it. I also don't eat meat (only fish) but I never forced my wife or kids to follow my dietary practices and when my wife wanted goat meat for a nice Carribean dinner with curried goat, callaloo, coconut bakes, and fried plantains and okra, who am I too object? I will, after enjoy everything except the goat with the grilled salmon she already prepared last night so the spices will set perfectly. My kids chose to follow me and are also pescetarians, so they too will enjoy everything but the goat. It will be a change from the latkes and sour cream we've been polishing off. Yes, didn't I tell you, my wife makes the best latkes, but I am sure you saw that coming by now. Last night, on Christmas Eve, I read the current draft of a paper I am writing on the normalization of antisemitism and the problem with radicalization and stage-theoretic accounts of Jew animus to my kids and we discussed the key themes and I asked them if it was clear enough that they could tell me the gist. While we did this in the family room downstairs, upstairs the Jewish star atop our Christmas tree was twinkling.
I just wrote about Chrstian observance and anti Israel Western politics in response to your other post. I must be the rare Jew who as a kid had no envy of non Jews. My neighbors invited me over to see their trees and place a bit of tinsel. Then I lit the Menorah. That was my tradition. A gift was Chanukkah gelt . What motivated Jews was assimilation...not monetizing a Christian holiday. Hollywood showed America a perfect White Christian Protestant world....not a Jewish one....the former was the so called "Jewish agenda." And that included the long held place of Blacks as subservient.....not a Jewish vision...the White Christian one. My RC Italian mother of my neighbor bragged to me....a Jew....that Berlin's children were raised RC! And how "disgusting" it was that Ann Meara had converted to Judaism. I told her that conversion made up for the loss of Berlin's kids. Her husband smiled. There is no tradition in my family for Chinese food on Christmas. I'd never heard of such a thing. We didn't eat sweet and sour pork....a family that observed Kashruth. Hanukkah and Purim were for kids. My Dad who was not a synagogue man nonetheless made the High HolyDays part of our life. Otherwise he ignored ALL holidays, birthdays and anniversaries included. Nope, no Chinese food for Xmas.
I personally have no desire to partake in anything that is attached to Christmas. I’m not against it for Christians - I just see it as a meaningless, historically inaccurate holiday that supposedly celebrates a Jew( although no one wants to admit it). And especially now I find it hypocritical when most of the people celebrating it during “university break” are pro- Palestinian retards. Sorry to be a sourpuss- but the hypocrisy is overwhelming. Great article though- as usual!
"I just see it as a meaningless, historically inaccurate holiday that supposedly celebrates a Jew( although no one wants to admit it)."
Below from Tzlil Berko's Substack today:
"Billions of people around the globe are about to celebrate the birthday of a Jewish man, born in Bethlehem 2000+ years ago, but some don’t think Jews lived there before 1948🙄brilliant…"
Now that's true and funny.
Being Christian I can see others not participating in Christmas, but there's a non-religious reason for liking it: It tends to irritate Muslim fanatics just like Jewish religious holidays.
I think we all need to find our own way to address these kinds of issues which have no right answers, just a variety of possible responses. I decided to go to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art today with a new friend, Christian, from Germany, who is visiting Israel for the first time. We saw some edgy contemporary exhibits by Sasha Okun and Yossi Mark and then I came across a painting by Mauricy Gottlieb that I had never seen before. It's part of a series that he did in the 1880s depicting Jesus preaching and teaching. As a Jew in the Jewish community. Something that really bent everyone's brain, then and now.
https://img1.onebid.pl/img/1143/189015_1b.jpg
It's all just a coincidence. And proof that God has a sense of humor...
We did Chinese food from the frozen aisle at the supermarket. We call it "Jewish Christmas."
It is not easy to explain to a child why the holiday with all the pretty lights, presents and fun is not yours but you do it and your child is better off for it. BTW explaining to them about Hanukkah and what it actually means not just the dreidel song, but the actual underlying meaning of Hanukkah makes it rather easy not to celebrate Christmas.
But it also doesn't mean that you completely ignore the Xmas holiday-
Once when my son was 7 i got him a christmas tree shaped cookie. Harmless. Fun. Allowing him to be part of the wider culture.
I told him but all he heard was christmas tree
"You got us a christmas tree!"
"No I got you a cooke shaped like a christmas tree."
Then without skipping a beat he said, "well I can have a christmas tree since I am half Christian."
"No you are not." I immediately said (Both of my husband and myself are Jewish all the way back to Avraham Aveinu)
He then sulked since his trick didn't work, but he happily ate the cookie.
He's in his 30s now and quite proudly Jewish.
Wait so apartheid Israel has Christmas trees, and Christmas markets throughout the country, and the christian community is one of the more accomplished and only growing one in the entire MENA. Hmmmm.....
I was taken to Macy's for Santaland....though not clear if I actually did the lap thing....but that kinda stuff didn't bother my mother. Or the magical Christmas windows at Saks and Lord and Taylor. I could enter St. Patricks but could only walk to the back pew....otherwise I'd apparently dematerialize.
Doesn't bother me at all that the biggest holiday around much of the world is in honor of Rabbi Jesus, who was an observant Jew crucified by gentiles (Romans) along with hundreds if not thousands of other Jews crucified by Rome. I enjoy looking at the brightly colored trees, all the lights, and the sense of good cheer. I don't mind when folk who don't know me greet me with a "Merry Christmas," they mean well. I don't wear a yarmulke so not clearly Jewish. My Christian friends wish me "Happy Hanukkah" or "Happy Holidays." We never had a tree in my house, not growing up, not while my kids were growing up, and not now. But the trees are lovely and cheerful. I keep my window menorah glowing with all nine lights after the 8th night of Hanukkah, and don't take it down until my neighbors take down their Christmas displays. Where all my Jews at?? We should all keep those candles lit. Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!
As we celebrate our festival of lights, for the past 40 years, I hang blue, white and yellow lights outside our various US homes ( we've moved around a bunch of times). We decorate inside the homes throughout the years with blue and white lights, blue and silver garlands, and hanging Chanukah cardboard images. The lights also help me with SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder) - to come home on an early dark day to welcoming and comforting lights that have always reminded me that we can openly celebrate our festival of lights holiday of religious freedom and recommitment to the one God ( and not to a bunch of statued gods).. We also always light our hanukkiahs at our dining table in front of our large front window. BTW for dinner on 12/24, we enjoyed delish Chinese food while watching the hysterical movie, The Grinch.
This year was even more poignant to do all of this with the Bondi Beach massacre of Jews and so many other anti-semitic crimes worldwide.
Chanukah should be explained to non Jews as a religious freedom holiday because even the Christians ( whose roots do include this holiday and the Maccabeen story) are losing their religious freedoms horribly in Africa and have been for a long time in Muslim majority countries, and when many of the traditional European Christmas markets have been overrun in the last few years by Muslims and protesting pro-pal thugs.
Shalom to y’all!
Thank you for a wonderfully written reminder of the reality for many of us. Personally I'm happy in Israel where the day is not really noticed by most of us. I would be uncomfortable figuring out how to manage it in a Christian country.
Absolutely beautiful. 😍😍❣️
Great ending!!!
What a confusing time it was for me as a child and for my children as well. My grandkids are proud Jews, and get all the Xmas gifts and food with their non tribe family. We all have to find a way through this strange holiday.
Thx for this post
Joshua Hoffman buys into the antisemitic trope of the avaricious Jew : Jews write Christmas songs to “ monetize “ the holiday.
I like to think that was not his intention,but yes I picked up on that too.
Those are great songs. I don't care who wrote them.
Back when I was much thinner skinned, I wouldn't let my girlfriend who I lived with have a Christmas tree in our apartment. Now I am not so foolish. For many years, my wife had a small artificial Christmas tree that she decorated with some colorful bulbs each year. A few years ago, after the pathetic little fake tree, sufficiently deteriorated to the point of being said, we got a much larger fake tree that looks fantastic when decorated. My wife decorates it with blue and white balls to represent the colors of the Israeli flag, which can also be seen perched in a vase on our bookcase. At the top of our tree, there's a star of David that lights up, and which these days, is the last thing I shut off before going to bed. I don't recall exactly what ornaments are hanging from the tree, maybe bagels or dreidels or challahs, but whatever they are, they're Jewish themed plastic made in China. Did I insist on Jewish ornaments? Of course not. I don't waste time on this, but I appreciate that my wife thinks of it. I also don't eat meat (only fish) but I never forced my wife or kids to follow my dietary practices and when my wife wanted goat meat for a nice Carribean dinner with curried goat, callaloo, coconut bakes, and fried plantains and okra, who am I too object? I will, after enjoy everything except the goat with the grilled salmon she already prepared last night so the spices will set perfectly. My kids chose to follow me and are also pescetarians, so they too will enjoy everything but the goat. It will be a change from the latkes and sour cream we've been polishing off. Yes, didn't I tell you, my wife makes the best latkes, but I am sure you saw that coming by now. Last night, on Christmas Eve, I read the current draft of a paper I am writing on the normalization of antisemitism and the problem with radicalization and stage-theoretic accounts of Jew animus to my kids and we discussed the key themes and I asked them if it was clear enough that they could tell me the gist. While we did this in the family room downstairs, upstairs the Jewish star atop our Christmas tree was twinkling.
By the way, the tree deteriorated to the point of being sad, not said.
Great essay. Nailed it.
I just wrote about Chrstian observance and anti Israel Western politics in response to your other post. I must be the rare Jew who as a kid had no envy of non Jews. My neighbors invited me over to see their trees and place a bit of tinsel. Then I lit the Menorah. That was my tradition. A gift was Chanukkah gelt . What motivated Jews was assimilation...not monetizing a Christian holiday. Hollywood showed America a perfect White Christian Protestant world....not a Jewish one....the former was the so called "Jewish agenda." And that included the long held place of Blacks as subservient.....not a Jewish vision...the White Christian one. My RC Italian mother of my neighbor bragged to me....a Jew....that Berlin's children were raised RC! And how "disgusting" it was that Ann Meara had converted to Judaism. I told her that conversion made up for the loss of Berlin's kids. Her husband smiled. There is no tradition in my family for Chinese food on Christmas. I'd never heard of such a thing. We didn't eat sweet and sour pork....a family that observed Kashruth. Hanukkah and Purim were for kids. My Dad who was not a synagogue man nonetheless made the High HolyDays part of our life. Otherwise he ignored ALL holidays, birthdays and anniversaries included. Nope, no Chinese food for Xmas.
Kugel? Yes. Just like Christmas fruit cake.
josh-podcast?