My Name's Judah. What's Yours?

How our differences actually draw us closer — once we let them

By Barry Kluger 

Black Friday sales are already hitting my inbox, and why not? It may be record heat out here in Arizona, but schools often start back up by the end of July. So it’s never too early to talk about The Festival of Lights.

I recall in 2022 when I went to get my hair chopped in Scottsdale. My regular barber, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, greeted me. I asked how he was doing, and he answered “great –‘tanks G-d.”

I let it go until he asked me what I was doing in a few months for Christmas. I said, “I’m a Chanukah boy!” He put down his razor (“tanks G-d”) and said “me too!” Then we got into a discussion about what it was like being a Jew in Russia and he talked about how people were not free to be Jews. He also said that people are people, and we all celebrate different things here in America – and that’s why he lives here. And that’s why I am not calling the ACLU this upcoming holiday season to report what’s going on here in town.

These days, many merchants feel compelled to say “Happy Holidays!” – so as not to offend. What better way to continue to hide all of our religious identities than to homogenize the year-end festivities. I have heard all of the arguments for it, just as I’ve heard the case which advocates for mentioning G-d in school. I believe that these tactics actually operate in reverse: doing both is the surest way of eliminating Godliness in our lives.

After my haircut, as I was finishing my Black Friday shopping, I was greeted with a handful of “Happy Holidays” and tons of “Merry Christmases.” At every turn, I would stop them and say “Thank you. I am Jewish and I celebrate Chanukah, but a Merry Christmas to you and yours.”

Almost every time, without fail, they would offer an apology, though I was not seeking one. They would wish me a Happy Chanukah, and then add: “that’s where you spin that little top and light candles, right?”

Boy, talk about an opening! I would tell them briefly about Chanukah and they came away knowing more about my faith and me than about theirs. Jews aren’t exactly the proselytizing type, but this 2023 season is a good chance to “spread the gospel.”

With the formerly politically correct “Happy Holidays” quietly fading, we now no longer have to mutter “Thank You” and retract back into our lives, secretly proclaiming all of our faiths as we light the Menorah. Now, we can stand up and be counted.

With the increasing attacks on Jews in the world, there is not a better time, nor a more difficult time to be Jewish.

What we have in our lives today are some twisted parts of the religious world who view all non-Muslims as infidels and like Martin Niebur, we may find ourselves, all of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, saying “….and when they came for me, there was no one to speak out.”

So although we’re just 20 weeks away from Chanukah, let’s use the upcoming holiday season to speak out, with pride, about who we are.

I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight and tell the story of Judah and the Maccabees to anyone who cares to hear it. And intelligent, open-minded people are glad to listen. The cool reward is that they also learn. 

I learn from my non-Jewish friends what their faith means to them, and they learn about our struggles, our trials, and our celebrations.

So the next time you see me, go ahead and take a shot. Wish me a Happy or Merry whatever you want and then hopefully, we can open both sets of our eyes and learn something new. 

And you can bet I’m just waiting for April for someone to wish me “Happy Easter,” but they’d better be prepared for a three-hour dissertation on our exodus from Egypt, the Ten Plagues and all of the other things that make me, and every one of us of any faith or culture, poetically unique.

Barry Kluger is a veteran Senior Corporate Communications Executive at MTV Networks and the Author of the Klugertown: Boom-bastic column on Substack.

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