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December 19, 2008
Facing December dilemma
Being Jewish at Christmas doesn't make you any less Canadian.
MIRA SUCHAROV
It's the time of year when many Jews begin to feel the strain of Yuletide cheer weighing on their collective consciousness like a sack of coal.
Negotiating this business of Christmas is tricky in a multicultural democracy. Canada prides itself on being a secular state in which all religions should feel equal. But so many messages convey that Christmas in Canada is something official: Parliament's website invites visitors to enjoy the Christmas lights and to enjoy the "decked halls" of Centre Block (though to be fair, for more than a decade, Parliament Hill has also hosted a menorah-lighting ceremony courtesy of Chabad). As well, the notwithstanding clause threatens to overturn the separation of religion and state by politicians seeking to introduce their personal or parochial moral vision into the public sphere.
At the unofficial level, Christmas music plays in shopping malls, Santa parades march down city streets and, at the grocery store, it can be easier to find a Hannah Montana Advent calendar than a ballpoint pen.
This year, Chanukah arrives in late December, making the dilemma a bit less onerous for Jewish children, who predictably get caught up in "Christmas envy." While Chanukah was never meant to be a stand-in for Christmas, it is nearly impossible not to have Jewish children feel that the festive celebrations commemorating the Maccabees' victory is not in some way their version of Christmas.
I think that part of the cultural confusion lies in what, precisely, Christmas celebrants are celebrating when they hang stockings from their living room mantle. For Jews who see religious Christians experiencing Christmas as a sacred holiday marking the birth of Jesus Christ, there is probably less of a sense of exclusion.
I think it is precisely the nonreligious aspects of Christmas that make some Jews feel out of place. If only one-quarter of our country's population attends church weekly, according to University of Lethbridge sociologist Reginald Bibby, but so many more millions of Canadians celebrate Christmas – including many Hindus and Sikhs who have adopted those December traditions since arriving in Canada – where does that leave Jews, who deserve to feel as Canadian as anyone else?
Add to this the frustrating lack of civic holidays in our country and, for most Canadians, Christmas has arguably become a civic holiday.
One approach is to appreciate the seasonal aspects of the Christmas season. It is not necessarily the case that enjoying a neighbor's display of colored lights (especially now that most are energy-conserving LED rather than the arson-inducing, more-heat-than-light bulbs I used for science projects in the 1980s), catching an airing of the charmingly vintage 1964 Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer television special or humming along to "Jingle Bells" detracts from our identity as Jews. After all, both Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand have recorded Christmas albums and they're, like, really Jewish.
Similarly, if the clerk at the local toy store invites you to the Santa parade, where the toy you've just donated to their charity drive will be presented to needy kids, consider saying. "Sure, thanks," rather than "No, thanks, we're Jewish." I would probably be quite puzzled if I invited some colleagues to the Chanukah-lighting ceremony hosted by the Jewish studies program at Carleton University and they declined, saying, "We can't, we're Christian."
This doesn't mean that we, as Jews, can't encourage change where change is due. Vocalizing disdain for the ultra-commercialization of the season that puts all except the wealthy into an economic tailspin while big-box stores count their profits isn't necessarily sour grapes. Our society deserves to take a good look at itself from time to time – especially now in the current economic crisis.
Jews can be among those voices urging cultural and social reform, including an increase in meaningful relationships over the worship of material goods, however tempting it may be to engage in "retail therapy" now and then to ward off the winter blues.
Christmas also provides a good opportunity to revive the tradition of Jews engaging in social action – including delivering meals to the needy and even helping replace shift-work staff so they can spend time with their families – initiatives that some American-based synagogues now engage in under the name Project Ezra. There are many in our society for whom Christmas is a reminder that they lack what others have – materially, spiritually or socially.
December is a month when work slows down, school is off and we have a bit more time on our hands. So grab a bit of seasonal cheer, call up a Muslim friend or co-worker and lay a few more bricks toward tikkun olam – whether for chimneys expecting a visit from Santa or for those for whom Dec. 25 is just another day.
Mira Sucharov is an Ottawa freelance writer and an associate professor at Carleton University.
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