It\u2019s Hanukkah! Or, somewhat more accurately, Khanike! You know, it\u2019s like Diwali for Jews!\r\n
Every year, or at least most years, I find myself stuck between two Khanike stools: on the one hand, I am very much aware that it is a Minor Holiday, with a problematic history, mostly based on ahistorical fables and silliness. On the other hand, I am very much aware that for current American Jews it is one of the most prominent holidays in the year, and probably for most households the one that takes up the most hours of preparation, celebration and observance. From a scriptural and liturgical perspective, it\u2019s no Shavuos, but from the perspective of actual lives of actual Jews Like Me, Shavuos is no Hanukkah.\r\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014I always enjoy the holiday. Fried foods, gambling, pretty lights, maybe a bissel storytelling, what\u2019s not to like? I\u2019m not a big gift-giver, but there\u2019s nothing wrong with an exchange of little things. I don\u2019t resent<\/i> Chanukah.\r\n
Although, of course, the experience of Chanukah in America is kinda resentable. My insistence\u2014historically correct!\u2014on the minor holiday status is rooted in defensiveness, specifically against the insistence that this time of year is The Holiday Season, as if Spring and Summer and Autumn were not Holiday seasons. And I really do resent the cultural sense that of course every real American will be celebrating a gift-giving holiday in December, even though I do actually celebrate a gift-giving holiday in December. Usually December.\r\n
And, of course, there\u2019s the problematic history of the holiday and its origins. The story celebrates zealots and separatists, and embraces violence and terrorism. The story is filled out with fables (well, lies) about miraculous oil and secret Torah study and other nonsense.\r\n