Jews Respond to Christmas

	The closeness of Christmas and Hanukkah is cause for confusion among many Jewish people and provokes various responses. The first generation of East European Jewish immigrants (around 1900) tended to embrace Christmas, brought Christmas trees into their homes and thought nothing of the carols their children sang in school. Subsequent generations are more prone to identity crisis because our society insists on ethnic and national categories of which it has only second hand knowledge. Some Jews are starting to question their embracing of Christmas because they wonder if it betrays their Jewish roots, unlike the earlier generations that were less Americanized. There have always been Orthodox Jews who aren't interested in observing any aspect of Christmas but appreciate it without feeling threatened by it. They recognize Hanukkah for what it is.
They understand that an inescapable part of being Jewish, unless you live in Israel, is knowing you are different from almost anyone else, and value their uniqueness. It's not unusual to hear Jews refer to themselves as belonging to a kind of tribe. Orthodox Jews are more conservative, strict and traditional than others. They aren't primarily on any bandwagon against Christmas.They are more likely to feel that with their strong commitment , there is little danger that appreciating Christmas will threaten their fundamental identity.
In his authoritative book "The Battle for Christmas", Stephen Nissenbaum describes how he grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household fascinated by Christmas, "a magical time", so much so that one year he put some of his toys in a sack and attempted to distribute them as Santa to neighborhood children. Christmas beckoned to him but was always withheld by religion and family, so he decided the holiday must mean even more to Jewish children than to Christian ones. Most Jews in America aren't Orthodox. Many consider themselves of Jewish heritage but don't necessarily practice the religion. Many of these people choose to celebrate Christmas in some form and some of them love Christmas. Many Jews are closet carolers. The 1996 National Population survey found 30% of households with one or more Jewish residents alway had a Christmas tree. The other part of the Non-Orthodox Jewish community tries to elevate Hanukkah's importance to provide a counterbalance to Christmas. Hanukkah is bigger in the U.S. than elsewhere because of this approach and has been greatly influenced by Christmas. Examples of this influence are the phenomenon of "Hanukkah bushes" and the once popular "Hanukkah Harry" and "Smiley Shalom", a Jewish version of Frosty the Snowman.
In an attempt to make Hanukkah "The Jewish Christmas", parents tell their children that Hanukkah is even better than Christmas; Christmas is only one day whereas Hanukkah goes on for eight, making it a bigger party with more presents. Teaching children about Hanukkah like this encourages negative views about Christmas and doesn't build positive views about Judaism. Jews have learned an important lesson, that it's o.k. to be public with religion. But there are other more significant Jewish holidays, like Shauvot, that few Jews celebrate because there is no Christmas surrounding it. Purim could be turned into a Halloween-like costume street party with everyone invited to join in the fun, but it isn't. Instead Hanukkah is chosen as the big public statement holiday.