Hanukkah and Christmas...

I watched a little TV tonight and was watching the commercials that are part of it. They were all talking about Christmas and playing their jingles and talking about Xmas sales all over town, trying to capture the holiday business. It occurred to me that we NEVER hear Hanukkah advertising, in spite of the fact that Jewish people own a fair number of the businesses that are advertising. Wanting to appeal to the masses, they appeal to the Christians. Being a 61 year old man of Jewish descent, I know that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I don't know what Hanukkah is celebrating. I concentrated and still nothing came to mind, interestingly. I Googled it and found by going to 2 different websites, that it is the festival of lights, period. No explanation about anything else other than how to celebrate it if you are Jewish. Searching farther, I was able to determine that it celebrates the fact that after the Greeks tore down and desecrated a famous Jewish temple where the Eternal Light burned, there was only enough olive oil to burn for one day. Miraculously that one day supply burned for 8 days, long enough for the Jews to process a new batch of olive oil from scratch. Now, what started this war was, the Greeks put a law in place that said all citizens of the city, were to worship a Greek statue and eat pork, which is clearly against Jewish law. As a result of the Jews not obeying the Greek laws, the Greeks tore down the Jewish Temple. Thank goodness, now everyone just gets along, right?

Why is it that it took 61 years for me to find out what my own holiday is even about? Why do I know that Christmas celebrates Christ's birthday? Why is it that I don't follow my religion? Lastly, why is it that my son doesn't even have a religion? The answer is not really clear, but as far as I can see, the Jewish religion isn't really convenient. My parents didn't instill it in me, they didn't teach me to worship at it and I didn't pass it on to my offspring. Judaism died with my parents, sadly. I feel no more compelled to follow the Jewish religion than I do to follow the Muslim way of life. Many of my Jewish born friends, feel the same. We are the baby boomers without religion. I feel a strong presence of God, but not the ritual of religion. Merry Christmas!