I’ll tell you a secret, I’m pleased about Christmas. That the whole world is willing to celebrate the late September birth of a nice Jewish boy on December 25, I’m kvelling. I mean, it’s not really a Christian holiday (hence the dislocated date), it’s just a thin veneer of paint on the Roman holiday —…
Even a curmudgeon couldn’t hate Hanukkah, right? A miracle of light in the winter? The little festival that could? But if you look at it closer, it’s the little festival that could… could do what? Could celebrate the victory of fundamentalist zealots over a tolerant cosmopolitan Empire, slaughtering co-religionists on the way? Could encourage the…
East Asian civilizations identify themselves through their use of chopsticks, European ones have universally adopted the knife and fork, but not one significant civilization has ever embraced the spork. The reason that this highly practical spoon-shaped eating utensil with short tines at the tip has not become a favorite is because it’s a compromise. Neither…
Because Halloween, as All Hallows’ Eve, has its roots in pagan mythology and the Christian calendar, Jews traditionally don’t celebrate it. But increasingly people (including Jews) around the world are celebrating American Halloween and that’s a terrible mistake. Maybe I am aging into a curmudgeon — certainly young children and LGBT communities have righteous fun…
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