Last year, I promised to stop spending the holiday season defending Hanukkah from the influence of Christmas. I said then, “When I see stores selling Hanukkah stockings, Hanukkah tree toppers, and Hanukkah tinsel or wreaths, I’ll take a deep breath and not let it send me into a tailspin of worry about the future of pluralistic Judaism. It means I will remember that it’s not Bed, Bath and Beyond’s responsibility, nor Amazon’s, to preserve the logical thematic separation between Hanukkah and Christmas.” Since then, I’ve made progress, though I still did get a twitch in my eye every time I saw someone on Facebook claim, even jokingly, that Starbucks ought to make a Hanukkah cup.
Please read the rest of this year’s Hanukkah post at Kveller.com where I REALLY AND TRULY promise to lose the Hanukkah attitude and make this Hanukkah more than a going-through-the-motions holiday for my family and certainly more than “it’s NOT Christmas” in its theme and essence.
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