Opinion
Community Views
Dealing With The 'It Would
Have Been Easier' Season
Healing The Wounds
Of Newspaper Words
RABBI AMY BIGMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWIS H NEWS
RABBI ZS/ SHIMANSKY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Recently
heard a rabbi
refer to this as
the "it would
have been easi-
er" season. I
am sure you
are all familiar
_ with this sea-
son. It begins
around Thanksgiving (but it
seems to be getting earlier
each year) and doesn't end
until sometime around New
Year's Day. This is the sea-
son during which decora-
tions and music fill the
malls, colored lights light up
the streets and giant reli-
gious symbols are found in
abundance.
Of course, none of the dec-
orations, music, lights or
symbols are ours: All of
them belong to our Christ-
ian neighbors. At this time
of the year we may feel that
it would be easier to be
something which we are not.
It is a shame that, due to
our own insecurities or self-
ishness or simply because
we think they are pretty, too
many of us have "stolen"
these symbols from our
neighbors. As one of my col-
leagues has stated, "Too
Rabbi Bigman, of Temple
Emanu-El, is a board mem-
ber of the Ecumenical Insti-
tute for Jewish-Christian
Studies.
many Jews violate the
eighth commandment —
`Thou shalt not steal'—dur-
ing the month of December."
Too many Jews bring Chris-
tian symbols into their
homes and into their lives
without a second thought.
We must be aware:
Christmas is the most im-
portant, holiest of days for
Christians. Christmas cel-
ebrates the birth of the
Christian Messiah. It is a
We may feel that it
would be easier to
be something which
we are not.
significant, religious cele-
bration. Unfortunately,
Christmas has become a
commercialized, secularized
holiday for many Chris-
tians...and for too many
Jews as well. It is not fair
for us to usurp our neigh-
bors' holiday and symbols.
If non-Jews started
putting mezuzot on their
homes just because they
thought they were pretty, or
if they began to wear chais
or Jewish stars on chains
around their necks just to
make them look more like
their neighbors, we'd be up-
set. What if they wore kip-
pot simply because they
thought they were a cool
kind of headcovering, with-
out realizing the religious
significance attached to kip-
pot?
Yes, it may be true that
this is the "it would've been
easier" season; it would
have been easier to be part
of the majority at this time
of year, but that is no ex-
cuse. It simply is not ac-
ceptable for Jews to take as
our own one of our neigh-
bors' holiest holidays, to void
it of its religious meaning so
that we may feel more a part
of the season.
We do have our own hol-
iday to celebrate at this sea-
son: Chanukah. While
Chanukah is not considered
a major Jewish holiday, still
it is our holiday and it is one
with an important message.
Chanukah is a time for us to
celebrate the Maccabean
victory, a victory which al-
lowed our people to cele-
brate our own holidays, to
live in our own way without
fear of discrimination or
punishment.
We should be proud of
who we are. We should cel-
ebrate our holidays with
pride. We may wish our
friends a "Merry Christmas"
but we must wish ourselves
a "Happy Chanukah." This
is our celebration. I hope it
is a happy one. Chag
sameach. ❑
It is said that
the pen is
mightier than
the sword. I
hope that
wounds heal a
bit easier after
being attacked
by the word
than they do
after being cut by the blade.
Akiva Hebrew Day School
was seriously misrepresent-
ed in The Jewish News and
a number of our students
were profoundly hurt by the
printing of selective quotes
which they feel they did not
say or which did not reflect
the overall context of their
complete remarks. The im-
plication of this article was
an affront not only to our
school but to the Orthodox
world everywhere.
The pen of The Jewish
News, however, is not the fo-
cus of my comments. The
children who feel misrepre-
sented and hurt will also
heal and reestablish them-
selves with pride amongst
their peers. Our Akiva fam-
ily knows our children well.
We love their faces and
smiles and, yes, sometimes
grudging commitment to the
hard work that goes into the
fullness of a dual program
that emphasizes learning
and spiritual growth as a
major life goal.
Although their names
have changed, these are the
same children who have
come through our halls for
the last 30 years and have
gone on to become the lead-
ers of the Jewish communi-
ties in which they live
throughout the world. A
sampling of our graduates
will find an almost total con-
nection to the Torah world of
life with which we nurtured
them. They populate the
cities, settlements, yeshivot
and army bases of the land
of Israel in numbers that
would make an aliyah office
proud had they produced
them. You will find our grad-
uates as rabbis and lay lead-
ers and, most importantly,
connected to our Torah, our
people and the land.
As difficult as it may be for
some to understand, thank
God the vast majority of our
children are very committed
and proud of the way that we
have lived and survived as
Jews for the last 4,000 years.
Their commitment to the
Torah's way of life and the
path of Halachah is not
based on some loose nostal-
gic remembrance of yester-
year.
Learning, understanding
and living Judaism have al-
ways been the singular in-
gredients that have
maintained us as a people.
The tragedy of Jewish de-
mography today is proof that
a casual commitment to Ju-
daism produces casual Jews.
Casual Jews are not produc-
As difficult as
it may be for some
to understand,
the vast majority
of our
children are very
committed and
proud of the way
that we have lived
and survived as
Jews for the last
4,000 years.
ing children who are com-
mitted to retaining the
Jewish appellation. We are
both proud and thankful
that we enjoy the type of
commitment, energy and
support from our communi-
ty that allows us to continue
to nurture the Jews of to-
morrow.
Our children, our future
are not casual responsibili-
ties. At Akiva, it is the very
commitment of our children
that is the driving strength
in the messages we share
with them. The lessons of
our Torah and the beauty of
Jewish life have not changed
in the 30 years of our exis-
tence any more than it has
since we stood together at
Mt. Sinai. With the help of
the Holy One, our children
have and will continue to re-
spond with the affirmation
and energy that we at Akiva
know very well. As long as
we remain true to our task,
Rabbi Zev Shimansky is the head- I do not believe that will ever
master at Akiva Hebrew Day change. ❑
School.