taavot:
shoutout to people who celebrate chanukkah and:
- don’t have presents as a part of their tradition
- can’t afford to have presents be a part of their tradition
- have to deal with goyim saying “Jews basically get xmas for 8 so lucky!!”
don’t feel bad. do whatever you normally do. light your candles, make your latkes and sufganiyot, play dreidel, sing songs, pray, remember, have fun with your family or friends or yourself, whoever you’re with. remember that the concept of nightly presents on chanukkah were heavily popularized in America and other xtian centric countries due to xtians associating chanukkah with xmas and commercializing it that way, you are not obligated to be able to give presents to everyone every night.
also a note to non Jewish folks (by the way this is ok for you to reblog): chanukkah presents, if they are part of a family’s tradition at all, are in many families small things like new pencils or a piece of candy or a book, not large xmas type presents. and there are also lots of Jewish homes in which presents are not a tradition, & many homes in which they cannot be due to lack of money. chanukkah is not ‘the 8 days of Jewish xmas’ , it has been unfortunately marketed that way. it is a minor religious festival & major cultural one celebrated by many religious and secular Jews. and it is not about 8 days of presents.