So Hanukkah is here (almost over by now really), and as I load up my Menorah for another sundown's lighting I'm reminded of the story of how Hanukkah came to be:
You see, wise King David faced off against the evil Pharoah of Egypt in battle, time and again, and upon his final victory at The Suez Canal he noted it with 9 days of atonement by all Jews. it was during this period that one pig, symbolic of all that was dirty in Pharoah's land, was burned alive on each of the 9 days, beginning at sunset. Hundreds and hundreds of years later the Hallmark Cards, Inc. would shorten the period to 8 days and change the atonement to celebration, but the symbolism of the roasting pig was kept in place, merely revised to be the burning of special candles instead, as most modern Americans did not have access to nearly the correct number of live pigs that they would need for the full Hanukkah period.
Ok, so not a word of that was true.
I just wonder if anyone reads that and thinks to themselves, "So that's what this Hanukkah thing is all about."
Slate actually had a great article about the revisions and whitewashing done to the true Hanukkah story. I had no clue, personally, and the old Judah Maccabee story was the one that I was taught growing up. But of course most old stories, especially ones that are based somehow in religion, have been whitewashed over time to make them more marketable.
In any case, I've been reading and hearing a lot about the un-Christmas'ing of Christmas. It's been a gradual process, but it seems to have hit its peak this year, though I expect the peak to be pushed continually higher next year, and so on. Coca-Cola, whose marketing department actually invented the prevalent image of Santa Claus that's used today, skipped out on using the big man on their holiday-themed cans this year, opting instead for one of their non-denominational polar bears instead. All of this is sort of disappointing.
Ok, so I'm a Jew. And honestly, I could care less about Christmas, and I certainly feel attacked and overwhelmed by the constant barrage of holiday-themed ads and activities (I dare you to find me anyone, Jewish or Christian or anything else, who isn't overwhelmed by all of this), but the simple fact is that people who celebrate Christmas should be allowed to call it such. Do I think that Hanukkah should be noted alongside it? Yes, I do. But to setup a display in the town square for the holidays, and to term the tree a Holiday Tree, and to place it alongside a Menorah, aren't you sort of issuing a double-standard? Aren't you in effect saying "We don't want to offend non-Christians with a barrage of Christmas-themed objects, and by the way check out our Jewish Menorah!"
The truth is, that the Christmas tree is a Christmas tree, not a Holiday tree. And if you're going to call it that, shouldn't the funny looking thingy sitting next to it be renamed a "Festive Holiday Candleholder" or some such? And can we really be that far off from this? And how exactly do we think the Anti-Defamation League or B'nai B'rith would react to such a thing?
One of the things that makes us as great as we are is that we allow ourselves to be different. I don't have to be identical to my next-door neighbor, who plays his guitar loudly at all hours and enjoys slamming the front door of his apartment frequently. I prefer to jack up the volume on the TV to drown him, and the pacing of the woman upstairs, out. As soon as we make it so every person needs to celebrate and cherish the same things as everyone else, we lose all of the other little things that we take for granted, and then I'll inevitably become a guitar-strumming, door-slamming jackass also.
Enough diatribing for tonight. It's almost sundown, so I'd better drop my candles into my Mirthful Seasonal Candelabra before the God of All Americans smites me.
And then I'll go get drunk.
Happy New Year.
