Jews and Christmas

Last week I found myself watching the old Christmas episode of South Park in which the Jewish child, Kyle, feels left out while his Christian friends celebrate Christmas with their families. Meanwhile, he celebrates Chanukah with his family but it isn't as special as Christmas seems for his classmates. He sings a sad song titled "Lonely Jew". The story progresses with Mr. Hankie but that's another story. This episode brings an interesting item to the table relating to Jewish identity. First, I should mention that the character was based off one of South Park's creators, Matt Stone, who is Jewish (I'm not sure how religious he is now though). Kyle is supposed to represent his own childhood experiences as a Jewish child. I'm sure every Jewish child can agree that being Jewish during Christmas is difficult. Sure, marketing tries to make Chanukah seem like a big deal and getting presents is cool but there is the knowledge that it isn't the same as Christmas. It is hard for children to grasp their Jewish identity, because children don't want to be different and knowing that you are a different religion than your classmates can be hard. Thus, it's hard to embrace Jewish identity. Now, I'm sure it is difficult if you are living in a large Jewish community but not every Jewish child is lucky enough to grow up in such an environment.