Christmas and Chanukah
Two takes on multiculturalism and December holidays,
both written by liberal Jews, with rather different stances:
one
from JBCs (Jews by Choice) and
one
from the Velveteen Rabbi. I myself tend more toward
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My father's second wife is Roman Catholic. I was with them and her three teenagers one Christmas eve when I was a young teen. Her mother lived near-by, so every year she would drive her mother to Midnight Mass. I don't think it has ever been clarified to my step-grandmother that I'm not a practicing Jew.
On this occasion, my step-mother went to each of her three kids (all older than me) and asked in turn, "Would you like to with Nana and me to Midnight Mass". In turn each demurred (I think in favor of watching some athletic event on TV). And then, I suppose because I was hanging around and she didn't want to be rude, she turned to me and said very diffidently, "Er, I don't suppose you'd like to go to Midnight Mass?"
I looked at my three step-siblings glued to the tube, contemplated my incipient night of utter boredom for about half a second, and replied, "Sure, I'd love to."
Boy, was my step-grandmother surprised to see which kid my step-mother managed to bring along. But pleased, of course. Hope springs eternal in the Christian breast. :)
So we went to Midnight Mass, which was an educational experience for me. It was not lost on my step-grandmother that I already knew all the words to all the songs that the congregation sung.
On the ride home, my step-grandmother, feeling, I suppose, encouraged to a sort of expansive ecumenicalism by my good-natured sufferance, ventured in a sage voice, "You know, someday, we'll all worship the same god."
"Really?" I chirped innocently. "Which one?"
My step-mother almost swerved off the road, laughing.
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*laugh* Thank you for brightening my morning!
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