| December 23, 2005 Web Wire Editor's Note |
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| Written by Daniel Estrin | |||||
| Thursday, 22 December 2005 | |||||
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Eggnog and Egg Rolls: Sharing in the Holiday Cheer at Christmastime and Chanukahtime I was a November baby, and the nurse that delivered me cooed, “You’re going to celebrate your first Christmas!” My mother nodded demurely with a hesitant grin, but my father barked, “He’s Jewish.” From the first moments of all American Jewish children’s lives, Christmastime is a force to be reckoned with. The month of December was a particularly trying month for me, as youngster, particularly while accompanying my parents to the department store. “And what is Santa bringing _you_ for Christmas?” Cashiers would ask me with a toothy smile, hoping I’d gush on about Legos, GI Joes and Tonka trucks. Yet my parents would snuff out their pep by responding, “Nothing. He will get nothing for Christmas.” Way to put a damper on the holiday spirit, I say, twenty-odd years later. We Jews are a vital component of the American Christmas enterprise. Rumor has it that the first companies that manufactured Christmas lights in the 20s and 30s were Jewish-owned. The bulk of American Christmas songs, sung door to door by carolers nation-wide, were composed by Jews. What would Christmas be if these talented Jews did not write such tuneful favorites to be piped into department store loudspeakers as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver Bells” and “White Christmas”? It is true that both Christmas and Chanukah in America have their unhealthy downsides. When little girls receive Barbie dolls as Christmas presents, they are insidiously taught to strive for the body image of a plastic doll of grossly exaggerated proportions. But Chanukah, too, has a similarly womanizing message, covertly presented in verse form. This may be a shocking revelation for some, but did you ever stop to think about that little dreidel’s lovely body with legs so short and thin, whose owner “wins” when the dreidel “drops”? But let’s focus on the positive. We Jews have just as much Christmas cheer as the next American, celebrating very similar time-honored traditions year after year. As many Americans enjoy a quiet holiday at home with their loved ones drinking eggnog, Jews swarm in Chinese restaurants, mill around as if it were an after-shul Kiddish, _kibbitzing_ and noshing on egg rolls. While those who celebrate Christmas wake up on Christmas Day to find presents under the tree and stockings stuffed with goodies, Jews spend Christmas Day at the movie theatre, the only other establishment open on Christmas besides Chinese restaurants. In this issue of the New Voices Web Wire, Robert Levin pays tribute to that movie-going tradition, and gives us a wrap-up on this year’s best movies with Jewish themes. This Web Wire also treats you to some delectable Chanukah gelt: stories with unconventional flavors. Kinneret Milgrom, invited to speak at a conference of Bedouin Arabs conducted entirely in Arabic, reflects on the politics of language in Israel. Amanda Milstein sets off on a coast-to-coast quest in search of kosher kitchens in wacky Jewish locales, and Laura Kraus comes out of the Judaic closet to divulge the secrets of the Crypto Jews. Li Cornfield has the last word—and a Hebrew name fraught with tragic and poetic connotations. This Chanukah, as we read the December issue of New Voices Magazine by menorah candlelight, let us remember the miracle of Chanukah, and pray that there’s enough oil to fry eight days worth of potato latkes. With best wishes for the merriest of choliday seasons, Daniel
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