RE: Holiday Music

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

>Appreciate the aesthetic beauty of Christmas music, but be mindful that even
>something as apparently innocuous as the red stripe of the candy cane
>symbolizes the blood of Jesus.

Never heard that that's what the candy cane symbolizes.  Where did get this?  

>I believe that there is
>a Jewish tradition and a Christian tradition, but no Judeo-Christian
>tradition.  That is the message of Hanukah to me.

I totally agree, but you don't need to get offended by the attempt for store 
owners to be politically correct.  It's difficult for them and things get 
confusing.   I have had to explain to friends that I don't send out or 
reciprocate Hanukah cards we receive because that is not a Jewish tradition.   
My neighbors get Christmas cards and holiday greetings, but Jews get nothing 
and I don't want anything either.  My kids get/got no Hanukah gifts only a 
one-time giving of Hanukah gelt unless it's a Jewish book or CD.  No ands, 
buts, or ors about that.
There is the constant attempt to equalize Hanukah with Christmas in America 
which is very offensive to me as a Jew, a holiday that celebrates the refusal 
to assimilate.   Why don't they make a fuss about Shavuous, a holiday that 
deserves a fuss, but most Americans haven't even heard of it.   Maybe that's 
what we can do, gather/build new repertoires for Shavuous.   Jews in Europe 
used to decorate the insides of their homes with greenery and (sephardic 
tradition) roses the way non-Jews do their homes at Christmas time, but this 
tradition seems to have been totally forgotten in America. 


Reyzl  





----------
From:  robert wiener[SMTP:wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com]
Sent:  Tuesday, December 15, 1998 7:27 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Cc:  wiener, susan; wiener, jack ralph; gold, jacqueline sabina; androphy, 
ronald l.; androphy, ezra
Subject:  Holiday Music

I hate going into record stores this time of year.  Even before
Thanksgiving, Tower has a display of "Holiday Music".  The label offends me.
Maybe it is an attempt to be multi-cultural, acknowledge diversity, and not
offend non-Christians.  But I don't think so, and that is not the effect on
me.

In fact, "Holiday Music" is simply the politically correct term for
"Christmas Music".  Enter the emporium, look at the CDs on the wall(even on
Manhattan's Upper West Side), and count how many Hanukah (or Kwanzaa)
recordings there are.

This is no competition (and as our discussion of Hanukah recordings shows,
general record stores carry only a tiny portion of what is available), but
these displays (and the way Hanukah is depicted in the media) makes it seem
that we're all in this holiday season together, that it is something that we
have in common.

Perhaps some Jews feel left out of the seasonal festivities.  If so, I think
that's a good thing.  Hanukah is not the Jewish Christmas.  Even to display
Hanukah recordings prominently in a Holiday Music section elevates it above
the many more important Jewish holidays and thus demeans them.   I hope that
we as Jews don't feel the need to mimic Christian practices to feel proud of
our own heritage.  (One of my students was shocked when I asserted that
giving a present each night of Hanukah is about as Jewish as a Hanukah
bush.)

Appreciate the aesthetic beauty of Christmas music, but be mindful that even
something as apparently innocuous as the red stripe of the candy cane
symbolizes the blood of Jesus.  Even if Christians claim that they are the
"new Israel" that doesn't make us the "old Israel".  I believe that there is
a Jewish tradition and a Christian tradition, but no Judeo-Christian
tradition.  That is the message of Hanukah to me.

Bob Wiener