they other day gabi (gavriella), my 6 year old daughter, asked me “what’s a church?”
as i was explaining, we began discussing different religions – which was a bit difficult for her to grasp. so i reminded her about our close friend, nana, who is christian. we talked about how nana celebrates christmas, and does not celebrate hannukah. suddenly everything seemed to “click” for gabi, and she understood different religions. she’s a very smart kid:-)
now it get’s interesting. a couple minutes later she asked me “aba, what’s the problem with christmas?”
i didn’t understand and asked her what she meant.
she explained that with purim, the problem was haman. with pesach the problem was pharoah and slavery. with hanuka the problem was the hasmoneons.
so… what’s the problem with christmas?
i resisted the temptation to repeat the old joke about jewish holidays all having the same theme: “they tried to kill us. we survived. now let’s eat”
instead, we spent some time talking about rosh hashana, tu bishvat, sukkot, simchat torah, shavuot and other holidays in jewish life that did not have a “problem.” just like christman doesn’t have a “problem”
luckily she hasn’t heard of easter yet.
