Happy Holidays? Bah humbug.
Posted on December 11, 2004
Filed Under Life
Yes, [Lex](http://www.thefriedmans.net//blog/comments/things_to_make_my_parents_mad), [this article](http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41784) would make my parents mad too. But setting aside the anti-semitic overtones, he does start out with a good point:
>I’m not sure when I noticed that “Merry Christmas” had been supplanted by “Happy Holidays.” I thought this generic term was rather strange, considering that Hannukah is a minor Jewish holiday and Kwanzaa has less of a historic basis than Middle Earth or “Star Trek,” but I simply filed it away for future reference.
Chanukah (my preferred spelling) **is** a minor holiday. It’s not “the Jewish Christmas.” After I turned 12 or so our family placed a much stronger religious emphasis on the High Holidays and Passover, as it should be. Right now we have an electric menorah in our window, and we light the candles every night and play dreidel and the kids (only the kids) get a present a night. I hope my children are getting the message as I did when I was their age, that while Chanukah is a fun holiday and we have a good time it’s not in the same league to us as Christmas is to Christians.
But here’s where he starts losing it:
>Christians, it is time to realize that the gloves are off and the gauntlet has been thrown down. The TV shows of our childhood have come to life and the Christmas grinches are real. The separation of Church and State has invaded our department stores and both Santa and the little baby Jesus are under attack.
They’re under attack for good reason. They don’t belong in department stores in the first place. Neutralizing the holiday by calling it a “season” is insulting to everyone. Winter is a season. Christmas is a religious holiday. If you celebrate it, that is wonderful. Make your home a showplace of color and lights, have a gorgeous tree and take joy and comfort in your beliefs and spending time with those that you love. But keep it out of schools, malls, restaurants and public places so you can show your most important holiday the respect it deserves, while appreciating the fact that not *everyone* celebrates. Sticking a menorah in the corner doesn’t justify it.
Comments
6 Responses to “Happy Holidays? Bah humbug.”
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I’m totally on board with what you’re saying. As someone who doesn’t have a religion (but celebrates the major Christian holidays secularly, i.e., Santa Claus and Easter Bunny), I’m not about to make decisions for others and am perfectly happy to do as you suggest.
I do have one tiny little … perspective? though.
When I grew up on Long Island, I felt there was plenty of Judaism and Christianity in my community, in public. I loved hearing about Hanukkah. I know it’s a minor holiday, but I love what the holiday is celebrating–freedom and resistance.
On one hand, I don’t want to appropriate someone else’s religion, but I also want to be exposed to the culture that accompanies the religion. It’s hard for me to figure out how to do that. Ask Jewish people to invite me and my kids to their weddings so they know how great a song Hava Nagila is? 
I learned Hava Nagila in music class in 4nd grade. Sophie probably won’t. Then again, she might.
Should/can we teach about religious cultures without diminishing them? Can we talk about Jewish culture in public schools so long as it’s not during Hanukkah so the message is not that a minor Jewish holiday should be treated like a major Christian holiday?
Should/can we allow nativity scenes on public property in December as well as representations of seders on public property in March or April?
I guess I’m just saying I’ve moved to a community that does not have as large a Jewish population as the one where I grew up, and I feel kind of sad, like I’m missing something. And then when I read how important it is to keep any religious cultural expressions out of the public sphere, I also feel a bit of resistance. And one more thing I worry about–I’m afraid that with the reduction of public spaces and the neutralization of public spaces, we’re going to end up raising a whole new generation of, dare I speculate, red-staters, who believe that Jews have horns because they haven’t met or been exposed to any Jews.
Just some thoughts.
I see what you’re saying, Wendy. But do you have to *participate* in something to learn about it? Laini is learning about Native Americans now in social studies. Does she have to hunt to learn about how Indians found their food?
My best friend in grade school was Christian and I learned a lot from her, and she learned a lot from me. I certainly learned more about Christmas from spending time with her and her family than I did from watching Santa in the mall or listening to carols in the elevator.
So I think we do better opening our own hearts and homes and letting those who want to experience what we have to share come in, than we do in putting religion in public spaces.
I see your point. There’s just a little wish in me that religion wasn’t so contested in society so that I could enjoy it a little more. If that makes sense.
And doh! You said you had a preferred spelling for Chanukah, and I went and spelled it differently. That wasn’t intentional!
“But keep it out of schools, malls, restaurants and public places so you can show your most important holiday the respect it deserves, while appreciating the fact that not everyone celebrates.”
Do you really mean this? Are you suggesting that religion has no place in schools, restaurants or malls? Do you truly believe this country should hide religious expressions from anyone but the occupants and guests of their living rooms?
It’s quite true that Christmas is celebrated by unbelievers, and the true meaning is easily lost in a sea of commercialization and greed.
But I would suggest to you that *especially* religious expression, no matter how commercialized, is just the sort of speech that we should protect the most. It belongs in schools. It belongs in malls. It belongs in restaurants. So long as the government refrains from endorsing one religion over another, restrictions on this sort of expression should be few and far between.
“So long as the government refrains from endorsing one religion over another, restrictions on this sort of expression should be few and far between.”
Christmas and Easter are national holidays. One could argue that it’s the government endorsing one religion over another since banks are open and mail is delivered on Yom Kippur.
I have the right to say what I want. I don’t have the right to hang what I want to say on the walls of a school or government building in the name of free speech.
My right *not* to practice religion or to practice a religion that is not the majority choice should be protected as well. It’s total overload, to the point that I spend most Decembers just counting down to the 26th of the month.
Christmas is beautiful. I’m happy for those that celebrate it. But it takes over everything this time of year and it’s too much. I should at least be able to go into a building that my tax dollars pay for and have relief.
Judi, I see your point and agree with it. Wendy, I also see your point and agree with it. To say I have no religion would be stretching it, however, I’m more spiritual than religious.
When I was younger, I attended the Jewish Community Center with my friends - many of which were Jewish and one of my really good friends (Yani) would invite me over for some of their holidays - I remember, his mom even gave me a gift on Chanukah which I still have to this day…it was that special to me.
I didn’t look at it so much as - seperating our two religions (my household was Christian), it was more of a sharing of our religions.
I appreciated learning about the history of Chanukah, why it’s celebrated, the menorah (sp?), dreidel and all the wonderful songs from friends and in school - which I still admittedly sing
- learning about other religions and cultures through school and friends was one of the most enriching experiences I’ve ever had and only hope that my future children would get to experience that as well.
Christmas, for all intents and purposes as it is portrayed in the stores is commercialized…I still don’t understand what Santa Claus or Pine Trees really have to do with Jesus being born in a manger on the 25th of December. In my opinion, it’s simply a way to legitimize the holiday as being “non-religious” and a way for companies to commercialize and profit from it.
Trying not to be ignorant here - but once the companies can learn to monetize from Chanukah the same way as they can with Santa Claus, et al - then Chanukah will become “more main stream”.
But to make my point (I think I have one) and not take up too much space on your blog - you are right that religion should be somewhat seperated, however, it is something I believe we should all learn about. Ignorance does not breed tolerance. Not everyone has a diverse community and I was blessed in that sense. I was able to learn about other cultures/people first hand - not everyone is so privileged.
Going back to history - look at the foundational roots of this nation - mainly Christian/Catholic…while true seperation of church and state would be a lovely concept, it’s still one that would be “foundationally” hard to implement (as I’m sure many have witnessed).
It really does all boil down to the individual, their level of tolerance, and their openmindedness.
Just my 2 bits…