I know Hanukkah is over. But I was just struck with an incredible irony. I was reading the current issue of Generation J and in particular an article on how consumerism is ruining the spiritual aspects of the holiday. The main thing that struck me (and that the article didn't even mention) is that by treating it as the Jewish Christmas, we are contradicting it's reason for existance.

Hanukkah is the victory celebration over the Maccabean revolts. Basically, the Greeks were trying to force the Jews to assimilate, and this was the Jewish resistance to that. By taking the coincidence that Hanukkah falls between Thanksgiving and New Years and turning it into a gift giving occasion, we are assimilating to another culture, the current dominant one.

But I still want presents.

-CRbE