Posted on 12/05/2018 5:30:59 AM PST by SJackson
It’s a holiday that commemorates an ancient battle against assimilation. And it’s the one holiday that most assimilated Jews celebrate.
It’s the question that Jewish parents instinctively dread.
A few months ago, I was sitting on the couch with my 3-year-old daughter, watching YouTube videos about animals in space, when out of nowhere she looked up at me and asked:
“Dada, can we celebrate Christmas?”
“We don’t celebrate Christmas,” I told her, putting on my serious voice. “We celebrate Hanukkah.”
Like generations of Jewish parents before me, I did my best to sell her on the relative merits of Hanukkah. True, Christmas might have those sparkly trees, ornaments and fruitcake. But we have latkes, jelly doughnuts and eight nights of presents.
“Do we have Santa?” she asked, hopefully.
“No,” I said, and her face dropped. “They do.”
I tried to reiterate the part about the jelly doughnuts and the eight nights of presents. But she wasn’t having any of it. I can’t say I blame her. During the rest of the year, the Jewish holidays we celebrate are like special, bonus celebrations we get to have on top of everything else going on in the calendar.
Mr. Lukas is a novelist.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Fried Potatoes Are Deadly, New York Times Warns as Hanukkah Nears
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Responses
The New York Times and Hanukkah=American Jewry’s Hanukkah Hypocrisy?
Tradition has made it about “assimilationist Jews” but the actual point was the respect shown the temple, of which there was exactly one. I think this fellow honors that he doesn’t go eat his ham sandwiches in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue — he has that respect for people who still strive to revere the law in its exactitude. Not keeping kosher privately at home isn’t the same as taking a legally proscribed animal, a pig, to the one and only temple to slay it as an offering.
So why would I, as a Christian, care? Because the entire backdrop of Judaism, with its scripture and history and traditions, is necessary for the Christian story to make ultimate sense. The context for an Incarnation isn’t there without it.
No mention of God or miracles or faith. Lost opportunity.
Maybe, I think that's in the authors head While I'm aware of the assimilation issue, and surgery like "uncircumcision" so you wouldn't stand out in the baths, I don't think I've heard anyone other than the author describe the struggle as anything other than against the Greeks. Of course I think our revolution was against England, despite the existance of loyalist militias.
No. I presume the author doesn't believe in those things. Thus despite over two millenia of history, he simply erases them.
Imperfection framed as hypocrisy. This sounds like typical anti-religious tripe.
Yeah, baby . . . YEAH!!!
So Hanukkah, in essence, commemorates the triumph of fundamentalism over cosmopolitanism. Our assimilationist answer to Christmas is really a holiday about subjugating assimilated Jews.
Finally . . . somebody gets it!
Go Maccabees!
Deadly or not I’m fixing some of those latkes—and more than I think I want.
The Menorah is the Hanukah icon and it symbolizes God's miraculaous gift of more light than what man can provide for hinself.
We can do nothing without God.
I want my Hamantashen. Poppy seed
Do they have anything to do with Hanukkah? Probably not, but I love them.
Hey, any holiday that He made a road trip to celebrate is OK by me.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10%3A22-23&version=ESV
Heresies! My Jewish part of the family (1/4) celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah.
Pretty soon the Lion will lay with the lamb.
Who knew besides Isaiah?
5.56mm
That’s Purim.
Think of it as a bit of Halloween and New Year’s all rolled together.
No.1 day for DUI arrests in Israel.
“I want my Hamantashen. Poppy seed”
Sorry Vinnie, you’ll have to wait til Purim (usually in March). You’ll have to settle for latkes or donuts for now.
I made some last year. Taken aback by using orange jest in the batter but they need it.
Turned out pretty good for my first attempt.
When I was a kid I used to walk by a Jewish bakery on the way home from school.
Used to stop in and buy these and chocolate eclairs. Yumm!
Guess I’m reliving my childhood. g
Orthodox Christians’ worship has its roots in Jewish worship.
For starters:
° our holy days begin at sundown with the lighting of lamps.
° the Psalms are at the heart of all of the daily prayer hours.
° great reverence and dignity is given to the book of the Gospels
° the church architecture borrows from the Jerusalem temple with certain areas restricted to the clergy.
° the Feast of feasts, Pascha (Easter) is closely linked to the Passover, as the title “Pascha” implies.
Much happiness to you for Hanukkah!
God bless you and your family over this holiday season (and always!)
TRS
Thank you.
And blessings to you and yours this holiday season.
5.56mm
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