Chanukkah’s commercial turn in the U.S.

Every December first, many Jewish students at Samo celebrate the Jewish holiday known as Chanukkah. Since I was a little kid, I’ve heard every friend I know say essentially the same thing: “Jew Christmas.” This remark felt and still feels fairly demeaning. However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to recognize the sad truth. We — the Jewish American population — are indeed celebrating “Jew Christmas.” Chanukkah has become ultra-commercialized, as children now receive extravagant gifts and corporations market towards a holiday originally rooted in tradition and gratitude.

The most ironic thing is that Chanukkah, in Hebrew, means “dedication”. The intention behind the holiday is to celebrate our ancestors and their dedication to fighting against forced assimilation. Yet, that same assimilation we fought so hard against, was in its own right adopted to establish the holiday we recognize today. 

Chanukkah, like essentially every Jewish holiday, is about a war. As the old refrain goes, “they tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat.” In the case of Chanukkah, this threat was explicitly existential. During the time of the Syrian-Greek Empire, the Seleucids took over Judea and forced harsh restrictions on the Jewish population. Shabbat (the day of rest), Torah study and prayer were all banned. The Jewish Temple, formally a place free of idols, had a giant statue of Zeus in it. So, our ancestors revolted. The Maccabee rebel group fought and took back the temple. Judea was again Jewish and the temple was rededicated to our way of life. 

Sadly, the practice of dedication is the antithesis of what is being practiced today in America. As the 20th century brought about a wave of commercialization, Christian kids all over America received glorious gifts every December 25th. Before the 1950’s Jewish children would receive “Gelt” (small coins of money or chocolate), play dreidel (a spinning top that was used to disguise Torah study), give tzedakah (charity), sing songs and come together in what was essentially eight days commemorating a war for our survival. 

With this chapter of American-Jewish assimilation, we didn’t just replace our more significant holidays; Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) with Chanukkah. We replaced the Festival of Lights, a time for remembering our traditions and thanking God for our existence, with a Judaic version of Christmas. Chanukkah was never meant to be about receiving gifts, but receiving a generational love of our culture. 

This holiday season, I encourage my Jewish peers to remember the reason we light the menorah for the eight nights of Chanukkah. When the temple was rededicated, we only had enough oil to light the menorah for one night. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight nights. This illumination, in the darkest of times, is what we need at this very moment. While we will undeniably rejoice in consumerism, let us also remember what this holiday is really about: our community, our existence and above all, our continued life and celebration of our Judaism.