Chrismukkah:  An Idea Whose Time (I Hope) Has Not Come
Sermon, December 23, 2005
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

With Chanukah beginning this year on Christmas Day, there is significant interest in the challenges of celebrating the holidays for interfaith families.  The New York Times has already run an article about this issue, and The News Tribune is also working on such an article. 

For most families who for years have dealt with what is called The December Dilemma, it is not too difficult to appropriately honor each tradition, visit respective families, and observe holiday customs.  In fact, it assures that families can be together on Chanukah, which is not always possible when it occurs earlier in December.

Among the approaches that families take to the holidays, however, is one disconcerting approach:  combining the holidays in various ways to celebrate what is now being called Chrismukkah.  It is usually spelled C-h-r-i-s-m-u-k-a-h, although you also find it with two k’s, and you also find it beginning C-h-r-i-s-t, I suppose for those who are more religiously inclined.

The phenomenon of Chrismukkah seems to have been inspired by a satiric and seemingly innocuous press release sent out in 1998 by Michael Nathanson, a high school teacher.  With corporate mergers in the headlines seemingly on a daily basis, Nathanson announced the merger of Christmas and Hanukkah to form Chrismukkah.

The tongue-in-cheek press release read in part:  “it is believed that the overhead cost of having twelve days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah was becoming prohibitive for both sides…. Massive layoffs are expected, with lords a-leaping and maids a-milking being the hardest hit,” it continued.

Now, this was one of the better e-mail pranks that tend to circulate among friends and then die out.  Only that didn’t happen.  The next year it was circulated more widely, and inspired an article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about an interfaith couple who had what they called a Chrismukkah tree.

All seems to have been quiet on the Chrismukkah front for a couple of years until December, 2003, when the soap opera, The O.C. aired an episode called “The Best Chrismukkah Ever.”  This show seems to have inspired Ron and Michelle Gompertz, an interfaith couple, to send out Happy Chrismukkah cards to friends and family and then to launch a web-site:  Chrismukkah.com.

Now, this site is full of humorous material.  It features a cookbook with recipes for gefilte goose, fakakta figgy pudding, Blitzen’s blintzes, and a Challah Sticky Bun Wreath.  It includes wreathes decorated with dreidels and gelt and ornaments featuring chanukiyot and stars of David.  It has directions for making a Matzobread house, complete with candy canes and dreidels and songs with lyrics such as:

"Deck the halls with lots of tchotchkes,
Fa la la la la la la la la la.
Tis the season to eat latkes,
Fa la la la la la la la L'Chaim!"

The site describes Chrismukkah as “the season between Hanukkah and Christmas celebrated by children and grown-ups from families with both Jewish and Christian members. Chrismukkah is not so much a holiday as it is a festive mix of favorite secular traditions from the December holidays. It's a cross-cultural gumbo of cherished rituals and festivities shared by interfaith families. Chrismukkah is less about mangers or Maccabees, and more about "Frosty the Snowman", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Barry Manilow singing "Jingle Bell Rock", Bing Crosby crooning "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song", Eggnog Lattes at Starbucks, sleigh rides in the snow, chocolate Chanukah gelt loot, spinning the dreidel, twinkling lights, flickering candles, exchanging gifts with family and friends, and seasonal treats like Matzah Pizza, Cranberry Latkes, Kris Kringle Kugel, Kosher Fruitcake and a hot cup of MushuggaNog…. Chrismukkah is an all-inclusive and non-judgmental holiday - saints and sinners, naughty and nice, red or blue, straight or gay... all may celebrate without guilt, obligation or self-consciousness. All are invited to "Spin the Dreidel" under the mistletoe.”

It seems like harmless fun, an effort to emphasize the secular aspects of the holidays and have a good time.  So, why do I hope that Chrismukkah is an idea whose time has not come?  Why is it that I feel like Scrooge saying “Bah Humbug” to all of this? 

I have a number of concerns.

First of all, it tends to make a joke of what is a serious issue for many interfaith couples:  appropriately balancing their observance of the holidays.  Now many such couples decide to raise their children in one religion and to observe exclusively that religion’s holidays in their home.  They might visit grandparents to share the other holiday with their family, but the religious traditions observed in the home are clear.  In many ways, this is best for the children, as they receive a clear message about their religious upbringing.

But not all couples are able to make such a commitment.  In some instances, both partners want to observe traditions related to their holiday.  And both have a right to their traditions.  One might give up that right, but should not be expected to do so.

Indeed, when, for example, the non-Jewish partner agrees to raise his or her children as Jews, then allowing that partner to celebrate his or her holidays is the least that the Jewish partner should be able to do. 

Now, I am not advocating this solution for all couples; I do think it is better to choose one religion for the home.  But it is also important to respect the rights of each partner, especially when he or she has agreed to raise their children as Jews.

Chrismukkah trivializes this important issue, making a joke of something that should be taken seriously.  Now, interfaith couples need their laughs as much, perhaps even more, than anyone.  But emphasizing the secular aspects of each holiday and treating them in a humorous way does a disservice to those who seriously struggle with the issue of appropriately observing these holidays.

A second concern is that Chrismukkah by its very name endorses syncretism, the attempt to combine distinct religious traditions or beliefs.  Syncretism is exemplified by a picture from the website Chrismukkah.com of Santa Claus lighting a chanukiyah and by a children’s book with the title, Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus’ Name Amen.  Such attempts to combine traditions are confusing at the very least, and often disrespectful and offensive to those who take their religion seriously.

Families who choose to celebrate both holidays should observe each in its own way, but not try to combine the two.  Even when Chanukah happens to begin on Christmas day, it is possible to keep the rituals distinct, rather than roll them into one observance.

Third, it offers a problematic message.  As the Chrismukkah.com site says:  “What’s it going to be?  Candy canes or chocolate gelt?  Figgy pudding or gefilte fish?  Latkes or fruitcake?  Spin the dreidel or get kissed under the mistletoe?  Well, you’ve found the one place where you don’t have to choose!  Here you can have it all.”  That is not a Jewish message.  Judaism teaches that we need to make choices; we can’t always have it all. 

Finally, I am concerned that Chrismukkah, which emphasizes the secular aspects of each holiday, mocks those –both Jews and Christians—who take their religion seriously.  Christmas and Chanukah are both religious holidays.  At their core, both offer crucial, although quite different, religious messages.  Now, some may prefer to focus on the secular aspects of the holidays, and that is their right.  But for those who celebrate Chanukah as a religious holiday, Chrismukkah seems both trite and even offensive. 

It sends the message that rather than spend the time and effort to work through the religious differences that an interfaith couple faces, why not just take the easy way out and enjoy the secular aspects of the holidays.  Now, I don’t think that this was the intent of the Gompertz’s or others who promote Chrismukkah, but it is certainly one of its consequences.

On Sunday, Christians will celebrate Christmas and on Sunday evening Jews will begin celebrating Chanukah.  Each is a beautiful, meaningful holiday that deserves to be celebrated with joy and integrity.  For interfaith families, the convergence of these holidays can present a challenge, but one that many such couples have overcome.  Promoting Chrismukkah, even as a humorous diversion to the tensions  that often occur at this time of year, serves no useful purpose and is an idea, I hope, whose time has not come.

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