In the current issue of his Progressive Jewish magazine, Tikkun, Rabbi Michael Lerner shares his thoughts on the "Christmas Wars" - specifically, "the religious right's attempt to blame secular people, civil libertarians and Jews for the loss of the Christmas spirit." In response, Lerner argues that Christmas WAS stolen, but not by seculars, civil libertarians and Jews, but by "a frenetic orgy of consumption." How true. In other words, if the true meaning of both Christmas and Chanukah have been almost completely swamped, it's not by "secularists" but by "free market" capitalism run amok. Arguably, this is the greatest threat to tradition and spiritual values ever invented. Here's Lerner again:
There is a beautiful spiritual message underlying Christmas that has universal appeal: the hope that gets reborn in moments of despair, the light that gets re-lit in the darkest moments of the year, is beautifully symbolized by the story of a child born of a teenage homeless mother who had to give birth in a manger because no one would give her shelter, and escaping the cruelty of Roman imperial rule and its local surrogate Herod who already knew that such a child would grow up to challenge the entire imperialist system. To celebrate that vulnerable child as a symbol of hope that eventually the weak would triumph over the rule of the arrogant and powerful is a spiritual celebration with strong analogies to our Jewish Chanukah celebration which also celebrates the victory of the weak over the powerful. And many other spiritual traditions around the world have similar celebrations at this time of year.The loss of this message, its subversion into a frenetic orgy of consumption, rightly disturbs Christians and other people of faith.
Yet this transformation is not a result of Jewish parents wanting to protect their children from being forced to sing Christmas carols in public school, or secularists sending Seasons Greeting cards. It derives, instead, from the power of the capitalist marketplace, operating through television, movies and marketers, to drum into everyone's mind the notion that the only way to be a decent human being at this time of year is to buy and buy more.
So why do Christians - and Jews - put up with this? In large part, I would agree with Rabbi Lerner that it's because commercialism and materialism are such incredibly powerful forces, crammed down our (all-too-willing?) throats throughout the year, then culminating in the orgy of consumption that has come to be called "the holiday season." Starting the day after Thanksgiving, aptly nicknamed "Black Friday," and not ending until unwanted gifts have been returned and after-holiday sales have been completed, this season of insatiable spending and splurging has almost completely bulldozed over the true meaning of Christmas and Chanukah.
In addition, Lerner argues, there are strong political forces at work as well:
...the Christian Right is unwilling to challenge the capitalist marketplace-because their uncritical support for corporate power is precisely what they had to offer the Right to become part of the conservative coalition. Their loyalty to conservative capitalist economics trumps for them their commitment to serving God.
Interesting point, and one I've puzzled over for a long time while studying the seemingly irreconcilable alliance between the Christian Right and the largely secular, hyper-capitalist, quasi-libertarian wing of the Republican Party.
Many American Jews, meanwhile, have forgotten the true meaning of Chanukah in their own "holiday season" buying bacchanalia. Chanukah, of course, celebrates the victory of strongly religious and traditional Jews ("Maccabees") against "Hellenism" - the ancient Greek culture of the Gymnasium, plus the ancient Greek "globalization" and market economics of 165 BC. As another Rabbi, Margaret Holub, points out:
Hanukkah is the celebration of the Maccabean revolt, which was in fact a civil war between two Jewish factions (only late in the conflict did the Syrian monarch intervene, albeit drastically.) One faction was "hellenized," meaning that they engaged with the social and political institutions of the empire of Alexander the Greek. The other faction upheld traditional Jewish laws and values as they understood them. While the rabbinic tradition comes down squarely on the side of the traditional folk, so that we celebrate the Maccabees' victory over the hellenizing Jews, the truth is that, if an analogous conflict were happening today, many of us would probably be pretty ambivalent at best. So Hanukkah always presents a problem: were the Maccabees in fact heroes, or were they the taliban of their time? Should we be cheering or mourning their victory?
Today, then, should we be "cheering or mourning" the victory of Commercialism over Christmas (and Chanukah)? The triumph of the "Lexus" (globalization and "progress") over the "Olive Tree" (culture, traditions, values, language, music, art, family, religion)? The inevitable clash between "McWorld" (globalism) and "Jihad" (tribalism)? Should we all be busy pushing back against commercialism run amok? Or should we just stop thinking about this stuff, enjoy our eggnog and our football games, and open our damn presents?