bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 ::

Making sense of Hanukkah
Douglas Rushkoff has posted some thoughts on Hanukkah from his 2003 book on Judaism, Nothing Sacred. Although many would argue with his assertion that "[t]he miracle of the oil lamp was invented, and the holiday became the 'festival of light,' in the spirit of earlier solstice rituals," he does make some good points about the "fairly minor holiday" becoming elevated to rival the splendor of Christmas. He writes:
How are we to approach such a historically difficult holiday in a way that is meaningful for us today? We might try starting from today’s truth. We all know what it is like to live in a country where we can’t really participate in the biggest holiday of the year, and many of us have the sense that the Hanukah of “eight nights of gifts” is a cobbled together substitute for its Christian counterpart. Many of us feel somewhat left out of what the rest of our country is celebrating. But, however assimilated we are, for many of us – like my dotcom friend Eric - to bring a Christmas tree into our homes crosses a kind of line. Assimilation to American culture was supposed to mean pluralism, not the assumption of Christianity.

In this context, the performance of Hanukah today recapitulates the historical event on which it was based.

Hanukkah, Douglas Rushkoff

:: Andrew 16:15 + ::
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