MIAMI — For the primary time in practically 20 years, the primary night time of Hanukkah fell on Christmas Day, marking a uncommon confluence of Jewish and Christian holidays, which happen on separate calendars.
Many areas of the nation are residence to a wide range of religion teams, with wealthy traditions and cultures. In South Florida, for example, although there are considerably extra Christians, together with Catholics, the realm hosts the third largest Jewish inhabitants within the nation. And this 12 months’s convergence of Christmas and Hanukkah, religion leaders say, is a chance to foster interfaith relationships by means of the vacations’ shared themes of hope and lightweight.
The Rev. Priscilla Felisky Whitehead stated vacation gatherings are an ideal setting for folks to find out about one another’s traditions.
“It’s an opportunity to really hear people’s stories and to take the time … to listen to people’s backgrounds and how important their faith communities, their families have been, and how they look at the world,” stated Whitehead, who was a pastor at The Church by the Sea in Bal Harbour for 22 years.
The vacations, Whitehead stated, permit folks to put aside their politics and “engage other human beings, at the place where their lives are touched the most by friends, family, tradition and faith.”
For a lot of religion leaders in South Florida, constructing relationships with folks of different spiritual backgrounds is a vital issue to constructing a stronger group. Interfaith work, which has roots to the Nineteen Thirties in Miami, is usually touted as a method to construct bridges and discover widespread floor within the face of prejudice and concern of “the other.”
However, as outstanding North Miami Rabbi Ralph Kingsley factors out, interfaith dialogue can also be about recognizing folks’s variations.
“The thing that makes us most alike as human beings is the fact that we are different and have a right to our own differences, at the same time being respectful of the other to have a right to his or her own way of life,” Kingsley stated. “And I think both of our traditions try to project that message at this particular season.”
Kingsley, 91, who served because the rabbi of Temple Sinai of North Dade for greater than 30 years, remembers the continued battles of separation of church and state in his youth. He admits that he was adamant about not celebrating spiritual occasions in public areas. However, at the moment, he feels otherwise.
“I kind of have come to appreciate the fact that today, when there was a Christmas tree on display or a creche, there’s also a menorah, and Americans have been sort of taught over the years that they’ve got to live with both side by side and appreciate the fact that there is the other.”
Whitehead and Kingsley are long-time mates, partly due to their work in South Florida interfaith circles. They have been reunited, unexpectedly, once they each turned residents on the senior dwelling group Vi at Aventura.
Totally different holidays, similar roots
Jews and Christians have already got quite a bit in widespread, as each come from Abrahamic religions, which means they (together with Muslims) share the assumption that Abraham was the preliminary prophet with whom God made a covenant.
“Both traditions were birthed together in these ancient stories, and they kind of take a turn from each other, but … our roots really are very much the same,” stated Hafner of the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ.
“We understand Jesus as being Jewish, and the early Christians came out of that Jewish tradition, so they would have understood Passover, they would have understood Hanukkah and a lot of the other traditions.”
Christmas and Hanukkah, although originating from very totally different tales, have some shared themes: they’re each, in a means, celebrations of sunshine and hope through the darkest time of the 12 months.
“It’s a time for both of our faith traditions to emphasize the importance of light and hope, which the winter months increasingly, not so much in Florida, but up North, certainly, become a time of darkness,” Rabbi Kingsley stated.
Each holidays, Rabbi Kingsley famous, should not actually primarily based on the Bible itself, however are holidays occurring in post-biblical instances.
Although the Bible refers — in lots of locations — to the beginning of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary, the precise date of Jesus’ beginning isn’t recorded within the Bible, neither is the celebration of Christmas. And Jews find out about Hanukkah from the Apocrypha, Jewish writings that aren’t included within the Hebrew Bible.
Equally, the origin of Hanukkah relies on an actual historic occasion that happened throughout a tumultuous time for Jewish folks.
Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jewish folks over the Syrian military in a struggle to achieve spiritual freedom. When the Syrians have been attempting to impose their faith and tradition on the Jewish folks, the non-conformist military, the Maccabees, have been in a position to struggle and win the rededication of their temple in Jerusalem.
“When they went to rekindle the eternal light in the ancient temple in Jerusalem, they only had enough oil to last for one night, and it lasted for eight — hence the miracle of that season,” stated Kingsley. “But the great miracle is the fact that this small group of Maccabees could defeat this large Syrian empire.”
The best way Kingsley sees it, that victory by the Maccabees finally led to the origin of Christmas.
“Were it not for that victory, there would have been no Christmas, because there would have been no Judaism, out of which Christianity ultimately was born, so it’s an interesting twist of history.”
Interfaith household celebrations
For some households, the merging of two religions is an on a regular basis prevalence. Miami native Sarah Robleto is Jewish whereas her husband, Frank Robleto, who was born in Nicaragua, grew up Catholic. Once they have been married, that they had two weddings. And now, yearly the household of 4 celebrates each Christmas and Hanukkah, integrating household traditions from each religions.
“We definitely do both. And this year, it’s kind of even more special because the first night [of Hanukkah] is on Christmas night,” Sarah stated. She added an vital caveat: the kids don’t get “double the gifts.”
The Robleto’s two youngsters — Jacob, 19, and Madelyne, 13, have been each raised Jewish — a choice their dad and mom made early on of their dialogue on find out how to merge their two religion backgrounds.
“My biggest concern is that our kids were raised in a religion,” stated Frank. “Whether it was Judaism or Catholicism, I didn’t mind either way. I was happy to have them being raised Jewish.”
The Robletos, who dwell in Cutler Bay, at present attend Temple Judea, a Reform synagogue in Coral Gables and on some Catholic holidays, Saint Louis Catholic Church in Pinecrest. Frank, who continues to be a working towards Catholic, stated attending service that’s totally different from what he’s used to has been made simpler by the rabbis and welcoming ambiance on the synagogues his household has been part of.
“It’s all about how open the temple or the church is on inviting mixed faith marriages. Luckily for us, because we’ve been, or Sarah’s mostly been at Reform temples, they’ve had that openness to invite me as well.”
This 12 months, the Robletos might be in Georgia visiting prolonged household for Christmas. However, Sarah plans to host a Hanukkah night time to provide her nieces and nephews a real Hanukkah expertise.
Rev. Laurinda Hafner, who is thought in the neighborhood for her skill to make use of her religion to struggle social justice causes, stated interfaith work can also be about working collectively in direction of a standard objective. Her congregation has hosted occasions towards the difficulty of ebook banning in faculties and panels to debate Christian Nationalism, a subject she calls a “common concern” amongst many religion leaders. She additionally says, interfaith work is only when folks can sit down, share a meal and speak.
“I am convinced that when you sit down with other people around the table and you enjoy a meal together, break bread, or have a glass of wine, that’s where the real interfaith dialogue and the real interfaith work begins,” Hafner stated.