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Made in Israel
would’ve approved of what Chanukah’s become, primarily because
the answer is too obvious. Of course, they wouldn’t have. How
most American Jews celebrate Chanukah today would’ve terrified
Judah and company, and these weren’t men who scared easily.

But so what? So what if how we celebrate their most unlikely
victory, and the miracle that followed, isn’t necessarily in keeping
with their highest ideals? So what if while our Hebrew school
kids sing Mattathias bold, five brave sons had he: Eliezer, Simon,
John, Jonathan and Judah Maccabee, we’re out buying and wrap-
ping the latest must-have iteration of PlayStation, attending to our
most unseemly consumerist compulsions just like all the other
Christmas-celebrating Americans?
According to clergy on both sides of the aisle, Chanukah and
Christmas, despite very real differences, both exist to light up the
darkness. And the way to make sure that Chanukah has not lost
its power to illuminate — literally, spiritually, existentially — is
not by abandoning it’s celebration; it doesn’t even necessitate a
cold-turkey approach to the arguably maladjusted Chanukah
Frankenstein that we hath wrought.

It’s just by using Chanukah for some good, too. Addition by
addition. Keeping the frivolity, keeping the fun, and injecting some
meaning, too. Clergy in the know say the power of Chanukah is all
in how you use it; you know, motion in the ocean type stuff.

“One thing that I do to bring meaning into the season is I do
a tzedakah menorah,” said Berkowitz about a custom born out of
family Chanukahs that she’s exported to Kol Ami’s religious school.

“So every night, I do light a candle. But instead of giving a gift for
each candle, I give tzedakah to a certain cause. And I try to pick
causes that would be connected to people I’d be giving gifts to.”
But the clerics agree: living your best Chanukah isn’t about
extremes. Avoid the baby and bathwater scenario.

“You don’t have to do (your version of the tzedakah menorah)
instead of gifts,” Berkowitz clarified. “Because, while we don’t want
to compete with Christmas, we want to make Chanukah as beau-
tiful as any other holiday so that kids have warm memories of it
and don’t feel deprived.

“So I wouldn’t say don’t get your kids gifts, I would say while
you’re giving gifts, also consider tzedakah and giving your kid the
opportunity to give tzedakah and letting them know that that’s a
gift also.”
See Chanukah, Page 22
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WINTER HOLIDAY MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 28, 2019
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