Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Jewish Santa

Let me just say this: Hanuka is not a major Jewish holiday, it's just the closest festival to Christmas. (Next year, it starts on Thanksgiving.) It's not even in the top ten. The proper analogue would be Passover, and we have a 3000y-old Santa for that: Elijah the Prophet. He visits every Jewish house in the world at the Passover Seder meal, but not to drink milk--to drink wine! And he doesn't bring the kids presents; the kids blackmail their parents for the afikoman, or the Seder cannot proceed. That's a useful skill! Santa may have a sleigh w/ reindeer, but Elijah has a chariot of fire with flaming horses.

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