As you read this article, we are moving into our annual quandary or dilemma; what are we supposed to do about Chanukah and Christmas? In the simplest of terms: Chanukah is for those who are Jewish and Christmas is for those who are Christian. Clean, clear and concise and yet that sentence simply does not shed any light upon how we address our non-Jewish neighbors or how do we handle the wide variety of holiday invitations to cocktail parties or dinner events hosted by our non-Jewish business associates and friends. Should we go? Should we bring anything? How do we comport ourselves at such events? Our friends know we’re Jewish, won’t we feel out of place?

These and a host of other questions arise at this time of year and please know that there is no set solution to any of these questions. In the United States, we live in a time of spiritual observance freedom and yet, as a religious minority, it becomes difficult during December to hold our "Jewishness" close to us while being neighborly and inclusive with our Christian associations. We all know that Chanukah is a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar and as such, our observance is literally swallowed up by the very major Christmas season.

However, all is not lost. We have a host of observance traditions that allow us to hold our holiday in high esteem, the greatest of which is the placement of our Menorah in a window facing the public street when we light our candles. Plus the foods and songs make Chanukah a beautiful celebration that is often the envy of our neighbors.

As a result of various types of school programming, our children regularly have a tougher time dealing with the Chanukah/Christmas dilemma. The glitz and glitter can be a powerful draw to our children therefore the Jewish reinforcement of the Chanukah story and related celebration both in religious school and at home is vital. Our teachers continue to work hard on all aspects of the Chanukah holiday to instill the historic importance and celebration processes of Chanukah.

The majority of the Chanukah celebration occurs at home with the family. Including neighbors both Jewish and non-Jewish in tasting latkes and sufganiot (fried doughnuts) help in exposing and teaching those who may not know about the miracle of Chanukah. And for those inevitable gift exchanges, don’t forget to patronize our Sisterhood Gift Shop!

Rabbi Rubovits