Abba, why don’t we celebrate Christmas? Is it because we’re not Japanese?
-Asher on the way home from hoikuen
The first night of Hanukkah falling out on December 25 will undoubtedly lead to social media posts about how many Christmas songs were written by Jews in early 20th century America. The story is well-trod, well-known and at this point kind of cliché. The existence of a 2017 CBC/PBS documentary titled ‘Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas’ means this once novel observation has officially jumped the shark.
The story’s subtext is that European Jewish refugees who had never celebrated the holiday themselves used their Yiddishe Kups* to become the dominant force in a religious celebration not their own. The message resonates because it reinforces an ongoing desire for the Jews of the New World to prove their bona fides in a culture not necessarily their own.
There’s only one problem. The desire to assimilate into a larger national identity did not begin on landing at Ellis Island. A famous story involving Theodor Herzl demonstrates that the Jewish approach to Christmas was as multivalent in the 19th century as it is today.
Prior to creating modern political Zionism, Herzl initially advocated for the mass baptism of Jews to Catholicism since absent a Jewish population, anti-Semitism would necessarily cease to exist. When that proved impractical, he wrote Der Judenstaat/The Jewish State arguing that in a period where the nation-state was ascendant as a global geopolitical force, a people without a state would be left defenseless which proved catastrophically prophetic decades later.
However, the year 1896 marked a bit of an interregnum for Herzl. He had not yet fully given up on Christendom as a means of European-Jewish assimilation but had already started down a Zionist path with the publication of his famous pamphlet. Desiring a religious imprimatur for Der Judenstaat, Herzl invited Chief Rabbi of Vienna Moritz Güdemann to his home in hopes of discussing the idea.
When Herzl swung open the door to greet the rabbi, Güdemann was shocked to see a Christmas tree in the living room and nearly refused to cross the presumably mistletoe-hung threshold thinking he had been brought over on false pretenses. Herzl persuaded the rabbi to enter and knowing a teachable moment when he saw one, Güdemann gave a masterclass to Herzl on the Hanukkah story.
The meeting proved transformative. The Maccabean militaristic spirit exemplified exactly the type of ‘New Jew’ Herzl sought to create in the land of Israel replacing the overly intellectual bordering on neurotic Diaspora, shtetl Jew perceived as physically weak and easily pushed around. In 1897, Herzl published a piece titled ‘The Menorah’ where he used Hanukkah as an argument for a robust, unapologetic Jewish identity.
Herzl’s personal practice seemed unaffected. He writes in his diary entry from the day of the meeting:
“I was just lighting the Christmas tree for my children when Güdemann arrived. He seemed upset by the ‘Christian’ custom. Well, I will not let myself be pressured! But I don’t mind if they call it the Hanukah tree-or the winter solstice.”
Jews putting Christmas trees in their homes didn’t end with Herzl. The famous 1989 documentary on 1950s Southern Jewish Life ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ contains a scene where the Atlanta Temple-going protagonist Daisy Werthan critiques her Jewish daughter-in-law’s garish Christmas decorations as an ill-conceived attempt to fit into Georgian high society. To quote Miss Daisy “If I had a nose like Florine, I wouldn’t go around saying Merry Christmas to anybody.”
Even today, the objection to celebrating Christmas in some fashion is not as universal as you might think.
The 2022 National Jewish Identity Survey found that 28% of British Jews had a Christmas tree at home, with younger Jews more likely to have them than older Jews. Silvermans Kosher Butcher sells approximately 2000 kosher free-range turkeys in his London branches, and 100 geese in the run up to Christmas Day. He also sells 200 kosher-certified non-dairy ‘seasonal puddings’.
However you are celebrating and whatever you are eating tonight, we wish our entire community a Hanukkah Sameach.
Shabbat Parshat Miketz
Candle Lighting: 4:17pm
Havdala: 5:18pm