Jews & Christmas

What attitudes toward Christmas tell us about modern Jewish identity.

By Rabbi Joshua E. Plaut for MyJewishLearning.com

For the majority of Americans, December 25 is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but for Jews it is a time to consider ones relationship to the wider society.

Some Jews have chosen to adopt the Yuletide festivities. Some have emphatically rejected the rituals and symbols of Christmas. Still others have sought ways to meld Christmas and Hanukkah. Christmas, in effect, has become a prism through which Jews can view how living in this land of freedom has shaped our religion, culture, and identity. 

Background: Europe
For centuries, the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe feared Christmas-time. At any other time, pious Jews would be studying Torah in the synagogue, but not on Christmas. Wary of being attacked in the street, they took refuge in their homes, playing cards or chess with their families.

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A Zionist View on Chanukah

Golda Meir in 1919

From unitedwithisrael.org

From the very beginnings of the Zionist movement, the story of the Maccabees would serve as an inspiration. As Theodore Herzl wrote, “The Maccabees will rise again.” Vladimir Jabotinsky similarly declared, “Yes, they have arisen—the children of those whose ancestor was Judah, lion of the Maccabees.” Similarly, Ahad Aham, founder of cultural Zionism, proclaimed, “We celebrate not only the consecration and renewal of the Temple, some two thousand years ago—but also the renewal and revival of this same Jewish nation, reviving its soul once again for a new life.” David Ben-Gurion also believed Hanukkah is a major festival celebrating Jewish freedom.

The tale of the Maccabees, however, did not just serve as an inspiration for the Zionist movement but it also was incorporated into contemporary Zionist literature. For example, Leon Uris’ book Exodus, which did much to promote Zionism within popular culture and to convince people to support Israel, referred to the Etzel and the Levi as “Maccabees,” as a way to allude to the fact that the “New Jew” was a direct descendant of the Ancient Hebrews. According to the character David in Exodus, “Our very existence is a miracle. We outlived the Romans and the Greeks and even Hitler. We have outlived every oppressor and we will outlive the British Empire.” Thus, the example of the Maccabees was utilized to its fullest as an example of how the Jewish people could succeed to gain independence once again.

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Hanukkah in the Community

Hanukkah begins in 2014 at sundown on December 16th

for MyJewishLearning.com

Most Jewish communities around the world celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah with communal gatherings, parties, songs, and games.

Hanukkah candles are often lit, Hanukkah songs are sung, and these celebrations usually include eating traditional Hanukkah foods such as latkes. Games of chance are played, while everyone tries their hand at spinning a dreidel (top) and Hanukkah gelt is often distributed to children.

The synagogal liturgy of Hanukkah has its specific features. In distinction to the major festivals, the standard weekday or Shabbat service is recited, rather than a special holiday version. A special insert in the Amidah (standing or silent prayer) called Al Hanissim ("concerning the miracles") addresses the holiday of Hanukkah and offers thanks for God’s role during that event. Hallel (Psalms of praise) is also recited during the eight days of Hanukkah while the penitential prayer is omitted during this holiday.

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8 Fascinating facts about Hanukkah-An infogram

The Kislev Calendar

The Kislev Calendar counts down the twenty-four days that lead to the Jewish holiday of Chanukah and gives you a little surprise on each of the eight nights of the Jewish Festival of Lights.  Based on the Christian Advent calendar, The Kislev Calendar begins on the first of Kislev, the Jewish month in which Chanukah falls.  This year (2014), Kislev begins on the evening of Saturday, November 22.  To use The Kislev Calendar, click on the appropriate day and enjoy! 

 


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Andy Samberg, Kiss My Mezuzah!

During the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, or MarCheshvan, [Bitter Cheshvan] there are no Jewish holidays. Jvillage Network, therefore, will be printing articles relating to Jewish Arts.

Rachel Bloom is going to be funny, no matter what you think of her and her lewd, Jewy, borderline-offensive brand of comedy

By Batya Ungar-Sargonfor Tablet Magazine

In Rachel Bloom’s animated music video “Historically Accurate Disney Princess Song,“ the princess in question wanders through her medieval town in search of love. Everyone seems to have found their prince but her, she laments in song, passing “the blacksmith with his daughter-wife, 10 years old and pregnant with her brother-son” and “a statue of Christ adorned with thief’s hands.” The princess dances and sings her way into the forest, where she encounters her friends, the Jews.

“Hello, Jews!” she cries with delight, addressing a group of two-foot-tall rounded creatures with egg-heads, who don’t speak so much as chirp. One has a monocle in one eye and a diamond in his hand, while another has beady black eyes. A third wears glasses. They have big hook-noses and wear yarmulkes. “You know, I never did ask you: Why do you live in the forest?” the princess coos, in the tone every Disney princess takes with her little creaturely friends. The Jews answer her with their chirping. “Oh, I see,” she says, “to hide from people trying to kill you. Well, that’s very resourceful, my beaky little friends!” The princess drops gold coins on the floor as Cinderella dropped corn, and the Jews dutifully bend to nibble. “Tell me: Have you ever had a dream that wouldn’t come true?” she trills. “Oh, I see, your dream is that people won’t want to kill you. Well, that’s definitely a dream that won’t come true!” she says, as characters in armor start to shoot arrows at the Jews and chase them off screen. “Oh, goodbye, goodbye!” she calls. Then, scrunching up her little cartoon nose and slitting her eyes, she grunts: “Jews.”

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Is Chaim Soutine the Great Overlooked Jewish Painter of Modernity?

During the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, or MarCheshvan, [Bitter Cheshvan] there are no Jewish holidays. Jvillage Network, therefore, will be printing articles relating to Jewish Arts.

A new gallery show helps reassess the Lithuanian-born artist’s important work—and reveals it as anything but tragic

By Abby Margulies for Tablet Magazine

On a quiet block in Chelsea, nestled among dozens of contemporary art exhibitions, a small but ambitious show has just opened seeking to give one of the great modern masters his due. Life in Death: Still Lifes and Select Masterworks of Chaim Soutine, is the first in a series of exhibitions the gallery will present meant to re-contextualize the work of Lithuanian-born artist Chaim Soutine.

Soutine’s work was first introduced to American audiences in 1950 in his eponymous retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In his seminal essay, exhibition curator Monroe Wheeler wrote of Soutine, “from an early age he used his hardship, pessimism, and truculence to set a tragic tone for his painting, irrespective of its subject matter.” Looking at Soutine’s body of work, it does in fact emanate tragedy, from his flaccid blue chickens nailed to a wall, to his gaunt women whose twisted hands seem to contain the sadness of the world. Though further exhibitions, catalogs, and scholarship have emerged in the past half century—notably significant exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1968 and at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1998 that have contributed tremendous scholarship to his legacy—the vision of Soutine as a tragedian has nonetheless prevailed.

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