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Hanukkah Begins Tonight With Mixed Church-State Messages In DC

By Howard M. Friedman

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins at sundown this evening. In Washington, DC, events project a mixed church-state message. On the Ellipse near the White House, the "National Chanukah Menorah" will be lit in a ceremony featuring, among others, the U.S. Navy Band. (Chanukah on the Ellipse website.) The menorah is a project of American Friends of Lubavich. Earlier this week, the White House hosted a Hanukkah reception. (See prior posting.) As reported last month by the New York Sun, this year's invitations to the White House Hanukkah reception raised some eyebrows. The front of the invitation pictured a Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas tree up to the White House whose windows all displayed Christmas wreaths. Brooklyn Jewish community leader Isaac Abraham joked that this must be depicting the Christmas tree being taken out of the White House with the menorah being brought in the back door. A number of commentators, such a this item from the Houston Chronicle, suggest that there is irony in the increasing mixing of Hanukkah with Christmas since the holiday celebrates the victory of those who opposed the assimilationist force of Hellenism in the second century BCE.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 21, 2008 (boomark / email).