20.05.12

Editor’s note: The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins at sundown today. In memory of longtime Post columnist Rose Post, today the Post is reprinting a column of hers, first published Dec. 22, 1987.

Potato latkes are the greatest, but they can’t match Santa Claus. And no matter how much I loved to watch the children in years gone by and grandchildren now light the candles of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday that (begins) tonight, I have to admit in my heart of hearts that the glow of the menorah is no match for twinkling lights on a Christmas tree or stockings hung by the chimney with care or the sound of Christmas carols on a cold, clear night.

Nor can the story of a fight for religious freedom or the miracles of oil compare with the story of no room in the inn or a babe in swaddling clothes.

It’s tough to be Jewish and admit that you love Christmas with all its religious significance and its secular trappings.

But I do.

It’s tough to confess that my urge every year is to go the whole nine yards, with a tree and stockings and gifts and carols and fruitcake and dreams of snow and chestnuts roasting on an open fire except on blackened, smoking grills tended by scroungy characters on the sidewalks of New York. But Bing Crosby brainwashed me years ago, and I’m convinced they’re part of Christmas, part of the Christmas I want to be a part of.

Source: Salisbury Post