Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘chanukah’

Interesting op-ed by David Brooks in the New York Times about the real story of Chanukah and the difficult questions that it raises:

Generations of Sunday school teachers have turned Hanukkah into the story of unified Jewish bravery against an anti-Semitic Hellenic empire. Settlers in the West Bank tell it as a story of how the Jewish hard-core defeated the corrupt, assimilated Jewish masses. Rabbis later added the lamp miracle to give God at least a bit part in the proceedings.

But there is no erasing the complex ironies of the events, the way progress, heroism and brutality weave through all sides. The Maccabees heroically preserved the Jewish faith. But there is no honest way to tell their story as a self-congratulatory morality tale. The lesson of Hanukkah is that even the struggles that saved a people are dappled with tragic irony, complexity and unattractive choices. 

(Hat tip: Lesley).

It is certainly true that there are a number of ways to interpret the story of Chanukah. It can be read as a tale of the triumph of religious extremism over secularism. It can be read as an anti-assimilationist tale. It can be viewed as an anti-imperialist struggle, or as a divisive civil war.

All of this tends to get lost in the shuffle among most people who simply view Chanukah as the “festival of lights”, a generic, commercialized Jewish version of the equally-commercialized Christmas, a simple excuse for retailers to make money. A view would have likely incensed the anti-assimilationist Maccabees to no end.

Sure, at its core, Chanukah is just another one of those “they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat” holidays that fill the Jewish calendar. And there’s nothing wrong with a little celebration. But it’s important to know what, and why, we’re celebrating.

Happy Chanukah, all!

Check out this great virtual menorah, created by Michael Scherotter. It updates automatically at 6pm each day until all the candles are lit.

Chag sameach… enjoy the latkes, and hope the heartburn isn’t too bad!

Since this story about a Chabad Rabbi who threatened to sue the Seattle-Tacoma airport unless they took down their Christmas trees has been getting so much media attention, I figure I’d better weigh in with my two cents.

My opinion? Quite simply, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky is a first-degree horse’s ass. Why?

• Displaying a Christmas tree is harmless. It’s not forcing anyone’s faith on anyone else. It’s merely displaying it. It’s no more a threat to me as a Jew than a display of a menorah would be to a Christian. And if Rabbi Bogomilsky is so threatened by a friggin’ tree, then perhaps he ought to re-examine his personal faith rather than rallying against the world.
• I’ve always been uncomfortable with Chabad’s campaign to display menorahs everywhere at Chanukah. To me, it’s propagating the myth that Chanukah and Christmas are somehow related, or in competition, or have something to do with one another. Chanukah, as Rabbi Bogomilsky ought to know full well, is not a major religious holiday, and the fact that we’ve allowed it to become part of the generic “holiday season” and a symbol of gift-giving, commercialism and one-half of the semi-merged “Christmakah” is bad enough. This is worse.
• It’s not a competition. It shouldn’t be a competition. This isn’t about “my symbol is bigger than your symbol”. If people are proud of something, they should be allowed to express that pride without some other group feeling the need for one-upmanship. Judaism shouldn’t be about one-upmanship at all.
• Rabbi Bogomilsky is claiming to speak for all Jews with this stunt, which I personally resent an awful lot. Who voted him spokesperson of North American Jewry, anyway?
• I like Christmas trees, okay? I think they’re pretty. I think the lights and decorations are pretty. I enjoy looking at them. I know it’s not my holiday, and I’m not going to run out and get a tree for my living room or anything… but why shouldn’t I be allowed to get enjoyment out of someone else’s holiday?

Bottom line? I’m glad the trees are back, and I hope everyone learns to chill out and enjoy whatever holiday or holidays they choose to celebrate.

For more on the subject, see last year’s rant about the whole “Happy Holidays” / “Merry Christmas” debate.

Or, should I say, happy heartburn-holiday.

Meryl has a virtual menorah. So I give you virtual latkes. Made by my mom. They taste even better than they look.

And Merry Christmas to all my Christian readers.

I need to rant. (It’s great having a blog for times like these…)

This whole debate about the Christmas/Holidays terminology has gotten way out of hand.

We in North America live in a place where the majority of people are some sort of denomination of Christian. But that’s not why Christmas is so predominant everywhere. We have retail chains and companies desperately seeking to drive in dollars to thank for that. None of which, of course, has anything to do with the “real” (read: religious) meaning of Christmas. I’ve only read the New Testament briefly, but I don’t remember anything in there about Jesus telling people to go get new digital cameras on sale at Best Buy.

So sure, Christmas isn’t our holiday… but I don’t mind if someone wishes me a “Merry Christmas”. I intend to do just that actually. This year, it coincides with Chanukah, and I plan to spend Christmas Day merrily eating potato latkes and lighting a menorah with a bunch of cousins.

Speaking of Chanukah, the holiday definitely has had its importance inflated by the same artificial commercialism that took over Christmas. There’s no doubt about that. An otherwise minor holiday that had little – if anything – to do with presents has suddenly become the second most listed holiday next to Christmas in the generic greeting “Happy Holidays”… which, for some reason, has people all up in arms. Now, having worked in the retail business, I can honestly say I’ve wished many people “Happy Holidays” because it seemed odd for me to be wishing other people (many of whom were probably Jewish, given the area) a “Merry Christmas”.

That said, what’s wrong with appreciating another culture’s holiday even if you don’t celebrate it? I don’t believe in Jesus, of course, but there’s no reason why I can’t think that decorative lights are pretty, or even participate in the parties and celebrations of Christian friends. After all, none of them have a problem with eating my mom’s latkes (and raving about them… and asking me to bring them more… but I digress).

Why are we so threatened by a majority culture when it’s perfectly acceptable or even encouraged to learn about and appreciate other minority cultures? Is it because of our fear of assimilation? If so, we really need to get over it: I’m secure enough with my Jewish identity that Christmas is no more threatening than, well, the Easter Bunny. And for people who aren’t, well, being wished a “Merry Christmas” is a far cry from being converted to Christianity.

Ask most non-Christians and they won’t have a problem with being wished “Merry Christmas”. Ask most Christians and they won’t have a problem with being wished “Happy Holidays”.

But here’s the crux of it: WHO CARES???

With problems like world poverty, Iran about to get nuclear weapons, people in death camps in North Korea, earthquakes in Pakistan, Tsunamis in Asia, hurricanes in the US, and Bono thinking he’s a politician… can’t we re-examine our priorities just a little and stop obsessing over what words people choose to wish each other well?

I mean, a little perspective please: people are actually trying to be nice and friendly to one another. Silly me, I thought that was a good thing.

So whether it’s Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, a devil worshipping feast, the arrival of winter, the mere fact that many of us get a few precious days off from work, or simply being in a good mood, can’t we just call the whole thing off and return to spending inordinate amounts of money on stuff we don’t really need?

Done ranting now.

Update: Stephen Colbert is launching a campaign against the “Merry Christmas” crowd for trying to deny him his Happy Holy Day. Now that’s the spirit!

Tonight was the first candle of Chanukah. It may not be that big a deal, and it certainly gets ridiculously commercialized and blown out of proportion because of its proximity to Christmas. But I still like Chanukah. Eight days of yummy unhealthy greasy food and presents… what could be bad?

I won’t wax poetic about the deeper meaning of the holiday, or the victory of freedom over tyranny or the political implications of celebrating revolutionaries or even the random thought that this may have been the first war in which oil was a big deal. I’m sure you can find all that and more elsewhere in the blogosphere.

Instead, I’ll talk about latkes. Because Chanukah, like all Jewish holidays, fits the common theme: They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.

My mom makes potato latkes grated in the processor, with a bit of onion and flour mixed in with the potatoes. And they’re fried small and nice and greasy and crisp, allowed to soak on paper towel so that they’re just slightly oozing with oil. With a little applesauce, they’re irresistible.

To all my Jewish readers, happy Chanukah!

It’s beginning to look a lot like… Chanukah!

International Hillel lights seventh candle in support of Concordia Hillel. On the international website for Hillel, a call went out yesterday to stand in solidarity with Concordia Hillel. While we were in the Hall building lighting our menorah, Hillel chapters around the world were lighting theirs as a sign of support.

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life calls on Jewish students the world over to light the seventh candle of the Chanukah menorah this evening in solidarity with Jewish students at Concordia University who this week were denied the right to meet on campus by the Concordia Student Union.

“Chanukah is the festival of freedom. Tonight as we light a candle for Concordia we assert our right to celebrate our Jewishness. The Jewish people fought intolerance in ancient times and we will fight it today,” stated Hillel President and International Director Richard M. Joel.

On the one hand, the expression of support is wonderful. On the other hand, I’m kind of ashamed to realize just how much Concordia’s international reputation has been damaged. I graduated from that school. It’s on my diploma and my resume. I had a pretty good three years there – DESPITE the idiots. They are not the majority and they do not represent most students, and most of the time I had no problem just going about my business and ignoring them . . . and getting a damn good education in the process, I might add.

It disheartens me to realize that people are giving up on Concordia instead of fighting to take it back from those who have hijaked it. Would they be so quick to give up on McGill, or Harvard, or Princeton? Would they be so quick to just shrug and say “the school’s been taken over by the professional shit-disturbers, good riddance”? I doubt it. No, they’d fight for their school.

To any Concordia student who may be reading this: the power ultimately rests with you, at the voting booth. Get informed, get involved, get organized, and make a change. Victory may be difficult at Concordia but it’s not impossible. And the rewards are great: reclaiming the school for the students, in the name of democracy, freedom, and the right thing.

And now, to write about what happened tonight at Concordia:

I arrived at about a quarter to five, unsure what to expect in terms of turnout – after all, this event had been organized less than 24 hours in advance, and students are in the middle of final exams. No sooner did I get there but I caught sight of people walking in with sound equipment and others carrying large Israeli flags. After a few minutes went by, the crowd in the lobby began multiplying exponentially. There was a bit of confusion as to the location of the event, and then everyone was asked to enter the H-110 auditorium and have a seat. By the time the event began, the auditorium was more than half full; by the time it ended, it was well over three-quarters. Definitely an amazing accomplishment in terms of sheer numbers!

Noah Sarna, co-president of Concordia Hillel, spoke first. He welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming, and told us that we were there to celebrate our freedom, just as the Maccabees proclaimed theirs. Noah spoke briefly but powerfully, and then passed the microphone over to the president of McGill Hillel.

He spoke more at length about the issues that Concordia is facing, and how this is big news not only at Concordia, but at McGill, in the greater Montreal Jewish community, across Canada, the US, Europe, Israel, and around the world. “We are a small people,” he said, “with Am Echad, Lev Echad – one nation, one heart!” (Judging by the amount of e-mails of support I’m receiving from around the world, I’d have to say he’s right).

Next to speak was Rabbi Reuven Poupko, who is very active in community and campus affairs. Rabbi Poupko definitely knows how to work a crowd. He spoke passionately about how targeting Hillel is antisemitism, no matter how the CSU tries to cloak it. He said that Hillel is being targeted not because of any law, but because it is a Jewish students’ organization. And that the CSU only believes in freedom of speech when it agrees with what is being said.

At that point, some pro-Palestinian hecklers began shouting from the back of the auditorium, hoping to agitate the crowd. At first, heads turned as they distracted us. Rabbi Poupko addressed them directly, claiming that if they truly believed in freedom of speech and democracy, they would be right down there in support of Hillel. He then began talking about how there is no democracy or freedom in most of the Arab world, and how despite the abuses and lack of freedom, the words “human rights” are only used in the context of criticizing Israel. “When democracy and freedom comes to the Arab nations of the Middle East,” he shouted over the heckling, “then there will be peace!” This drew loud cheers and a standing ovation, but it wasn’t as loud as the cheering when he declared, shouting into the microphone, “AM YISRAEL CHAI!”

That was the signal for the time to light the menorah. The crowd was implored to ignore the hecklers and face the front, and Hillel led everyone in the singing of the Chanukah brachot while they lit the electric menorah. The singing drowned out whatever heckling was still going on – which was minimal – and as soon as we finished the brachot, we went straight into Chanukah songs – Maoz Tzur, for example – and then began singing Israeli folk songs, leading off with “Am Yisrael Chai”. Dancing broke out at the front, with circles of men and women doing the hora around the Israeli flag. Everyone stood and clapped and sang along.

This went on for about twenty minutes. Then, Noah Sarna once again stepped to the microphone and thanked everyone for being there, and stressed the importance of leaving peacefully and not getting drawn into a fight. Before we left, we all stood and sang Hatikvah together, proclaiming once and for all that the Jewish voices at Concordia will not be silenced!

The scene in the lobby afterwards was pretty calm, with most people just talking amongst themselves and their friends. At one point, I saw people with cameras running outside. I followed to see what was going on. A police car was there. I couldn’t see that well because of the crowd but apparently, Palestinian activist Samer Elatrash was arrested, ostensibly for violating the terms of his bail (after being arrested for participating in the anti-Netanyahu violence on September 9th, he’s only allowed on campus for classes and exams). The cameras seemed to be busy interviewing Elatrash’s buddies, and I’m sure that that’s the message that the mainstream media will carry – not the overwhelming message of peace and freedom that the rally was all about. And as much as that bothers me, I know what I saw. I know what happened. And I think that despite efforts to disrupt things, Hillel and the Jewish community organized an event that was an overwhelming success.

I invite anyone who attended the event to e-mail me with their firsthand accounts. I’m only one person, with two eyes and two ears (and no camera), so the more stories the better. If you give me permission I’ll post them.

Concordia has been hijacked. It’s time to reclaim it as an environment of equality, openness, and freedom for all.

Update: I accidentally and erroneously referred to Samer Elatrash as a CSU vice-president. This is incorrect. The reference has been removed, and I apologize for the error. Mr. Elatrash is, in fact, a former member of the CSU council of representatives, not of the executive.