How does it help Jews and Christians think about the holiday season?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if in every community, they said, “Wow, they’re doing the exact, same thing today. But they’re doing it with different tools. They, when it’s cold and dark, want heat and light. We, when it’s cold and dark, want heat and light. Jews do it with the story that there was a possibility of a miraculous, little resource inside each of us that will last longer and burn brighter than we ever imagined. And Christians look at a little baby, about whom nothing could possibly be known, and say that from that child, the world will be saved. It’s the same story. The reason I can say this is because my heart is so filled up with Hanukkah that Christmas is no threat. All of this business of threat is a deflection. Because if I can teach you that “theirs” is bad, I never have to talk about why “ours” is good. So this is the bellicose approach to Jewish identity? Yeah, but it’s not consciously that way. And 100 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say this, because the average
