America lives for the holiday season. There are traditions for almost every aspect of life for this time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s: Companies spend millions on commercials and products, families have time off to spend with each other and cities prepare extravagant celebrations for their residents.
Except it isn’t really the “holiday” season. And these aren’t really “holiday” traditions. It’s the Christmas season, and they’re Christmas traditions. This leaves Jews — and all others who do not celebrate Christmas — feeling isolated from their communities during “the most wonderful time of the year.”
These issues of isolation often stem from misunderstandings and misconceptions from non-Jews about Judaism. Chanukkah is not a “Jewish Christmas.” In fact, for some it’s not even a religious holiday, but rather a historical marker of liberation. Getting presents is a relatively new phenomenon for Chanukkah celebrations, brought on by the pressure of other kids receiving Christmas gifts at around the same time of year.
The “Jewish Christmas” rhetoric pits the two holidays against each other and enters them into competition of sorts. Even acts as simple as calling an end-of-year party for an organization or club a “Christmas party” or constantly getting wished a “Merry Christmas” at grocery stores can unnecessarily exclude Jewish members of society.
“If we understand the story of Chanukkah, it’s a story of non-assimilation into another culture,” said Andy Gitelson, executive director of the Oregon Hillel Foundation. “Just put up both a Christmas tree and a Menorah, and let each be particular to those communities.”
The “holiday” season has only been made more difficult for Jewish students this year. Antisemitism is on the rise across the country and college campuses are no exception.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 31, a Torah scroll in the basement of George Washington University Tau Kappa Epsilon’s on-campus house was desecrated. The scroll is one of the most holy aspects of Jewish culture and is used by the fraternity to initiate Jewish members. It was found sprawled on the floor and covered in laundry detergent.
“What I saw appalled me because it was clear that the person specifically sought out the Jewish text and left another one nearby untouched,” director of Chabad GW Rabbi Levi Shemtov said in an interview with The GW Hatchet.

UO has faced its own issues. Gitelson, who is in his 10th year at his position, is often one of the first people to hear about antisemitic incidents in the community and has noticed a few trends along the way.
“Just about every year we have instances where there is a swastika drawn on a student’s door,” Gitelson said.
Incidents such as this are not limited to campus, however.
“In the city of Eugene there have been instances of antisemitic graffiti drawn on several different businesses,” Gitelson said. “Was that directed at students? Probably not, but because it happens near home it does affect our students.”
This all contributes to the isolation Jews feel. While UO has done a relatively good job responding to certain antisemitism in the past, when students live in an environment in which acts like these occur, it can be difficult to feel comfortable celebrating holidays on campus.
This non inclusive environment is further solidified with how school calendars are structured. While many have made the switch to the nondenominational vernacular of “winter” or “holiday” break, it’s no coincidence that the time off falls over Christmas every year. Jewish students, on the other hand, are spending our holiday, which began Sunday night, studying for finals.
So what can the average student do to help Jews feel supported? They can do just that — support them. In a time when many Jews feel they do not have allies, show them your acceptance. Make sure your Jewish friends feel accepted in their community, rather than isolated because of their differences.
It’s also important to acknowledge every Jewish person is different and has different preferences. Just because one Jew may feel uncomfortable getting wished a “Merry Christmas,” there are others who don’t mind it but are bothered by other issues.
No one is asking for anyone to give up on celebrating Christmas. Just as Jews should be respected for celebrating our holiday, so should everyone else. But please make sure not to equate the concept of Christmas and the “holiday season” to Chanukkah, because it unfairly isolates Jews and tarnishes the celebration of our holiday.