The Hanukkah I see in children’s books demonstrates families playing dreidel and eating latkes while the menorah shines brilliantly
in the window. Then there’s the inevitable
illustration of the kids’ utter elation when the parents unveil a bag of gelt night after night.
The scene sounds delightful, but I can’t imagine it’s realistic in all Jewish homes. Let’s be honest: starting in October, lots of Jewish kids obsess over the ”holiday” (aka Christmas) catalogues that arrive daily in mailboxes around the country.
Right or wrong, at some point this tradition of 8 nights of gifts as influenced by Christmas has become part of the Hanukkah many of us know and love.
And yes, yes, yes, I know that letting Hanukkah resemble Christmas undermines the main message of Hanukkah. I don’t need the lecture. My kids go to Chabad every Shabbat morning. They love Shabbat dinners, decorating the Sukkah, and attending ice cream parties for Shavuot. They even know that Hanukkah celebrates the war story of the Maccabees‘ unlikely defeat of the Greeks (and not just the oil lasting for eight days). Nobody would accuse my husband and me of neglecting to pass on a healthy dose of serious Jewish tradition to our children.
Nevertheless, instead of completely trying to fight this Christmas imitation during Hanukkah, I’ve come to embrace it by adding my own practical and reasonable twist to the nightly celebrations. I mean, just because I let my kids open gifts during every night of Hanukkah, it doesn’t mean that the toy section of Target needs to take up temporary residence in my living room.
Trust me, you can do 8 nights of gifts without creating spoiled brats, even if it seems like on a couple of the nights the only thing missing is the eggnog and the tree.
Ideas for a festive but practical Hanukkah:
The scene sounds delightful, but I can’t imagine it’s realistic in all Jewish homes. Let’s be honest: starting in October, lots of Jewish kids obsess over the ”holiday” (aka Christmas) catalogues that arrive daily in mailboxes around the country.
Right or wrong, at some point this tradition of 8 nights of gifts as influenced by Christmas has become part of the Hanukkah many of us know and love.
And yes, yes, yes, I know that letting Hanukkah resemble Christmas undermines the main message of Hanukkah. I don’t need the lecture. My kids go to Chabad every Shabbat morning. They love Shabbat dinners, decorating the Sukkah, and attending ice cream parties for Shavuot. They even know that Hanukkah celebrates the war story of the Maccabees‘ unlikely defeat of the Greeks (and not just the oil lasting for eight days). Nobody would accuse my husband and me of neglecting to pass on a healthy dose of serious Jewish tradition to our children.
Nevertheless, instead of completely trying to fight this Christmas imitation during Hanukkah, I’ve come to embrace it by adding my own practical and reasonable twist to the nightly celebrations. I mean, just because I let my kids open gifts during every night of Hanukkah, it doesn’t mean that the toy section of Target needs to take up temporary residence in my living room.
Trust me, you can do 8 nights of gifts without creating spoiled brats, even if it seems like on a couple of the nights the only thing missing is the eggnog and the tree.
Ideas for a festive but practical Hanukkah:
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