Getting Gelt at Target and the Ironic Assimilation of Chanukah
Dear Friend,
Yes, here is another essay about Chanukah. Less spiritual. More sociological. Hopefully just as thought-provoking and entertaining. I’ve been thinking about this one for a bit, wasn’t going to write it, and then mentioned it to a group of people who responded favorably. And because I’m mostly in this for the external validation (that’s a joke, I think) I figured I’d let it rip.
I’d be curious your thoughts so don’t hesitate to leave a comment!
Love, Meg
As far as I know, Target doesn’t sell sukkah building kits. It doesn’t offer little plush Torahs for Simchat Torah, and when Purim comes around, gosh, at least I don’t remember seeing costumes of Queen Esther anywhere at Party City. Sometimes Safeway puts out matzo for Rosh Hashanah which makes me chuckle. Good try. But for Chanukah, there is always a humble section, reliably present, with gelt and candles and blue and white paper plates. Chanukah “ugly sweaters.” Michaels boasts mugs that say “This Is How I Roll” with illustrations of dreidels. One might see this progress and think, “Look at how inclusive mainstream American culture has become” (at least in the Bay Area). Others may grumble at the extreme discrepancy between the Christmas-ification of the entire store and the few Chanukah shelves. All I see is a deep irony. The holiday about resisting assimilation has, 2000+ years later, become the most assimilated.
Here is an abridged version of the historical story of Chanukah. If you have never read this before, SPOILER ALERT, it isn’t about jelly-filled donuts:
Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire in 332 BCE and takes control of Syria, Egypt and Palestine. While he allows people under his reign to keep their religious traditions and stay fairly autonomous, Hellenistic (basically Greek) culture, starts to seep into Judean life. Greek language, dress, and customs become popular and many Judeans (especially the wealthy, educated, and “sophisticated”) begin to assimilate into this new mainstream. It was a sort of universal enlightenment that made their old ways seem vintage in a not cool way. Some men even underwent the painful operation of reversing their circumcisions (the mark of the covenant) to fit into the life of gymnasiums and bathhouses. And to cut their ties (pun intended) with the Covenant. Ouch.
More than a 100 years later Antiochus IV controls the region in what is called the Seleucid Empire, and he is way less chill about people keeping their traditions. He severely oppresses the Jews by placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, slaughtering Jews who don’t submit, prohibiting Torah study, Shabbat observance, and circumcision. Antiochus has the Temple desecrated ordering the sacrifice of pigs on the altar. Practicing Jewish religion becomes punishable by death.
Two groups opposed Antiochus: a nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean, and a religious traditionalist group called the Chasidim, “the Pious Ones” (no direct connection to the modern Chasidism). Even though they had major religious disagreements, they joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid government.
In 1 Maccabees, Mattathias murders a Judean in Modi’in who dares to sacrifice at a pagan altar. Mattathias kills the Seleucid official who ordered the sacrifice, too. Then, he calls out, “Whoever is for God, follow me!” and joined by his five sons (Jonathan, Simon, Eleazar, Yohanan, and Judah, famoulsy) flees into the mountains to begin a guerrilla-war-style attack against the Seleucid army.
In three years, this “Maccabeen Coalition,” as Rabbi Irving Greenberg calls them, reclaim the Temple in Jerusalem. They clean it and hold a dedication (chanukah) celebration that involves lighting a menorah with oil.
This story is about many things. It has been interpreted over and again, including by the Rabbis of the Talmud, who focus on (make up) “the miracle of the oil.” Last week I even wrote my own commentary on understanding Chanukah through a winter solstice lens. But there is no getting around the fact that assimilation is one of the key themes if not the guiding motivation behind the Maccabean revolt, and thus the story of Chanukah.
What is cultural assimilation? Here is my own definition: Cultural assimilation is when a minority culture is absorbed into a majority culture such that what made the minority culture unique and well, its own, no longer remains, or is diluted or warped beyond recognition. Something like that.
And so, it is with much irony that I write this: Chanukah has become the most assimilated holiday of the American Jew. Chanukah has been absorbed and remade in the American Christian imagination as the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. Can’t have a Christmas tree? Have a Chanukah bush! No Christmas carols? We got Adam Sandler. Chanukah has become the major gift giving holiday for the American Jew, when it would actually make more sense for Purim to be so (considering Purim actually includes gift giving as one of its main commandments). Chanukah has become the only Jewish holiday of our mainstream American consumerist society (see Target example above) and frequently, the only one non-Jewish kids have ever heard of. Raise your hand if you were a Reform Jews raised with 8 nights of presents but no Shabbat candles? I rest my case.
I don’t write this to condemn Chanukah or to suggest we radically change our behavior. I don’t write this to shame Jews for whom Chanukah is their most observed Jewish holiday. Do I hate that little chanukiah-shaped strings of lights are available at my local big box retailer? I don’t. Chag urim sameach, I say! Happy festival of (LED) lights!
What I think is more interesting is how Jewish tradition, unless kept totally fundamentalist and secluded, can’t help but assimilate, at least a little. The effects of Hellenism on Jewish life and language last until this day. Take the Greek word “Synagogue,” as exhibit A. Or philosophy, like, in general. There is no “pure” Jewish tradition anywhere, only iterations that have to be contextualized. Food is a great example. A Moroccan charoset it different from an Ashkenazi charoset because different ingredients are available in different parts of the world. Jewish tradition is like an organism adapting to new environments. So too with American Jewish life.
If we were to travel 1000 years into the future (God willing Earth is inhabitable etc…) and we were to read a history of American Jewish life in the year 2022 CE, might we read something like: American culture at that time provided the perfect incubator to realize the potential of a holiday like Chanukah. Because the dominant Christian culture took vacations from work and understood the month of December as a time for family and ingathering as they prepared to celebrate Christmas and the Gregorian New Year, American Jews became more available and motivated to celebrate their winter holiday as well. Perhaps the motivation was one of jealousy or frustration or longing, as they watched their non-Jewish friends become enthralled in the “holiday spirit.” Perhaps it was of sheer excitement for latkes and sufganyiot and Jewish pride. Regardless of its source, it was the motivation the American Jewish people needed to fully engage in the joy of Chanukah and thus elevate its importance.
While we generally celebrate Chanukah as the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucids, or the extremists over the assimilated, I wonder if history is arguing that the victor is not so simply determined. Instead, what has endured is the tension between preservation and assimilation. The push and pull between diasporic Jews and the cultures in which they are situated. After all, the issue is not that Chanukah has been replaced by Christmas, but that it has been enlarged by it! How unique that at this moment in Jewish history the dominant culture is literally inflating a portion of our Jewish practice!
Or, if looked at in a different way, maybe the Maccabees won more than we realize. After all this time it is their holiday that is thriving, even if ironically so, with the help of some mostly friendly competition with Christmas and the American consumerist economy. Perhaps their fight against assimilation lives on in the “Traditional Latkes: Potato Pancakes” that can be found at your friendly neighborhood Trader Joe’s. Who’s to say?
Whether it’s the most or the least assimilated of the Jewish holidays, Chanukah is certainly a time to reflect upon what it means to fight for the survival and adaptation of Jewish tradition. A time to consider what it means to stand apart and what it means to belong. How we balance the universal with the particular as we forge the future of the Jewish people.
Now stop worrying about all this and go fry some potatoes.
A few more for your viewing pleasure: