Thanksgivvukah!!

Much has been said about this holiday coming up next week.  I'm not a statistics person-- but it seems from all the graphs that have been put out there on the internet lately that this is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience of the convergence of Hannukah and Thanksgiving.  I for one am excited about celebrating the holidays together.  A few thoughts on why:

1.  We are together with Josh's family for Thanksgiving-- now we are together also for many nights of Hannukah  (unfortunately not my family... will miss you Mom and Dad! Will see you on the 8th night).  Holidays are all about family togetherness, and now we can light the menorah together and celebrate the miracle of having some relaxing time away.  We will be close to the Wampanoag land this year for Thanksgiving, too, a cool little coincidence.

2.  The Turkey-Menorah.  I'm so upset that I didn't make it up to the Jewish Museum to get one before they sold out!  A real collector's item and a funny, artistic way of celebrating the holidays.

3.  Sweet potato Latkes.  Needs no explanation.

4.  The themes of Hannukah and Thanksgiving mesh well for me.  Both are home holidays rich with family traditions.  Their origins are both about healing and celebration after a battle for survival, about giving thanks for the miracle of being on this land.  Maybe we'll spin our Israeli dreidls this Thanksgiving-- "Nes gadol haya PO" (a great miracle happened HERE, normally found in Israel) instead of the usual American "Nes gadol haya SHAM" (a great miracle happened THERE).

5.  Hannukah this year doesn't have to compete with Christmas.  Except that the Christmas stuff went up in all the stores right after Halloween.  Hannukah in no ways can compare to the grandeur and hugeness of Christmas.  And this year it's so early that our kids will have forgotten all about it once Christmas actually rolls around.  But more about the "December Dilemma" in another blog.

Enjoy your deep-fried turkeys and pumpkin suvganiyot!!

Post- Halloween thoughts

On my floor of my apartment building in NYC, there are actually four Jewish clergy.  My husband and me, and directly on the other side, two rabbis who are married to each other.   The only two apartments decorated for Halloween on our floor....  ours and theirs.  Strange?  Perhaps.  (see pic below of our door, designed by our girls and our fabulous au pair).

I grew up celebrating Halloween, trick or treating in my neighborhood and wearing costumes.  It would never have occurred to me as a child that this was something strange for a Jewish kid to do.  But other people I now know did not trick or treat--  that's "what the goyim do."  The more traditional the Jewish family is, the less likely it is that they will celebrate Halloween.  Why is this?

Jewish law allows us to adopt customs of the land in which we live when they are for reasons of honor (such as wearing a uniform if you are in the fire department) or if they fit with Jewish values (Thanksgiving).  But holidays of Pagan/ Catholic origin that include supernatural beings do not fall into that category.  Maybe dressing up as a devil could lead to idol or devil worship?  I suppose that is a risk, though I don't think that's what Lena (my six year old) had in mind when she designed her "Spooky Cinderella" costume this year.

Do your kids like dressing up?  For mine, dressing up is an essential part of play.  When Lena was younger I had to bring a costume with me to play dates just in case they didn't have dress-up there.  If she couldn't wear a costume during the play date, we would have to go home, she'd be so upset.  We do have a Jewish holiday for dressing up-- Purim!  This masquerade holiday, usually in late winter, differs from Halloween in that we wear happy costumes and tell the story of Queen Esther, Mordechai, and King Ahashuerus, reenacting the comedic drama of how Esther saved the Jews of Shushan from the evil Haman.

Spirits, zombies, witches, exorcism, monsters... these are all part of our Jewish tradition as well.  I believe the ancients had to explain the unexplainable in some way-- things that we modernists would understand as being scientific, or matters of the brain, were understood as the work of spirits or demons.  With infant mortality rates very high, and childbirth a dangerous process, procreation was regarded with fear and awe-- leading to many superstitions surrounding it and a mystic awe at humanity's divine-like power to procreate.

So maybe next year I'll dress up as the legend of the Golem of Prague-- the man the Maharal created out of dirt to protect the Jews.  This legend was so well known that it was written about by Jakob Grimm (of fairy-tale fame) and also was the basis of the Frankenstein monster.  Maybe next year I won't raid my kids candy either!!