Now that "the Holidays" are over...the "Other Holidays"

The Jewish High Holidays can take a lot out of a person (hence the gap in my articles). However, the next-most-draining time frame is (in my opinion) the time that comes between Halloween and "Winter Holidays".

As a room parent, and the only Jewish parent in our school, it falls on me to help plan the "Winter Party" activities. It goes beyond asking Joey's mom to make cupcakes. The most important job that I have in the next two months is to be "a cop".

I must make sure that there is no religion being taught during the Holiday Event. There must be no mention of religious ritual unless other religious rituals are given equal time, and no one religion may be promoted above another. The Constitution, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties can count on me to be their biggest reader in the next few weeks.

Last year, I ran into a few parents who wanted to tell the real story of Christmas. I deferred to the principal to make the decision. I had a few parents who were upset that I'd be talking about Hanukkah (to explain the funny little tops that I brought for the party) - I submitted my materials to the district well in advance, sent a letter home to parents the week before, and had a conference with the teacher and the principal before I presented. I had one parent who wanted to know why a "white woman" (me) was talking about Kwanzaa during the holiday party - I explained that no one else offered to do it, so I stepped up. Oy, so much responsibility!

This year, I'm not so new at the school - people are expecting to hear me talk about the fight of the Maccabees so long ago, and about their victory over the big army that wanted them to assimilate.

What I have to decide now, in a time of National Crisis, is how to explain that these people were fighting for their religious freedom without leading anyone to the conclusion that the Maccabees were an ancient version of the Taliban. It's already been said, in my daughter's second grade class - that we're "like the Taliban" because we're "not Christian like the rest of the country". It's already been said, in my daughter's lunchroom, that "it's all the Jews' fault - if we weren't supporting Israel, this wouldn't have happened".

So what do I say to a classroom of children who for so long have been told that God doesn't belong in school when my speech starts minutes after they sing "God Bless America"?

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