Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please - this not a political debate - genuine religious question
One of my Jewish friends posted that people should buy & light menorahs in their window to show love & support for their Jewish friends during Chanukah in light of the Bondi massacre.
I’m a spiritualist and do not follow any organized religion.
Would it be offensive or wrong for a non-Jewish person to have a menorah in the window?

Has your friend confused Chanukah with being an important Jewish holiday? It's not.

In American it is....

No, it’s still not an important Jewish holiday, even here. It gets more attention here from a lot of Jews than it does elsewhere, because there’s another big holiday around the same time of year that a lot of us don’t celebrate but the wider culture does, but that doesn’t make it important.

I don't know, but I teach high school and several of my Jewish students were talking about their "Chanukah bushes" (Christmas trees) last week, claiming they have them every year.

One of my Jewish students also brought me a box of something he'd baked with his mom, which he called "Christmas crack", and seemed to be chocolate covered crackers with seasalt and crushed candycanes. It had a card with Rudolph on it and his mom had written "Merry Christmas" inside, so...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please - this not a political debate - genuine religious question
One of my Jewish friends posted that people should buy & light menorahs in their window to show love & support for their Jewish friends during Chanukah in light of the Bondi massacre.
I’m a spiritualist and do not follow any organized religion.
Would it be offensive or wrong for a non-Jewish person to have a menorah in the window?

Has your friend confused Chanukah with being an important Jewish holiday? It's not.

In American it is....

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and don't personally have any issue with it and would see it as appreciation and solidarity rather than appropriation, though I get why others might feel differently.

I'm jewish too and don't see anything wrong with this. Hanukkah is not in the torah, it's a celebration of a war victory.

Anonymous wrote:Please - this not a political debate - genuine religious question
One of my Jewish friends posted that people should buy & light menorahs in their window to show love & support for their Jewish friends during Chanukah in light of the Bondi massacre.
I’m a spiritualist and do not follow any organized religion.
Would it be offensive or wrong for a non-Jewish person to have a menorah in the window?

Has your friend confused Chanukah with being an important Jewish holiday? It's not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before October 7th, I would have been annoyed and felt like it was cultural appropriation. But now... I very much appreciate the solidarity. Please do if you feel so moved. Thank you for caring.

October 7 was an attack on the colonial state of Israel, not Judaism.

It was also an attack on Jews (and on random nationals of other places who just happened to work near Gaza), but I guess you seem to think it was totally justified regardless.

I am sure some people consider it appropriation but I have several Jewish friends who don't and when my (totally secular) DD expressed an interest in the menorah and Hanukah, one of those friends bought her one with a book about the tradition and it's meaning so we've been doing it the last few years. I have not put it in the window but would be happy to do so as a form of solidarity with Jewish friends and neighbors.

Hanukah and Purim have always struck me as Jewish traditions that people are happy to share with non-Jews. It's not like trying to take yom kippur off of work and fasting -- they are festive holidays with seasonal implications, more cultural than religious.

It doesn't seem that different from putting up a Christmas tree and exchanging gifts on the 25th, which my family also does even though we are not Christian. As with Hanukah, we taught DD where these traditions come from and why people do them (both the Christian and pagan Yule origins). Some of our ancestors were Christians, some pagans, perhaps even some Jewish -- we are both European mutts.

None of this seems like appropriation to me because we aren't pretending to be anything we're not.

I'm Jewish. I don't think it's "wrong" but I do think it's a bit weird.

Anonymous wrote:Please - this not a political debate - genuine religious question
One of my Jewish friends posted that people should buy & light menorahs in their window to show love & support for their Jewish friends during Chanukah in light of the Bondi massacre.
I’m a spiritualist and do not follow any organized religion.
Would it be offensive or wrong for a non-Jewish person to have a menorah in the window?

As long as you buy the kit from a Jew, it’s all good.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an evangelical Christian and I think this is wrong as well.

The menorah is not a symbol or a rallying point. It is a very real part of the Jewish celebration of this holiday. So yes, to use it in the manner you have in mind, OP, is disrespectful and displays a lack of awareness of a meaningful part of a religious celebration for the Jewish people.

Please keep your ignorance out of this. Menorah is a symbol of defense against people like you, evangelicals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its wrong

I can't stand when atheists don't think its strange they put up a Christmas tree.

Christmas trees are pagan.

Yule logs are pagan.

Anonymous wrote:So interesting that Jewish folks get offended by this.

It only offends bigoted Jews, which is another reason that it’s great to do.

Anonymous wrote:Its wrong

I can't stand when atheists don't think its strange they put up a Christmas tree.

Christmas trees are pagan.

Anonymous wrote:Before October 7th, I would have been annoyed and felt like it was cultural appropriation. But now... I very much appreciate the solidarity. Please do if you feel so moved. Thank you for caring.

October 7 was an attack on the colonial state of Israel, not Judaism.

If you learn just a tiny bit about Chanukah you would learn that a Chanukah menorah is 100% a symbol and a rallying point! It’s a symbol of Jewish resistance and survival against attacks from anti-Semites, since the very first one ever created.