A Message from Rabbi Maurice

(December 2008-January 2009)

One of the things I loved about rabbinical school was learning about the evolution of Judaism. Our tradition has adapted ingeniously by borrowing ideas, beliefs, and customs from other traditions. (We’ve also been the lenders to other traditions.) For example, the ancient Greeks had a traditional meal called a symposium, in which the hosts would invite people to come to their home to spend an evening discussing a philosophical topic while dining and drinking. Invitations announced the topic of discussion and the number of cups of wine to be served. The early rabbis borrowed the symposium as the model for the Passover seder. The topic for the evening’s discourse: liberation from slavery. Total cups of wine: four. Even the dessert at the seder retains its Greek name: afikomen...

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A Borrower and a Lender Be

Similarly, in Medieval Germany, there was a gambling game involving spinning a four-sided top bearing the letters “n”, “g”, “h”, and “s”. N for “nichts” (nothing), G for “ganz” (all), H for “halb” (half), and S for “stell” (put something in). Jews absorbed the dreidel game into Hanukkah, substituting Hebrew letters for German. Even though we borrowed it from our medieval Christian neighbors, the dreidel is a major part of Hanukkah, and what could be more Jewish than a dreidel?

All this leads me to a perspective I’d like to share about how we Jews worry about the influence of Christmas on Hanukkah. Every year, some of us lament the “Christmas-ization” of Hanukkah. “Hanukkah is just a minor holiday, and it was never a time for gift-giving – just a little bit of gelt, that’s all! It’s been turned into the Jewish Christmas!” Oy vey! I confess, I see it differently. As the above examples illustrate, the natural course of Judaism’s evolution has been to borrow elements of the surrounding culture and integrate them. The genius of this is that Jewish holidays have repeatedly changed in ways that have allowed us to celebrate our own culture and participate in the larger society’s holiday season without losing our Jewish distinctiveness.

From this viewpoint, it makes sense that Hanukkah is absorbing and integrating aspects of Christmas that allow Jews to participate cheerfully in the winter holiday season while maintaining our religious and cultural distinctiveness. We do this by exchanging gifts, taking vacation and family time, and decorating homes with lights (just make them blue and white and put an electric menorah in your window!). Of course, we risk borrowing the bad along with the good. We’ve also indulged the rampant consumerism of the season. Despite its adaptations, Hanukkah remains the holiday of our ancestors’ struggle for the right to practice Judaism and a festival of lights, hope, and miracles. Enjoy the festival of lights!

-- Rabbi Maurice