'Tis The Season
There are several sentences a son can utter that strike fear into the hearts of Jewish parents:
- "I bought retail."
- "This is my friend Adolf. He has some great ideas."
- "Meet my fiance Mary Margaret McShane."
My oldest son laid this one on me yesterday, "Mommy, can I sing you a song about Santa?" It's that time of year again, folks. Except my children aren't in a Jewish preschool anymore. They're in...cue up scary music...public school. So that means they're coming home with pictures of Santa, Christmas trees, and Jingle Bells.
What's a Jewish mother to do?
I listened to the song and afterwards asked the boys how they felt about singing Santa songs when they didn't believe in Santa. My youngest looked confused and said,
"I thought Santa was real. He's not real?"
Warnings went off inside my head. Abort! Abort! Abort! I don't want him to be that kid - the Boy Who Ruined Christmas for everyone in school. Like any good mom I changed the subject, but we've got another month of these issues.
Look, we all know the kids who were taught at home or in a cushy prep school. They grew up isolated and were never any fun at parties. I know the boys need to be around different kinds of people and learn about other cultures. We do synagogue and Hebrew school plus Adam Sandler songs this time of year to instill a whole lotta Jewish pride.
Is it enough?
posted by kate @ 5:42 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
We do synagogue and Hebrew school plus Adam Sandler songs this time of year to instill a whole lotta Jewish pride.
Is it enough?
Heck to the nah. You've got to gank up their innards with guilt, guilt, and more guilt. Then they will become self-loathing when they have a tiny pang of desire to buy a X-Mas tree.
Santa can visit Jewish Homes. Leave him a Kanish (sp)
I love jewish humor, especially when told by jewish people.
I have no idea what most of it means, but it sure is funny when spoken in the ancient tongue.
A kinnish... sheeesh.
Wait, what is that again? some kind of bagel or something? Why would santa like that instead of milk and cookies? Are jews against milk and cookies? I thought if they were kosher we were cool. This is too hard to remember.
Kate, I think we need a (from the back of my throat) chanuka (sp?) lesson over here.
Yeah, like that guy in Seinfeld, I converted mostly so I could get away with making Jewish jokes.
A knish is good if it's filled with potatoes, but tastes like dog tongue if it's filled with kasha. Milk and cookies could be kosher. Nothin' but mad love over here for milk and cookies. But Santa doesn't visit Jewish households - and he really shouldn't. We got our own gig going on and Christmas is already too secular. If you raise a kid with both you raise him with nothing. So we are 100% Jew in this household. :-)
Laughed at "from the back of my throat" - gotta love the goyim.
On Thursday I had the displeasure of hearing a fellow by the name of Rev. Tim Bumgardener who said words to the effect that if you don't celebrate Christmas that you are anti-American.
In the 'war'on Christmas I am playing the role of the insurgent against the enemy I've dubbed P.E.S.T.
It seems there's a "war" on damn near everything nowadays.
i take strong exception to the comment, "if you raise a kid with both you raise him with nothing."
as a generalization, i feel it goes too far. on a personal level, it's difficult to appreciate such a statement.
Well, if anyone can do it, you can. I've just talked to many people raised in similar situations and they claim, as adults, feeling an affinity to neither faith. They're just not as connected as they might have been if their parents had chosen one over the other. I'm not talking about raising a kid Jewish and also to appreciate and understand one's Christian family members. I'm talking about sending the kid to synagogue and church. Christmas tree and menorahs. I don't even know how that's possible, to tell you the truth. Is there a church out there that will accept a kid for CCD classes who also attends Hebrew school? That's what I mean by "both being none". Make sense? I certainly never mean to offend. ;-)
thanks for clarifying. . .now we must dance the hora.
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