My wife tried to tell me about something that happened when she picked up my daughter at Countryside School this afternoon. Before more than a few words got out of her mouth she started laughing uncontrollably. She eventually caught her breath and said “I’ll show you”.
A young Hassidic man was handing out these flyers and talking up the event to all the parents outside the schools – “wouldn’t your kids just love riding in a stretch Hummer?”
As a gentile, I found it heartening that the Christians haven’t completely cornered the market on over-the-top tacky fun ways to celebrate religious holidays.
I think I better check my calendar and see if I’m free tomorrow night.
Favorite line from their event listing:
For Chabad to entice kids with a grotesque fuel-wasting extravagant vehicle like a Hummer emphasizes their poor taste. Chanukah isn’t about crass materialism. Just the opposite.
From the New York Times “Metropolitan Diary” yesterday:
Dear Diary:
Around this time of year, many Jewish parents of young children find themselves saying something like: “We do not celebrate Christmas! We are Jewish. We celebrate Hanukkah. And, no, you cannot have a Christmas tree.”
So it tickled my New York soul to hear the following as I entered the subway station at West 86th Street and Broadway: “We do not celebrate Hanukkah. We are Christian. We celebrate Christmas. And, no, you cannot have a dreidel.”
Ugh. Just…ugh.