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How Was YOUR December Dilemma?
Over the last week or so, both the Jewish and secular media have been awash in stories about the “December Dilemma” for interfaith families, more so this year than ever before — considering it is the first time since 1959 that the first night of Hanukkah has fallen on Christmas day (and back in 1959 the Jewish intermarriage rate was only about 6%).
Among the many articles covering the phenomenon are:
- Holidays’ Convergence Adds to December Dilemma, New York Times.
- Chrismukkah time is here again, Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
- Dual—not dueling—holidays for these folks, San Antonio Express News.
- More families observe Christmas and Hanukkah, The Hamilton Spectator.
- Tis Never the Season for Chrismukkah, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
Many of these articles seem to focus on the seeming harmony brought to families that celebrate both holidays.
The article that I thought best captured the actual challenges of “celebrating both” (and not just because I was quoted) was a piece by reporter Sue Fishkoff of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency called “Some families solve annual dilemma by celebrating Christmas, Chanukah“. The piece examines a few grassroots initiatives that not only celebrate both holidays but try to educate children of interfaith parents about both religions simultaneously:
Raymond Reichenberg, who’s at the Christmas - Chanukah celebration in New York with his 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, admits he couldn’t bring himself to sing the Christmas carols earlier in the evening. But, he says, this is the only way his family can negotiate their dual-faith reality. When he and his wife, a Roman Catholic, got married, they agreed to raise the children as Jews. “But when the time came, she couldn’t tolerate it,” Reichenberg says. “The hardest thing was giving up my desire to have Jewish kids. We wouldn’t have gotten through it without this place, and the exposure and tolerance they’re learning.”
The rest of the piece chronicles some of the very difficult emotions the parents deal with when confronted with such compromises.
So how was YOUR day? Was it as harmonious as some of the above articles might suggest? Or were there real challenges?
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