we're Jewish, 7yo daughter wants advent calendar

[Anonymous]

We've started doing one for Ramadan.

You could do one for Hanukkah or New Years.

[Anonymous]

OMG -- Hannukkah ugly sweaters and PJs as well!

https://www.target.com/s/hanukkah%20countdown?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=&adgroup=&LID=0p&LNM=&MT=p&network=g&device=c&location=9007537&targetid=aud-302609981999:kwd-386218769491&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjO_QBRC4ARIsAD2FsXMlTdH3N9xVKBof0IdlMgAmdm7tJBKFMUowZ26ADYxUlPXscS0LEgcaAva1EALw_wcB

She can have it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

I’m Christian and I’m not offended by OP. There’s plenty about the Jewish faith that I don’t understand.

If I were actually looking looking for reasons to take offense, though, I’d be more offended by
- the deliberately obnoxious atheist comparing religion to an infection, and
- your gratuitous rant about liberals (check out your own glass house before throwing stones, pp).

[Anonymous]

I don’t see any harm in counting down to Christmas. I agree with pp, if the child is looking to learn or experience something greater than getting candy, then do that and learn about what advent is together. If your dd is looking to get candy every morning, do a separate countdown with your own homemade calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, this joyful time of year... we're pretty lax Jews, i.e. we don't belong to a shul but we celebrate holidays with family, and I feel my daughter is learning enough about her culture to keep the meaningful traditions alive. I myself grew up in an overwhelmingly Catholic town in New England as one of three Jewish kids in our elementary school, so the DMV is obviously extremely diverse by comparison! However it is simply an unavoidable fact of American life that all things Christmas are the norm at this time of year (decorations, music, movies, sales -- basically anything that can be "themed"). And naturally my 7yo has noticed that only Christmas stuff is everywhere, not Hanukkah. And she's started pointing out how it's "not fair" for this to be the case. I've been explaining how Hanukkah isn't really on a par with Christmas in terms of the religious significance of the holiday and how the marketing aspects of the two holidays came to be (never too early to start explaining America's true religion: capitalism!) but she really loves the concept of the advent calendar and wants to get one. I know for her it's all about the little surprises behind the little doors, and as I said, we're pretty lax Jews, but I just can't wrap my head around this. It's giving me flashbacks to my own childhood when I strongly advocated for the right to decorate a Hanukkah Bush in lieu of a Christmas Tree, and it was a total nonstarter in my family (a la Tevya: TRADITION!). I don't even fully understand the concept of advent, except as a countdown to Christmas, but I know it has some religious significance and it would feel weird to have one in my house. I should probably just buy some extra gelt and keep it around for distraction anytime she mentions the advent calendar. But I know this is part of the larger lifelong conversation about religion, American secular traditions, and where lax Jews like us fit into it all, so I'm trying to handle it appropriately without invoking my Tevya genes, and without completely capitulating to the capitalist urges that make the whole thing as problematic as possible. Thoughts on this, oh DCUM readers? Happy Holidays!

I really, really, really do NOT want to judge you, but I think you just may be a TAD unrealistic? Unless you live in an overwhelmingly Jewish neighborhood (which it sounds like you do not) I don't think you can easily maintain a distinct Jewish identity, let alone the traditions, without membership in a synagogue (in theory you could in some other Jewish institution with the same level of community and commitment and regular attendance, but AFAICT no such institution exists around here).

If you want to be secular, and also guarantee the kids are unassimilated, you probably need to move to NYC, or maybe even to Israel.

100% agree. If she's not in sunday school at that age, how is she supposed to develop a knowledge of her religion and a connection to her faith. You're just assuming cause she lights a menorah she's gonna get it? If you want her to be a practicing Jew, which it seems like you do, you need to foster that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

And the advent calenders you see in stores are not religious and do not even follow advent.

I would do either a series of eight different small boxes decorated with things like dreidles or menorahs with a small treat in each one, or a countdown like pp mentioned above, from Dec 1st through Hannukah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

Get over yourself; Christians didn’t invent counting down to a special event. Is “Space Oddity” Christian cultural appropriation, too?

(Jew here) Didnt christians invent the idea of having a calendar with little windows you open up as part of the countdown, though? Its not the same thing as just counting down.

Its not cultural appropriation, because the culture doing the borrowing is the weaker culture, not the dominant one. And its not like Christians can really complain about cultural appropriation by Jews anyway, eh? But it does seem like a distinctively Christian custom with real religious content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

And the advent calenders you see in stores are not religious and do not even follow advent.

I would do either a series of eight different small boxes decorated with things like dreidles or menorahs with a small treat in each one, or a countdown like pp mentioned above, from Dec 1st through Hannukah.

Why December 1st, and not the first day of Kislev? Heck, why not just count the date in Kislev, till you get to Hanukkah on the 25th (yes!) of Kislev? PP is already so assimilated they don't even know how assimilated they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any harm in counting down to Christmas. I agree with pp, if the child is looking to learn or experience something greater than getting candy, then do that and learn about what advent is together. If your dd is looking to get candy every morning, do a separate countdown with your own homemade calendar.

Maybe kid should first learn what Kislev is? And Tevet?

[Anonymous]

Advent is a “little Lent”. It is a mournful time in which we travel in a spiritual sense with the Holy Family as they search for a place to stay. The joyful feast of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Eve or Day depending on the tradition. Advent should not be a “countdown” to Christmas, but rather a time of spiritual preparation for receiving Christ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

Get over yourself; Christians didn’t invent counting down to a special event. Is “Space Oddity” Christian cultural appropriation, too?

(Jew here) Didnt christians invent the idea of having a calendar with little windows you open up as part of the countdown, though? Its not the same thing as just counting down.

Its not cultural appropriation, because the culture doing the borrowing is the weaker culture, not the dominant one. And its not like Christians can really
complain about cultural appropriation by Jews anyway, eh? But it does seem like a distinctively Christian custom with real religious content.

What do little windows have to do with Christianity? A calendar maker in Germany invented the little windows. I’m sure you’ve used something in your life invented by a Christian before. I see this as no different.

Anyway, we’re Hindu and have done Elf on the Shelf, Lego advent calendars, the tree, the stockings, etc. There is a huge American culture component to this holiday and it’s woven into the American fabric. So we enjoy this part of it.

[Anonymous]

I've seen countdown to Hanukkah calendars in several places in the last few days. One was felt with pockets for treats. Of course now i can't recall where it was (Paper Sources? Crate & Barrel?) but it wouldn't be hard to either find it or recreate it. Nothing wrong with counting down to the beginning of hannukkah with chocolate or whatever.

Advent calendars are crazy now. I just got an advent calendar from Occitane so I will be counting down with lotions and scents. There are also beer calendars and whisky calendars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Advent is a “little Lent”. It is a mournful time in which we travel in a spiritual sense with the Holy Family as they search for a place to stay. The joyful feast of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Eve or Day depending on the tradition. Advent should not be a “countdown” to Christmas, but rather a time of spiritual preparation for receiving Christ.

This may be the church perception of advent, but Christians observe it or not in different ways and if a Jewish kid wants to observe it too, in her own way why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

Get over yourself; Christians didn’t invent counting down to a special event. Is “Space Oddity” Christian cultural appropriation, too?

(Jew here) Didnt christians invent the idea of having a calendar with little windows you open up as part of the countdown, though? Its not the same thing as just counting down.

Its not cultural appropriation, because the culture doing the borrowing is the weaker culture, not the dominant one. And its not like Christians can really complain about cultural appropriation by Jews anyway, eh? But it does seem like a distinctively Christian custom with real religious content.

And this, ladies and gentkemen, confirms yet again that liberals are nothing but hypocrites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I hate to say this, but I'm a Christian and I find your attitude a little offensive. Advent calendars are not "cultural symbols." Advent is a holy time in the Christian faith, counting down the weeks until the birth of the savior. Churches celebrate each Sunday in a special way.

Sorry, but to me, this is on par with the "cultural appropriation" whining that liberals love to do.

Get over yourself; Christians didn’t invent counting down to a special event. Is “Space Oddity” Christian cultural appropriation, too?

(Jew here) Didnt christians invent the idea of having a calendar with little windows you open up as part of the countdown, though? Its not the same thing as just counting down.

Its not cultural appropriation, because the culture doing the borrowing is the weaker culture, not the dominant one. And its not like Christians can really complain about cultural appropriation by Jews anyway, eh? But it does seem like a distinctively Christian custom with real religious content.

And this, ladies and gentkemen, confirms yet again that liberals are nothing but hypocrites.

Tis the season to be jolly