Christmastime For The Jews
It's no secret that as soon as Thanksgiving ends, Christmas spirit kicks into high gear. Stores and shopping malls are the biggest offenders of them all. This is the time parking lots and aisles of Walmart both don they now their gay apparel. TV shows also join in on the fun with "very special" episodes of your favorite hits, specially equipped to give you the warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside where even the evil characters manage to put aside the coal in their stockings. Before long their back to business as usual in the month of January. In a way, I suppose, this is a lot like real life, too.
Growing up, I was always painfully aware of any lines of division drawn during the holiday season. Back then it was simply the Gentiles vs. the Jews. This was before the Kwanzaa folks came along and confused the hell out of all of us. No, the rift occured in my town because I grew up in a town full of predominantly Jewish residents.
Now in their defense I will say this, it must truly suck to be Jewish in December. I know, I know, they have their own holiday with Hanukkah, but I've always viewed it as a rather ambivalent holiday. After all, it doesn't even have a consistent spelling or even a set date. If that's not a holiday screaming for acceptance, I don't know what is. You and I both know that being Jewish in December is like putting Glenn Close in a Pauly Shore movie, it simply isn't done. You know this no matter your denomination, Christian, Jewish, Kwanzified of otherwise.
Amazingly, it's no secret that most of Hollywood is run, written and acted by Jews as well. Still even they know that watching the festival of lights simply does not hold a candle to that of Old Saint Nick. Jewish Comedian Gary Gulman does a great bit about the whole thing as well. In essence he said that the Jews came up with eight nights of Hanukkah in an effort to compete with the powerful Christmas/Christmas Eve combo pack. But then the Christians turned around and created the 12 Days Of Christmas, complete with birds and rings. Even the Jews realized they couldn't compete with that embarrassment of riches.
When I was a kid in public school December was a month of battle. It was like the potato latkes vs. the Christmas cookies in a quest to rule the world. For the most part, Christian parents in my town didn't care if the holiday season was or was not celebrated in school. So when I started coming home with homemade dreidels and colored drawings of Menorahs, my mom saw my school as an equal opportunity holiday supporter.
Only a weird thing started happening. No longer would Christmas trees or pictures of Santa be created in equal proportion. Suddenly we spent more time on making Hanukkah feel welcome that we forgot to invite Christmas in from the cold. I remember one year there being a big debate of the putting up of a Christmas tree in our school lobby. Jewish parents protested with such intensity that it was ultimately, taken down and the spirit of the season, of any denomination, crush.
Oddly enough us kids didn't feel the same way. Many of my Jewish friends were curious about Christmas as I was curious about Hanukkah, too. They would put up Hanukkah bushes in an effort to be accepted and we would be excited to try Matzoh ball soup for the very first time. They envied the whole Santa Claus thing, but then again they had eight nights, ALL of presents. Of course there was the deeper meaning to take into consideration, the meaning behind the holiday itself, but that wasn't important now.
Now the tides have turned again through where I teach. This is because I work in a town where Jews may work, but next to none reside. So when it comes time for holiday activities, I don't have to be politically correct. We write perfect Christmas recipes in a class book, we study the way Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world and we write descpritive essays on what we want the most for Christmas, all things that never would have been allowed when I was in school. Of course I touch upon the other holidays too, but no one thinks twice about the focus being on red and green. It's all about the company you keep, I suppose.
But the luckiest kids of all were the ones who were half & half's. The only show to truly get the joy of this mix is The OC which created Christmaskah a few years ago. That's because these kids got to celebrate Christmas AND Hannukah. They would receive Christmas presents on Christmas or Christmas eve and also receive Hanukkah presents on Hanukkah too. If they played their cards right, and the charts were in their favor, that could be a straight ten day fest of present getting! To those kids I'd say Mazel Tov, and mean it.
While the Jews have eight nights, life still goes on during Hanukkah. The stores remain open and shopping is in full swing. Yet on Christmas it seems like the whole world stops with the possible exception of movie theaters and Chinese restaurants, that is. I always thought Christmas eve and Christmas must be very lonely times for the Jews. It's almost as if the whole world is part of this big Christian clique. Even the elves and reindeer are in on the act.
Last year, Saturday Night Live finally addressed what it must be like to be Jewish around Christmastime, except they addressed some of the perks, too. I've included a link to the video and the lyrics here. Consider it my "holiday" gift to you!
Growing up, I was always painfully aware of any lines of division drawn during the holiday season. Back then it was simply the Gentiles vs. the Jews. This was before the Kwanzaa folks came along and confused the hell out of all of us. No, the rift occured in my town because I grew up in a town full of predominantly Jewish residents.
Now in their defense I will say this, it must truly suck to be Jewish in December. I know, I know, they have their own holiday with Hanukkah, but I've always viewed it as a rather ambivalent holiday. After all, it doesn't even have a consistent spelling or even a set date. If that's not a holiday screaming for acceptance, I don't know what is. You and I both know that being Jewish in December is like putting Glenn Close in a Pauly Shore movie, it simply isn't done. You know this no matter your denomination, Christian, Jewish, Kwanzified of otherwise.
Amazingly, it's no secret that most of Hollywood is run, written and acted by Jews as well. Still even they know that watching the festival of lights simply does not hold a candle to that of Old Saint Nick. Jewish Comedian Gary Gulman does a great bit about the whole thing as well. In essence he said that the Jews came up with eight nights of Hanukkah in an effort to compete with the powerful Christmas/Christmas Eve combo pack. But then the Christians turned around and created the 12 Days Of Christmas, complete with birds and rings. Even the Jews realized they couldn't compete with that embarrassment of riches.
When I was a kid in public school December was a month of battle. It was like the potato latkes vs. the Christmas cookies in a quest to rule the world. For the most part, Christian parents in my town didn't care if the holiday season was or was not celebrated in school. So when I started coming home with homemade dreidels and colored drawings of Menorahs, my mom saw my school as an equal opportunity holiday supporter.
Only a weird thing started happening. No longer would Christmas trees or pictures of Santa be created in equal proportion. Suddenly we spent more time on making Hanukkah feel welcome that we forgot to invite Christmas in from the cold. I remember one year there being a big debate of the putting up of a Christmas tree in our school lobby. Jewish parents protested with such intensity that it was ultimately, taken down and the spirit of the season, of any denomination, crush.
Oddly enough us kids didn't feel the same way. Many of my Jewish friends were curious about Christmas as I was curious about Hanukkah, too. They would put up Hanukkah bushes in an effort to be accepted and we would be excited to try Matzoh ball soup for the very first time. They envied the whole Santa Claus thing, but then again they had eight nights, ALL of presents. Of course there was the deeper meaning to take into consideration, the meaning behind the holiday itself, but that wasn't important now.
Now the tides have turned again through where I teach. This is because I work in a town where Jews may work, but next to none reside. So when it comes time for holiday activities, I don't have to be politically correct. We write perfect Christmas recipes in a class book, we study the way Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world and we write descpritive essays on what we want the most for Christmas, all things that never would have been allowed when I was in school. Of course I touch upon the other holidays too, but no one thinks twice about the focus being on red and green. It's all about the company you keep, I suppose.
But the luckiest kids of all were the ones who were half & half's. The only show to truly get the joy of this mix is The OC which created Christmaskah a few years ago. That's because these kids got to celebrate Christmas AND Hannukah. They would receive Christmas presents on Christmas or Christmas eve and also receive Hanukkah presents on Hanukkah too. If they played their cards right, and the charts were in their favor, that could be a straight ten day fest of present getting! To those kids I'd say Mazel Tov, and mean it.
While the Jews have eight nights, life still goes on during Hanukkah. The stores remain open and shopping is in full swing. Yet on Christmas it seems like the whole world stops with the possible exception of movie theaters and Chinese restaurants, that is. I always thought Christmas eve and Christmas must be very lonely times for the Jews. It's almost as if the whole world is part of this big Christian clique. Even the elves and reindeer are in on the act.
Last year, Saturday Night Live finally addressed what it must be like to be Jewish around Christmastime, except they addressed some of the perks, too. I've included a link to the video and the lyrics here. Consider it my "holiday" gift to you!
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