Rant #2,490: Hanukkah Rocks

I can't wait.

Everyone is getting their gifts ready, and anticipating what they will be receiving and hoping that what they got for their loved ones fit them well.

Some places fit the occasion, with snow on the ground and a chill in the air.

Other places are hot, humid, and well, you can go swimming right around now.

But the anticipation is there.

Yes, I am talking about ...

Hanukkah, which begins at sundown on Sunday.

This year, Hanukkah and Christmas fall out about the same time, so yes, exactly what I could say about the latter I can say about the former.

This is what I said about Hanukkah in Rant #641, December 20, 2011, another year when the two holidays came out around the same time of year. In edited form, it still applies today:

"I know that for most of our culture, Hanukkah means absolutely nothing, but for many of us, this holiday reflects the culmination of a year's work, and the time to party and celebrate.

I know to most people, this means absolutely nothing, but to us 3 percenters--the percent of the U.S. population that is Jewish--it does mean something, maybe more to some than others, since there seems to be a rising tide for Jews to celebrate Christmas. No, I don't get it either.

Anyway, on the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah is not a major holiday. But it is a joyous and festive one, celebrating the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean revolt, during the second century BCE (before the common era).

After the Jews regained control of the temple, they found that they only had one night's oil for their candelabra, their eternal light. Somehow, through some type of miracle, the oil burned for eight days, hence the celebration of Hanukkah for eight days and the use of a menorah to signify the eternal light.

It is a joyous holiday and a festive one, but, as I said, it is not a major holiday on the Jewish calendar.

That is the reason that many give for high-profile Jews basically ignoring the holiday, at least out in public.

But of course, that is nonsense.

Whatever anybody says, Hanukkah is a huge holiday for Jews around the globe.

It is a gift-giving holiday, a holiday where you reaffirm your family ties, a holiday that is to be celebrated, and not shunned, like some unfortunate Jews do.

Sure, it's always right near Christmas, and a lot of people believe that it is the Jewish Christmas.

Well let me tell you, it isn't. It has nothing to do with Christmas at all.

However, because of the actions of some high-profile Jews, many people think that Hanukkah simply doesn't measure up, that Jews celebrate Christmas.

Sorry, at least in my family, we don't.

Christmas is a wonderful holiday, with its direction very similar to that of Hanukkah.

But Hanukkah isn't the Jewish Christmas much like Christmas is not the Gentile Hanukkah.

No matter how much society wants the two holidays intertwined, one has nothing to do with the other.

On that note, I wish everyone a joyous Hanukkah. Eat lots of sweet things, get and give your presents, and feel content with who you are and what religion you are."

Of course this year, Hanukkah is a little different for me than in previous years.

I, personally, am out of sorts, and I am going to use the holiday to bring me back to some semblance of normalcy.

When my family and I light the menorah beginning on Sunday evening, it is like we will be lighting the torch that can be used in the very dark tunnel that I am in right now, and it will allow me to clearly see what is ahead of me.

I don't know that is ahead for me for the remainder of this year into 2020--20/20 get it, perfect eyesight?--but the celebration of Hanukkah will allow me to relax a bit ...

But just a bit.

Anti-Semitic acts are way up in recent times, and happily, in recent times, my family has not had to deal with anything of this nature directly. However, in the recent past, we have met up with this type of hate, and I guess we do look over our backs to make sure that everything is good and fine.

Others have taken recent times to bash Jews, knock Israel, and do these things in horrible, violent ways.

This civilization and this society cannot have this. It is not acceptable, and not acceptable anywhere or at any time, but it is most virulent around Hanukkah and other more major Jewish holidays.

I am sure that local police will be on high alert during Hanukkah for anything and everything. Public menorahs are often vandalized during this period, and the most obvious of hate crimes must be handled in that manner.

Other crimes against Jews are more heinous, such as the recent murder spree in Jersey City, which most obviously targeted the Jewish community but one which most legislators dragged their feet on naming as a hate crime.

This simply cannot be, because it almost makes these legislators as bad as the perpetrators.

Call a spade a spade, stop wasting time, and put the perpetrators away for a long, long time.

We cannot have this type of behavior in a supposed civilized society.

And Jews take heed.

You can be as inclusive as you want--putting up "Hanukkah bushes" and celebrating Christmas--but you will always be Jewish, no matter how you think and feel.

Take heed of that warning, because it is true. Remember, Hitler did not care how liberal you were--you were Jewish, you were rounded up by the Nazis.

I hate to be so down during the joyous period, but we must recognize as a people and a nation that this is also a time of increased hate, and we must put it in the proper context.

Celebrate Hanukkah, be proud of your Jewishness, and this will thwart anyone who has anything to say about it.

There IS strength in numbers. Let's use those numbers to quash those who think it is their right to put us down.

Have a great holiday to those who celebrate, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.