…for my annual Get Irritated at Gentiles Rant
It kind of frost my chaps (or whatever Dallas would say) when someone wishes me a Happy Hannukah, if nothing else than 9 times out of 10 it is a gentile who thinks Chanukah is a big deal. Chanukah is a middlin’ holiday that has the misfortune of falling at the same time as Christmas, so the gentile world thinks it’s a Big Deal Jew Day. Or Days.
It’s kind of like wishing a Christian “Happy fifth Sunday after Pentecost”. It’s not a big deal.
Having grown up as a Jew, I know that all Chanukah meant to me was some chocolate coins, candles, new socks, and on the 8th night, a clock pen.
In fact, there are schools of rabbinical thought that would rather see Chanukah *not* celebrated, as it commemorates a military victory and that’s not a really nice thing.
Although it reminds me of the old saw about Jewish holidays – they can all be summed up thusly: “Someone tried to kill us. They didn’t. Let’s eat.”