{"id":45144,"date":"2018-12-04T08:36:27","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T06:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45144"},"modified":"2018-12-04T08:36:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T06:36:27","slug":"illumining-the-chill-of-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/illumining-the-chill-of-december\/","title":{"rendered":"Illumining The Chill of December"},"content":{"rendered":"
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December is the most difficult month, not merely because the kids are out of school, not merely because the sun sets so early in the day. For Jews in the Diaspora, this month is tough for us because of the prominent Christian holiday which pervades the stores, the radio, the television, and every house on the block.<\/p>\n

Once a year, we might feel like outsiders where we live \u2014 bombarded by songs announcing the birth of the \u201cking of Israel,\u201d watching the seasonal eruption of good cheer and kindness (soon forgotten in the drunkenness of New Year’s), returning home to unlit, treeless houses amidst the stirring colors, smells, and lights of Christmas. December can be a depressing time to be Jewish.<\/p>\n

Yet December also provides evidence for the uncanny sense of the Jewish people to institute whatever it takes to survive as a people, whatever it takes to keep our faith and our heritage strong.<\/p>\n

December, you see, witnesses the contemporary invention of the mega-Hanukkah.<\/p>\n

Some react by putting up outrageous blue and white lights on their roofs, their windows, and around their homes. They purchased electric menorahs to shine through their windows; some even build Maccabee statues for their front lawns. Rather than passing a few small coins to their kids, they began giving significant gifts \u2013 not just once, but on each day of the holiday.<\/p>\n

While we may not all share this aesthetic style, there is something wonderful about its zest and brazenness \u2013 a refusal to be an outcast, to be invisible in their own homes. There is something stirring in seeing a Jewish family that responds to feeling threatened not by diminishing their Jewish celebration, not by blurring it, but by augmenting it.<\/p>\n

The rabbis of the Talmud established lighting the hanukiyot to proclaim the miracle for all to see. They used candles \u2013 the brightest lights of their age. Who knows, if they lived in our time, they might have mandated big, blue light bulbs on the roof, and a giant Hanukkah menorah in every window!<\/p>\n

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The Chill of December","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The best response to the December dilemma is not diminishing Jewish celebration, but augmenting it","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":45145,"id":45145,"title":"photo (2)","filename":"photo-2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/photo-2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/illumining-the-chill-of-december\/photo-2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"photo-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45144,"date":"2018-12-04 06:35:41","modified":"2018-12-04 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