Today is December 24th – Christmas eve.
I love to help my non-Jewish friends celebrate their holiday, just as they love to help me celebrate mine. But I don’t observe their holiday in my home. It doesn’t belong to me.
I am Jewish. I am proud of my Jewish heritage and identity.
We can draw an analogy to birthdays: Just as I can help you celebrate your birthday, help you eat cake and mark the day of your birth, I know full well that your birthday is not my birthday. I would not expect to receive birthday gifts on your birthday, nor have a party, nor receive cards. Therefore, I can help you celebrate your holidays in your home, but they are not my holy days, they are not my celebrations, they are not my festivals.
I was dismayed, therefore, earlier this month, to see that several of my Jewish friends and acquaintances had adopted “Chrismukah”: a made-up conglomeration of Christmas and Chanukah. Somehow, they wanted to have a tree in their home, experience the glittering lights and music that surround Christmas.
They rationalized the tree by saying: “it’s not religious!” And, “we made it blue and white! So it’s a Jewish tree!”
First of all, let me make one thing perfectly clear: Christmas and Chanukah are not analogous. Christmas is one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar. It celebrates Jesus’ birth.
By Jews adopting some of the symbolism of Christmas and saying “it’s not religious” we are demeaning the true meaning of what Christmas is all about. It devalues the holiness of the day for our Christian friends.
Second, Chanukah is a minor festival on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. E of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. This festival is not very important on our Jewish calendar. In fact, it is not even mentioned in our Hebrew bible! It was a festival declared by Judah Maccabee. The rabbis of old tried to minimize the celebration by focusing on the lighting of the Chanukiyah. (see my post from last week).
The only commonality between Christmas and Chanukah is the time of year that the two take place: they both occur around the winter solstice. They both include a “festival of lights.” But the similarities end there.
As a Jewish community, we do a dis-service to ourselves when we feel we must adopt the holy days of other religions as our own.
Our Jewish tradition is rich with festivals, holy days and Shabbat (Sabbath) observances. If we take pride in our own traditions, if we are able to know and understand what our rituals and traditions mean, then there will be no need to adopt/adapt other traditions as our own.
To my non-Jewish friends, I wish you a Merry Christmas.
To my Jewish friends, enjoy the day off, go to the movies, spend time with your family, or celebrate with your friends. Shabbat begins on Friday: I wish you an early Shabbat Shalom.