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December 4, 1998/ 15 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 11
Being Jewish at Christmas
ANNE BRADY
Associate Editor
If you have a child who is bummed out about not having a Christmas tree and Santa Claus and the other secular trappings of the Christian holiday that falls on Dec. 25, the Public Broadcasting System has just the thing for you.
"There's No Such Thing as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein" airs on KAET-TV (Channel 8) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Consider sitting down with your child to watch this short, heart-warming holiday special. It's a well-told "December dilemma" tale about being a Jewish child surrounded by Christmas, and about celebrating differences.
The story is about an 8-year-old girl named Robin who loves Christmas trees, but there's one little problem with that - she's Jewish. At school, she and her classmates sing Christmas songs, watch movies about Christmas around the world, and make ornaments - for a tree she can't have.
She thinks she may have found the answer to her problem when she learns that a Jewish classmate (Sandy Goldstein) has a Hanukkah bush in her home - "It's like a Christmas tree, but it's for Jews," Sandy tells her. (The little girl who portrays Sandy is a horrible actress, but it's a quick scene. The rest of the players are very good, especially Robin, who is adorable. Her face literally lights up when she looks out the window at her neighbor's decorations.)
Little Robin rushes home filled with new hope, only to have her mother inform her that there is no such thing as a Hanukkah bush - that Sandy's family is simply putting up a Christmas tree and calling it a Hanukkah bush, and that Jews don't put up Christmas trees. Yes, Robin's mother is forced to concede, the Goldsteins are Jewish, but different people are Jewish in different ways.
Robin even dreams of Christmas trees. One, with a human face, begs her to take him home in a very amusing dream sequence.
The poor child gets even more confused when her grandfather invites her to his union's Christmas party, which he helped to organize! There is food and dancing, and Robin even gets to sit on Santa's knee and tell him what she wants (albeit for her birthday), and Santa gives her a bag of candy and small toys. When it's time for the drawing for free Christmas trees, Robin gets down on her knees with her new gentile friend to pray that the other girl (whose family can't afford a tree) will win one.
After the party, Robin finally asks her grandfather why it's OK to go to Christmas parties, but she can't have a tree. At this point, Grandpa explains the difference between helping someone else celebrate their holiday and celebrating your own holiday. He reminds Robin that she has invited gentile friends over for a Passover seder, honoring her friends by sharing her holiday with them, but that doesn't mean that those gentile friends then brought Passover customs into their own homes - getting rid of every speck of leaven bread or breaking out a separate set of dishes.
The theme of the show is summed up when Robin says, "Christmas trees are so beautiful," and Grandpa responds, "Yes, they are. And isn't it nice that we have friends who share theirs with us?"
I won't tell you exactly how the story ends. I'll just say it's clear that Robin has learned to appreciate her own traditions, and she has learned something about sharing as well. These are lessons well learned by Jews and gentiles alike.
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