Hanukkah Bush - Practice

Practice

The Hanukkah bush is a bone of contention between those Jews who see it, especially in its "menorah look-alike" manifestations, as a distinctly Jewish plant badge; and those Jews who regard it as an assimilationist variation of a Christmas tree — especially when it is indistinguishable from the latter. The latter group are concerned about Jews who appear to inch their way away from Jewish and into Christian theological traditions.

As celebrated in North America, Hanukkah often syncretizes some of the secular Christmas customs. One of these is the Christmas tree. Not all Jews perceive Christmas trees in the same way. Anita Diamant states, "When looks at a Christmas tree, he or she may be seeing two thousand years of virulent persecution by Christians against Jews." Ironically, there is nothing Christian about Christmas trees, except the tenuous association of the pre-Christian winter festival tradition with the modern holiday — which, in the United States, was made a secular legal holiday before most Protestant Americans observed it as a religious holiday. The celebration of Christmas was a casualty of the influence of Calvinism, to the extent that Christmas celebration of any type, beyond a church service, was a criminal offence in colonial Massachusetts; and Christmas was an ordinary working day in Scotland until 1967, when the Church of Scotland (which is Presbyterian) finally withdrew its objections to the holiday. A few denominations (notably, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Christ) still decline to observe Christmas, either as a religious or a secular holiday.

Hanukkah bushes are generally discouraged today by most rabbis, but some Reform, Reconstructionist and more liberal Conservative rabbis do not object, even to Christmas trees. In answer to the question "Is it OK for a Jewish family to have a Christmas tree," Rabbi Ron Isaacs writing in 2003 says:

Today it is clear to me that the tree has become a secular symbol of the American commercial Christmas holiday, and not of the birth of Jesus. So, whether or not to have one depends on the character and judgement of each individual family. There are certainly Jewish families that feel that they can have a tree in the house without subscribing to the Christian element of the holiday.

The above comments reflect the history of the Hanukkah bush, but current-day usage of both the phrase and the custom itself is more that of an in-joke: not really important as a custom per se (although many still do it), but humorous to note when non-Jews ask if you have one. A similar Christmas-time in-joke among American Jews are the customs of eating at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas, or Jewish singles going out to a "Matzah Ball" party on Christmas Eve.