I like latkes, dreidels, gelt, presents, lighting the Channukhia, hanging out with the fam, and other such entailments of the that holiday that starts tomorrow night (December 11th, 2009) which has a difficult-to-spell name, because really, how could you not? But what exactly are we celebrating when we celebrate Chanukah? The discussion over the social significance of the the ‘Festival of Lights’ is as least as old as Christmas specials for bad sitcoms and a menorah on the White House lawn. Our religion tells us the Chanukah represents the victory of good over evil, of spirituality over materialism, of the glories of maintaining our tradition rather than assimilating into an attractive alien culture, of fighting to maintain our Jewish life way of life at all costs, of celebrating G-d’s benevolence in the form of ‘the miracle of the oil’, of the strength and fortitude of Am Yisrael….or something like that.
Our (American) culture tells us that Chanukah is like Christmas, but for the Jews. So what’s it all about? Beats me. Is singing Ma’oz Tzur before running into the den to rip open the wrapping covering five new (rated ‘M’ for mature) XBox games enough to preserve the spirit of the holiday? And everyone knows that Chanukah is a minor holiday anyway…or at least what they told me in Sunday school. So what is the appropriate attitude one should take towards the holiday which has become the “eight crazy nights” of presents and winter-time Jewish merry-making immortalized in Adam Sandler’s ’90s classic, “The Hanukkah Song”? I’m a little confused about the proper spelling of the name as you can see.
I’m pretty sure that a holiday whose entire raison d’etre is because of a bloody military rebellion by one small tribal group over a larger, more powerful political group has got to entail some undertones of Jewish-superiority. Or perhaps we’re just “celebrating our heritage”. Or maybe we should simply forget about the fighting, call Judah Maccabee one heck of a stand-up guy who looked good in a breastplate, and eat some more latkes. Actually, the last option sounds pretty good to me. Additionally, this Hanukkah I’m looking forward to dominating at dreidel.
Hag Sameach and good luck with finals.
