Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa & A New Year

So, Hanukkah started a couple days ago - it officially started at sundown on December 17th.

As a person lucky enough to be bestowed honorary Jew status (I'm not kidding - this is a thing), it was amazing to note that of the many many human beings with whom I interacted yesterday, there was only ONE person (out of easily 50) who knew it was the beginning of Hanukkah! He even knew enough to "Mazel tov" me!

I find that kind of pathetic and a little gross given the fact that you can turn on the radio right now and hear Christmas music 24 hours a day if you so choose. And the fact that all you have to do is look at a calendar and it tells you that Dec. 17 was the beginning of Hanukkah...

It's not that I mind Christmas music, I actually adore it! Takes me back to my youth when we'd attend Christmas Eve services at our local Methodist church. It was so pretty, and we'd get all dressed up and everything was sparkly and the CHOIR and the ORGAN!! OOooooo, I loved it!

The Jews, however, get kinda screwed. No tree, no observance of their particular religion by the masses (unless you live in Swampscott or Marblehead!) and they have to listen to Christian people gush on and on about all of their parties and gifts and the big tree and the stores piping in Christmas music and the red and the green everywhere!

It's not that one is better than the other, that's not what I'm saying. I'd just like a little more awareness of what other people do! And I think KUDOS to the Jewish who put up with our bombardment of Christmas everything and they don't complain one iota! Nope!

I've been in cahoots with a number of Progressive Jewish people that celebrate both! 

We did in my household. I had a pretty tree and the menorah sitting right there next to it. We had Seder dinners and Easter dinners. We had matzoh ball soup and then a turkey! We had a glass full for Elijah and Christmas cookies for Santa. Temple and Church.

Why not? Who does that possibly hurt? Nobody.

I'll bet you that a good number of Christians don't know the fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity. There really are very very few differences. And the differences are really semantics and interpretation. If you've read the Torah and the Bible (which I have) you easily recognize one in the other.

I've also studied Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Taoism, Atheism (that one scared me the most) and Agnosticism.

Theoretical Physics, Biology and Philosophy are really my favorite "religions" as science and the desire to be ethical and tread lightly has guided me pretty unfailingly throughout my life.

So yesterday I went around wishing everyone 

"Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever it is you celebrate!"

And it brought a smile to every single person's face! No one can get mad about wishing you a happy whatever-it-is-you-do to make your home fires burn brightly!

So, enough with the bashing of other people's beliefs. That is one of the most amazing things about the United States of America. We have freedom of religion. There are not many other places like that except some of the more developed countries in Scandanavia, Europe and some of the Island nations.

In most of the rest of the world, you are told what to believe, when you can do it, and how much OR you get shot, bombed, raped or pillaged in some other horrible way.
(which, it turns out some of my heritage is German Jew)
Even in India (which, as I've said, I think Indians are some of the loveliest, gentlest humans I've known as I've journeyed around our planet) they have a caste system. If you're born in a low caste, that's where you remain. No hope of advancing your cause. None. There are people that sleep on the side of the road in some parts of India because they literally have NOTHING to their name. Just the clothes on their backs and sometimes even those get stolen or ripped off them.

I'd just really like everyone to be nice to each other and just pay attention to the comfort of others. Even in the grocery store! Don't block the damn aisle! In the street - slow the F*CK down! It's icy and slippery and not everyone wants to go 80 miles per hour in a 40 mile-per-hour zone!! Jeeeez!

You know, I've been flipped off on Northern Lights Boulevard because I was GOING THE SPEED LIMIT??? Baffling.

And people here will speed UP just to slam on their brakes at a red light.

?

Anywho, I'm being very much a Pollyanna and do-gooder and I understand that some of you probably roll your eyes at my naive attitude.

Thing is, I'm not naive at all. I like to always try to see the good in humans whether they're homeless, drug addicts, a stranger that dresses oddly or eats weird food, a foreigner (I've been a foreigner and it's not fun when the natives treat you unkindly like the men in Morocco)...

You really just never know the motivations of others, so stop being a jerk! Just let them have their bad day and move on. Maybe they just lost their puppy dog and he found out his wife is cheating on him and she just found out she has cancer.

Especially in this season of giving, one of the best things you can do? Give someone a break or the benefit of a doubt. It works miracles.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, the video below. This makes me giggle and carry on like a cackling fool! Hope you like it!

Thanks for reading & Merry Ho Ho and Mazel and all that rot.