Posted on 11/15/2004 11:36:23 AM PST by nickcarraway
A BRITISH rabbi has endorsed the sending of “Chrismukkah” cards to celebrate the Jewish and Christian festivals of Hanukkah and Christmas. A Jewish-Christian couple in the US are promoting a joint Chrismukkah celebration to resolve difficulties of religious etiquette for the thousands of people in interfaith marriages.
They are suggesting that the 12 days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah be combined into a 15-day festival with a theme of “Oy joy! Merry Mazeltov!” They are marketing Chrismukkah cards, featuring a white-bearded Chrismukkah Man in a red cap, a reindeer with an eight-branched menorah for antlers, a kosher fruitcake, a shalom dove and with the greeting “Merry Mazeltov”. There is also an “Oy Joy!” collection of Chrismukkah souvenirs.
Intermarriage between Christians and Jews is of growing concern in the Jewish community in particular. Because the children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers are not recognised as Jewish, intermarriage is one of the chief causes of assimilation, threatening the viability of a community already down to fewer than 300,000 in Britain. Of the 5.2 million Jewish people in the US, nearly a third are married to non-Jews. Half of those who married since 1996 chose non-Jewish spouses.
In Britain, rabbis in the Reform and Liberal tradition are working to address the problem and in those communities, the children of Jewish fathers and Christian mothers can be recognised and brought up as Jewish if the parents wish. Hanukkah this year runs from December 8 to 15.
It is not one of the main Jewish holidays but has grown in prominence because of its proximity to Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas begin on December 25 and end just before Epiphany on January 6.
Ron and Michelle Gompertz, from Livingston, Montana, were spurred into action by the birth of their daughter, Minna. “Chrismukkah is a blend of favourite traditions from both Hanukkah and Christmas,” said Mr Gompertz, who is Jewish and whose wife is Protestant. “Chrismukkah is celebrated by mixed-faith couples, interfaith families, half-Jews, and others. Chrismukkah is a new name for the way millions of people experience the holidays together each year.”
The concept was welcomed by Britain’s leading Reform rabbi, Dr Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead Synagogue. Dr Romain, who is organising a seminar in January for mixed-faith couples entitled “I’m Jewish, my partner isn’t”, said: “It is a a very useful way of getting round the delicate religious problem of what greeting card to send a Jewish-Christian couple without upsetting either. The only surprise is that such cards have not been on the market before in view of the high number of mixed-faith marriages in Britain today.”
In Britain, they ought to be celebrating Chrismukkadan.
"a kosher fruitcake..."
That description fits this Rabbi to a T.
Cards that EVERYONE in the family can be offended by! How lovely.
What an idiot.
How about "Chrannukah"?
And a Happy Ramahanakwanzmas to you!
And a Happy Hannukwanzmas to you too!
Chrismukkah Ping
How about "Chrannukah"?
Sounds like an incurable back problem.
Every night for eight nights we set the tree on fire. The last few nights it was tough to light. And the ceiling really took a beating...
ROFL!
I've seen better heads on lettuce.
Happy RamaHannuKwanzMas!
My husband was Catholic and I was Jewish when we married. Somebody suggested that if we had kids, they would be Cashews!
I thought Boxing Day was celebrated more in in the UK than Christmas is, no?
The "rabbi" should be calling it "interrmarryyourreligionoutofexistenceukah"
Why stop there? Happy Ramahanukwanzmas! BTW, anyone have the words to that song?
New decorations every year? Retailers gotta be loving your concept.
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