Chanukah

[liv]

I have ideological issues with Chanukah. But this evening, I came home from work, and was so dead tired that I fell straight to sleep (this was the middle of the afternoon!) And I woke up and it was cold and dark, but there was my chanukah present from lethargic_man. All of a sudden, I felt far away from my family and my people, and I had a strong impulse to go out to the corner shop and buy nightlights with which I improvised a chanukah lamp.

Then I sat down and wrote a highly enthusiastic review of The Player of Games.

To those who care about such things, happy chanukah.

Comments

Re: Issues with Chanucah

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Any religion can be hijacked by fundamentalist tendencies. And in Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, where there's precious little in the way of middle ground between the חרדים and the secular, one can again see why that has happened.

But does the blame for that lie on the religion?

Well yes, partly; the Orthodox liturgy is packed full of expressions such as באיאמ"ה שלא עשני נכרי that are liable to misinterpretation in a racist manner. But equally no, partly; as a close examination of the liturgy and its biblical sources show the whole concept of Jews being the Chosen People to be in order that they be a light unto the nations. The fault is here that of the fundamentalists for engaging in a narrow reading of the texts, and ignoring the bits that don't fit with their worldview.

Yes, I know I'm treading on dangerous ground here. Go ahead; knock me down if you want.

Re: Issues with Chanucah

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

I don't really want to knock you down, clearly you can argue it six ways till the cows come home - my deal is that you celebrate Chanuka your way and I'll celebrate it my way; my way is appropriate for me in today's Jerusalem, and your way presumably works for you.