A new exhibition at Berlin’s Jewish museum tells of the coexistence of the festivals of Christmas and Chanukah in Jewish life in Germany – as well as the development of Jewish Chanukah traditions within Christian societies around the globe.
Entitled Weihnukkah or Christmukah, the display illustrates how before WWII Jewish families did their utmost to assimilate into Christian German society, with the traditional Chanukah Bush prevalent in many Jewish homes.
Approximately half a million Jews lived in Germany by the time the Nazis came to power in 1933, the majority of them assimilated and liberal.
Religious rituals were the only visible aspects that separated the average Jew from a Christian, in pre-Nazi Germany.
The birth of Liberal Judaism in Germany, in the mid 19th century, led to a watering down of ancient Jewish religious rituals and cultural identity.
Assimilation
Since the mid-1800s, thousands of Jews saw intermarriage, conversion to Christianity and military service as a way of becoming full-fledged members of German society.
Deliberately and subconsciously, many Jews sought ways to hide from the scourges of anti-Semitism.
Assimilation was not the goal - to be a full fledged German was. With the rise of racial-based anti-Semitism, which replaced the centuries old religious-based hatred, in the early 20th century, the desire to be more German than the Germans grew.
Though the majority of Jews remained and married Jewish, they progressively rid themselves of most of the visual signs that would have associated them with their ancient heritage.
By 1933, most synagogues had taken on the appearances of protestant churches, German replaced Hebrew in most liturgy and the Sabbath was moved from Friday to Sunday.
Jewish Christmas
In the period surrounding Chanukah, the Jewish festival which celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks in Israel, which generally falls around Christmas, Christmas decorations adorned thousands of Jewish homes.
Hannelore Bradley, is a pre-war Berlin Jew by birth – living in Italy. As a child, she remembered that Chanukah was celebrated with a Chanukah bush [otherwise known as a Christmas tree].
“Someone told me that I simply remembered things wrong and was just making this up”, she told EJP. Eventually, she began doubting what she thought that she had remembered until she visited the permanent exhibit of Berlin’s Jewish Museum, last year. Bradley’s childhood remembrances were confirmed. “Look, at all the [pre-1933] pictures of the Jewish families celebrating Chanukah with a Christmas tree”, she said.
Christmukkah (Christmas+Chanukah, from the German “Weihnukka”: Weihnachten+Channuka) had become the norm in most German households.
Unlike Christmas, Chanukah is considered a half-holiday. Except for some prayers and ritual candle lighting, it involved no large-scale planning, partying or time consuming gift giving.
By the end of the 19th century, Jews in Germany went from modestly commemorating their ancient victory over the Greeks to decorating their homes with wintertime [Christmas] decorations. The decorating soon transformed into the art of a full-flung Christmas celebration – a large scale, gift-giving family event – without the Christian stories.
By 1945, Jews learned that assimilation was not the key that would save them from the grip of anti-Semites and thus shed the Christian symbols that had come to be associated with Chanukah.
Though the Christian symbols are gone form most Liberal Jewish households, three aspects have remained. Chanukah has become a time for card-writing, gift-giving and family gatherings – taking it far beyond simple candle lighting and ritual prayer. “
Weihnukkah” runs through January 29 at the Jewish Museum Berlin. The museum is open daily from 10AM – 8 PM (Mondays until 10 PM). See: www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de