What's the harm?

According to statistics, the world's Jewish population stands at
just over 13 million. The population remains stable thanks to
Israel's natural growth, which offsets the continuing decrease
in Jews elsewhere.
Jews today represent only two out of every
1,000 people in the world, compared to a ratio
of 3.5 to 1,000 in 1970, 4.7 to 1,000 in 1945,
and 7.5 to 1,000 in 1938.
Here in Canada, the statistics confirm this decrease.
In 2001, Jews ranked 17th overall in
Canada in terms of the largest groups defined
on the basis of ethnic origins. In 2006, Jews
dropped to 25th. In Quebec they dropped from
10th place to 13th place and in Ontario from
15th place to 19th place.
At this rate, we should all but disappear by 2078.
So what’s happening?
Well for one thing, more Jews in the diaspora are dying than are being
born. And for another, assimilation and intermarriage have claimed
many Jewish identities.
The dominant reason why Jews are not maintaining their Jewish identity
is not that they are escaping their Jewishness but rather their indifference
to it in an open and welcoming country. Nowhere is this
more obvious than with the evolution of Chanukah into the “Jewish
Christmas”.
Ironically, Chanukah is the story of Jewish survival amid assimilation.
And yet, so many North American Jews celebrate it in the same manner
that Christians celebrate Christmas – gift giving, stockings,
Chanukah “bushes” and more. In doing some research for this article,
I came across a web site that sells an 8 foot tall inflatable snowman
that is holding a menorah in one hand and an Israeli flag in the other.
The web describes this character as “Hanukkah Harry” and goes on to
say “Finally… Show Your Jewish Pride To Your Family, Friends and
Neighbors during this 2008 Chanukah Season “The Festival of Lights”
and For Years To Come By decorating with a Jewish Holiday Lawn Inflatable.
Hanukkah-Harry is an Illuminated Lawn Inflatable so he'll
make a statement Day and Night, Indoor or Outdoor! Don’t Be Left
Out In The Cold this Chanukah Season…!”
Even The South Park album, “Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics”, features
"Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" with Stan, Cartman and the Broflofski
family, and Kyle's classic "The Lonely Jew On
Christmas."
Oh what would the Maccabees say?
The juxtaposition of Chanukah and Christmas
on the calendar has naturally led to a case of
mistaken identity – which has been exploited by
and fuelled by North American retailers anxious
to increase sales at this, their most lucrative
time of the year. I sense it is also the natural outcome
of intermarriage – where the converted
partner still has a family that celebrates Christmas.
The choice to participate in what they tell themselves is a “cultural”
and not a “religious” tradition, is legitimized by the advertising
explosion around them. They buy into the holiday. Literally.
But the way Chanukah is celebrated by those who participate in
“Christmas-Lite” has nothing at all to do with Chanukah. The people
guilty of this practice justify it with the question, “What harm does it
do?”
I think the statistics speak for themselves.