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Dec. 3rd, 2002 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravencallscrowsPoor are "Lucky Duckies" according to the Wall Street Journal. Ruthlessly lifted from e-mail from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
damashita.
And now for something completely different. . . .
Well, friends and neighbours, as they say, 'tis the season. Your unflagging reporter Ebenezer Scrooge here with a holidays update.
Leave it to the winter holiday season to make me feel Jewish again. Even without significant positive childhood holiday memories, Chanukah is a unique holiday which speaks to me of perseverance in the face of the odds, and it didn't have to be co-opted from another religious tradition like Christmas- with its roots in the Roman Saturnalia and various solstice celebrations.
From a Jewish perspective, the Christians have their holiday all wrong. Even leaving aside what the Tanakh says about a woodsman cutting a tree in a forest and adorning it with silver and gold (Jer 10:3-5), the Christians have their holiday at the wrong time of the year. The gospel of John says "And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us" (Jn 1:14), but the literal translation (as per Young) is "And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us."
"Tabernacle" is the key word there, if you hadn't guessed by it being the only significant difference. The Greek used here is an obvious reference to the Jewish holiday of Succoth, referred to as the Festival of Tabernacles (or Booths)- a harvest festival and reminder of G_d's deliverance, lasting a week beginning on 15 Tishri on the Jewish calendar. It's a fitting time for one claiming to be the Messiah (itself a cloudy concept, since traditional Jewish thought recognizes two Messiahs- moschiah ben Yosef the suffering servant, after Joseph; and moschiah ben Dovid the conquering king, after David), a redeemer and deliverer.
But enough of this reporter's theological quibbles with Christmas. Christians are largely ignorant of the Jewish roots of their beliefs, by choice. No, my biggest problem with the holiday is the rampant and unbridled commercialism. I don't particularly mind the decorations- i like the pretty lights as much as anyone, but seeing them on store displays starting in mid-October is particularly galling.
All too often, it seems the message about the holiday which we allow society to teach our children is about getting and having, rather than about giving. I try to make it a point (here i go showing my Jewish roots again) to give alexander money to give to those collecting for charity and to explain why it is an important thing. Even this basic instruction in tzedekah seems to be in accordance with halacha (Jewish religious law) for Chanukah- the lights are to be kindled publically except in times of persecution, when it is deemed acceptable to do so privately in one's own home. Rabbi Zadok of Lublin explained this to mean that at a time of danger when the light cannot brighten the darkness of the world, it must at least brighten the interior of the soul.
So much for tikkun ha'olam- the redemption of the world. Perhaps it'll kindle a spark in him that he'll be able to nurture and pass on to others.
Oy, vey is mir! For one who stopped being observant over seventeen years ago, i still can manage to be pretty Jewish for an apikoros heretic, nu?
damashita.And now for something completely different. . . .
Well, friends and neighbours, as they say, 'tis the season. Your unflagging reporter Ebenezer Scrooge here with a holidays update.
Leave it to the winter holiday season to make me feel Jewish again. Even without significant positive childhood holiday memories, Chanukah is a unique holiday which speaks to me of perseverance in the face of the odds, and it didn't have to be co-opted from another religious tradition like Christmas- with its roots in the Roman Saturnalia and various solstice celebrations.
From a Jewish perspective, the Christians have their holiday all wrong. Even leaving aside what the Tanakh says about a woodsman cutting a tree in a forest and adorning it with silver and gold (Jer 10:3-5), the Christians have their holiday at the wrong time of the year. The gospel of John says "And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us" (Jn 1:14), but the literal translation (as per Young) is "And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us."
"Tabernacle" is the key word there, if you hadn't guessed by it being the only significant difference. The Greek used here is an obvious reference to the Jewish holiday of Succoth, referred to as the Festival of Tabernacles (or Booths)- a harvest festival and reminder of G_d's deliverance, lasting a week beginning on 15 Tishri on the Jewish calendar. It's a fitting time for one claiming to be the Messiah (itself a cloudy concept, since traditional Jewish thought recognizes two Messiahs- moschiah ben Yosef the suffering servant, after Joseph; and moschiah ben Dovid the conquering king, after David), a redeemer and deliverer.
But enough of this reporter's theological quibbles with Christmas. Christians are largely ignorant of the Jewish roots of their beliefs, by choice. No, my biggest problem with the holiday is the rampant and unbridled commercialism. I don't particularly mind the decorations- i like the pretty lights as much as anyone, but seeing them on store displays starting in mid-October is particularly galling.
All too often, it seems the message about the holiday which we allow society to teach our children is about getting and having, rather than about giving. I try to make it a point (here i go showing my Jewish roots again) to give alexander money to give to those collecting for charity and to explain why it is an important thing. Even this basic instruction in tzedekah seems to be in accordance with halacha (Jewish religious law) for Chanukah- the lights are to be kindled publically except in times of persecution, when it is deemed acceptable to do so privately in one's own home. Rabbi Zadok of Lublin explained this to mean that at a time of danger when the light cannot brighten the darkness of the world, it must at least brighten the interior of the soul.
So much for tikkun ha'olam- the redemption of the world. Perhaps it'll kindle a spark in him that he'll be able to nurture and pass on to others.
Oy, vey is mir! For one who stopped being observant over seventeen years ago, i still can manage to be pretty Jewish for an apikoros heretic, nu?
