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The Hanukkah Thread!

Thizzerfershizzer said:
I was raised Jewish (until the age of 14 when I officially denounced my faith in Judaism) so Chanukah was always a family thing growing up (as was Christmas since my father was a converted Irish Catholic)

There are time when I miss it. Not the faith, but the traditions and such.
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Hehe that sounds like my future family. I'm Irish/Anglo-American and was raised Catholic, but found that church more and more spiritually unfulfilling as I got older. My wife's Jewish, and although I don't see a lot of point in converting, I've agreed she can raise any kids we have as Jewish, and I'll fully support this effort.

Couple questions for you, Thizz:

1) What's one thing that really turned you off, ultimately, to Judaism? I ask because I want to avoid making my kids endure traditions that they hate and might eventually make them hate the whole religion.

2) What are some things your dad didn't anticipate, but later found hard to adjust to?

I haven't found my family in law hard to get along with at all. Then again I'm far from a stereotypical Anglo American -- I can be pretty spontaneous and loudmouthed and passionate, and even talk with my hands, and I don't consider arguing or philosophizing at the dinner table to be bad manners.

Mods, might I be able to have this thread over in P&S when this forum gets shut down?
 
I don't really feel a need to renounce my judaism, although i'm not practicing any form of the religion, I still feel connected to the history and tradition, an appreciation if not practice of the culture. I go to my parents for chanukah, passover, maybe yom kippur services every couple of years.

I don't really feel like that has anything to do with my beliefs or choices or philosophy on life

its Family
 
MyDoorsAreOpen said:
Hehe that sounds like my future family. I'm Irish/Anglo-American and was raised Catholic, but found that church more and more spiritually unfulfilling as I got older. My wife's Jewish, and although I don't see a lot of point in converting, I've agreed she can raise any kids we have as Jewish, and I'll fully support this effort.

Couple questions for you, Thizz:

1) What's one thing that really turned you off, ultimately, to Judaism? I ask because I want to avoid making my kids endure traditions that they hate and might eventually make them hate the whole religion.

2) What are some things your dad didn't anticipate, but later found hard to adjust to?

I haven't found my family in law hard to get along with at all. Then again I'm far from a stereotypical Anglo American -- I can be pretty spontaneous and loudmouthed and passionate, and even talk with my hands, and I don't consider arguing or philosophizing at the dinner table to be bad manners.

Mods, might I be able to have this thread over in P&S when this forum gets shut down?
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My apologies for not answering this sooner, every time I tried to remind myself to do it I just ended up forgetting :o

To address your first point: What branch of Judaism does your wife practice? Knowing this would come in handy as to whether converting is all that practical or not. (although i'm guessing you know the background and don't really need guidance on the matter ;))

1.) To be perfectly honest up until I officially denounced my Jewish faith, I was a very active and happy member within the Jewish community. (I guess I kind of had to have been though with my mother basically running the temple we belonged to, haha.)

I loved the traditions and didn't mind going to religious school. In fact, its where i met some of my closest friends! It was after I had "graduated" from the religious school and had begun "confirmation" (which was a continuation of the religious school classes, although instead of working with a specific curriculum designed by the staff of the school, you had a few hours in the day to discuss current events pertaining to personal faith with the rabbi and canter) that I realized Judaism just wasn't the right religion for me.

It was during that time that I came to understand what I was practicing on a personal level and realized that I didn't really share the ideas that were being taught at temple, or in the Jewish faith in general.

So I cant really say that a certain 'thing' turned me off of the religion, it was more of my personal realizations that turned me off.

2.) My dad didn't convert to Judaism until I was 8 or so, so by that time he had been in a relationship with my mother for over 15 years, which made converting very easy for him. My mothers side of the family has always been very loving and had already accepted him, so there were no hardships family wise. The only thing I can think of that has been hard for my father to get use to are the prayers, but that's because he was not raised jewish and did not learn to ever read or speak hebrew.

My father has always been very into the jewish faith and community, and you wouldnt really know he converted unless you asked him (or you looked at our very non-jewish last name, haha).

For the record, eating a philosphying is all that Judaism is really about ;)
 
My forebears were observant.
My father married a non-Jew and as he was atheist he did not insist on raising us in the Jewish faith.
I experience this both as a loss and as a blessing.
I have often wanted to convert in order to belong, but as I find myself unable to believe in G'd I think it would be hyprocritical to do so.
 
Thizzerfershizzer said:
To address your first point: What branch of Judaism does your wife practice? Knowing this would come in handy as to whether converting is all that practical or not. (although i'm guessing you know the background and don't really need guidance on the matter ;))
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She's Conservative (Masorti).

1.) To be perfectly honest up until I officially denounced my Jewish faith, I was a very active and happy member within the Jewish community. (I guess I kind of had to have been though with my mother basically running the temple we belonged to, haha.)

I loved the traditions and didn't mind going to religious school. In fact, its where i met some of my closest friends! It was after I had "graduated" from the religious school and had begun "confirmation" (which was a continuation of the religious school classes, although instead of working with a specific curriculum designed by the staff of the school, you had a few hours in the day to discuss current events pertaining to personal faith with the rabbi and canter) that I realized Judaism just wasn't the right religion for me.

It was during that time that I came to understand what I was practicing on a personal level and realized that I didn't really share the ideas that were being taught at temple, or in the Jewish faith in general.

So I cant really say that a certain 'thing' turned me off of the religion, it was more of my personal realizations that turned me off.
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That's interesting, because my wife's fondness for her faith definitely is a result of her wholly positive experiences with it as a child, and she knows this. She was able to make friends at her Jewish youth group even when that was difficult for her in a public school.

It was only in adulthood that she began to see that issues such as Zionism, relations with non-Jews, and the notion of 'chosenness' were more controversial and ethically questionable than she'd always assumed. She adheres to interpretations of all of these issues with stances that respect the dignity of the many non-Jews who are dear to her. But I don't think she likes the fact that many in her faith aren't so outwardly compassionate in how they interpret them.

She's also gotten a much more lukewarm vibe from MOST of the Jewish communities she's checked out as an adult, even before I was in the picture. She resents the fact that most congregations she's attended seem quite comfortable in their insularity; even those few who attract vibrant young adults seem to be established circles that are hard to break into. As a result, she feels deeply troubled sometimes, as she has a hard time reconciling the warm and vibrant community she remembers as a kid, with the stodgy groups she finds now.

Interestingly enough, when she and I attended a Tibetan Buddhist group for about half a year, she described the meditation sessions and the group chats that followed as the most philosophically and spiritually nourishing thing she's had since childhood. I can see what attracts people to the whole JuBu phenomenon, especially as a lot of American Jews look to Eastern faiths to help reconstruct the fragmented pieces of their own mystical traditions.

2.) My dad didn't convert to Judaism until I was 8 or so, so by that time he had been in a relationship with my mother for over 15 years, which made converting very easy for him. My mothers side of the family has always been very loving and had already accepted him, so there were no hardships family wise. The only thing I can think of that has been hard for my father to get use to are the prayers, but that's because he was not raised jewish and did not learn to ever read or speak hebrew.

My father has always been very into the jewish faith and community, and you wouldnt really know he converted unless you asked him (or you looked at our very non-jewish last name, haha).
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Yeah I have a pretty English sounding last name, so people are going to know my kids are halfbreeds :)

I definitely want to learn a bit of the language, both for being able to comprehend prayers and for the next time we visit our friends in Israel.

For the record, eating a philosphying is all that Judaism is really about ;)
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Yep :)

'Israel' does mean 'He struggles with God', after all.
 
^
Yup tonight is the 1st night.
I gotta go buy my draidel :)
Hey FIZZLE you forgot to leave the middle one on.
You use the middle one to light the candles evreyday then you put the midde one back lit.
 
I think since we have a "decorate the christmas tree" thread, we need a "light the menorah" thing. So here! Every day someone can add a new flame.
NSFW:
Menorah.jpg

I did the first flame in blue :D
 
I just want to say that despite my rather apparent aesthetic aryan-ness, I am a huge fan of you members of the tribe. Without you guys, comedy central would be shit like "blue collar comedy tour" all the time. Thank you for all the hilarious, neurotic self-deprecation and clever one-liners.

L'chaim.


Edit:

Also, my avatar is a rather badass jew!
 
^unfortunately you aren't a jewish female otherwise I'd have quite the package for you... I'd even gift wrap it :)
 
Cane2theLeft said:
^unfortunately you aren't a jewish female otherwise I'd have quite the package for you... I'd even gift wrap it :)
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I am both Jewish and female...what have you got for me on this joyous second night of hannuka? Is it a dreidel? Is it hannuka gelt? Oh how I love surprises!!<3=D<3
 
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