Have a Kosher Christmas
© 2007 by H.B. Koplowitz
Sitting in the food court at
a mall
in West Hollywood, playing "Where's Waldo?" with the holiday display.
But it wasn't hard to find the menorah, because the only other
decorations were a quintet of festive wreathes and a single broadleaf
tree strung with lights. When we asked a security guard where the
Christmas tree was, he referred us to another shopping center. The
transformation is complete, I thought. How did it come to pass that
instead of putting Christ back into Christmas, they put in Jews?
Even as a Jewish atheist, I have mixed emotions about the menorahs, or
more precisely, Hanukiahs, that have become ubiquitous in what used to
be called Christmas decorations in public places. Like the letter "K"
with a circle around it on certain products in the grocery store, the
candelabra has become like a seal of approval that a Christmas
decoration is kosher -- if not blessed by a rabbi, politically (and
legally) correct.
Although it's not, unless you believe a menorah also represents
Muslims, Buddhists and secularists. And Christians, because even if the
mall had a Christmas tree, it's no more a symbol of
Christianity than Santa Claus. While crosses and creches are verboten,
menorahs are the only overtly religious symbols seen at many public
holiday displays that at their core commemorate one of the most
significant
events in the history of Christianity. "Merry Christmas" has been
displaced by the generic "happy holidays," and it's become
inappropriate to sing "Silent Night" at a public school madrigal, yet
de rigueur to toss in "The Dreidle Song," hardly a fair trade-off.
Let's face it, the Jews have stolen Christmas.
Not that we meant to. I imagine that every time a Christian sees a
menorah in a holiday display, the first thing they think is "what's
that?" and then, "oh yeah, it's a Jewish thing, they must have
complained." It's as if the religious right, beset by atheists
challenging religious displays on public property, decided to use the
time-honored tactic of blaming the Jews. Like admitting a token black
or female to an all-white men's club, maybe they figured putting
menorahs in Christmas decorations and taking out crosses would placate
their critics while motivating their followers -- and everyone else not
Jewish and not represented in the holiday displays -- to hold a good
old-fashioned pogrom.
Fundamentalists and right-wing talk show hosts aren't the only ones to
notice that as Christian symbols disappear, those of other faiths and
cultures are being added, especially those of "the other white
religion." But why should the Jews take all the heat? How about
replacing the star on top of the Christmas tree with a lunar crescent
and let Muslims be "included" as well.
To get away from menorahs, a few nights later we took a ride through
upscale Hancock Park to look at yard and home decorations, which were
beautiful as usual. Hancock Park is hardly representative of Los
Angeles, just as Los Angeles is hardly representative of America. But
after cruising around for awhile, we realized that amongst the
reindeer, Santas and Mrs. Clauses, the Christmas trees, snowflakes,
gingerbread houses and elegantly lighted trees and shrubs, not only
were there no menorahs, but no J.C.s. No crosses, no mangers, no stars
of Bethlehem, nothing of a remotely religious nature.
Weird. It's as if some Christians in America have become like Marranos
-- Spanish Jews who pretended to be Christians during the Inquisition
to avoid torture. Perhaps feeling under siege by secularists, they have
become crypto-Christians. But if there's one time of the year
Christians should be unabashedly proud of their religion, you'd think
it would be Christmas, which celebrates the birth of the baby Jesus and
all the warm and fuzzy Bible stores that go with it, as opposed to
Easter, another neat Christian holiday, except for those prickly
questions about who did what to whom.
Even as a Jewish atheist, it saddens me to see changes in the
traditional American Christmas of my childhood. Say what you will about
the Crusades, Inquisition and horny priests, Christians have the best
holidays. So much so that my Jewish parents felt that denying my
brother and me Christmas was tantamount to child abuse. Despite the
religious overtones, as children we had Christmas trees at home, sang
Christmas carols at school, sat on Santa's lap at the mall, opened
presents Christmas morning and had Christmas dinner with relatives.
About the time my brother and I figured out Santa Claus wasn't real,
our parents gently told us Jews don't think Jesus is either, and we
began to observe Hanukkah for a few years, although we still exchanged
presents on Christmas Eve and visited family on Christmas Day. Because
Hanukkah pales in comparison to Christmas. "The Dreidle Song" and most
other Hanukkah songs suck, and the holiday drags on for eight days and
jumps around from year to year because of the anachronistic Jewish
lunar calendar. Except for the lighting of the candles, chanting of
prayers and giving of gifts, there aren't many rituals and traditions
associated with the holiday.
Rather than celebrating the coming of a messiah, Hanukkah commemorates
an ill-conceived revolt by a band of zealots whose reoccupation of the
temple in Jerusalem ultimately resulted in Jewish banishment from the
Holy Land for two-thousand years. The miracle of Christmas is the
salvation of humankind. The miracle of the Festival of Lights is that
when the zealots seized control of the temple, there was only enough
olive oil to keep the eternal light lit for one day, but instead it
burned for eight. Big whoop.
And while Hanukkah is a week, Christmas is a season, filled not just
with Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, Christmas parades,
Christmas sales, Christmas movies, Christmas carols, Christmas cards,
Christmas parties and Christmas masses, but Christmas cheer and
Christmas spirit -- peace, charity, faith and family.
While the menorah in the holiday display on government property is
about freedom of religion, the menorah on commercial property is about
freedom of markets. Capitalists are de-Christianizing Christmas and
turning it into what Richard Branson dubbed Chrismahanukwanzakah to
spread its commercial appeal to China and developing nations where the
religion is less popular and sometimes downright unpopular. Which is
also why the menorah in the holiday display is mostly an American
phenomenon.
Holidays are always evolving and turnabout is fair play. Big business
is merely taking its cues from one of the most successful marketing
campaigns of all time, which is the spread of early Christianity.
Capitalists are doing to Christians what Christians did to pagans when
they turned their customs and traditions into "Christ Mass." By
blending Christmas with other cultures, capitalists convert others to
their faith, which is commerce, and elevate their messiah, which is
Mammon.
Then again, at most retail outlets, the Christmas spirit still
prevails, even if they call it the holiday spirit. And maybe the
menorah in the holiday display symbolizes more than tokenism and more
than capitalism. Maybe it's also a reflection of America's growing
recognition, if not complete acceptance, that we have become, indeed,
have always been, a multicultural society. In that sense the menorah
symbolizes ideals that are as American as they are Christian or Jewish
-- tolerance, diversity and inclusion. So maybe a kosher Christmas
ain't so bad after all.
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