No! The Jews aren't so excited about Christmas. It is just a celebration of a minor Jewish holiday called "Hanukkah", which happens to fall on the year end. The Jewish communities all over the world light menorahs, eat jelly donuts and chocolate coins, and play dreidel.
Hanukkah commences at sunset of Tuesday, December 16 this year. While historically a small cause for festivity, it is such a major deal especially when the iconic fiction writer, J.K. Rowling, takes part in the celebration with a "very revealing" present.
In times when the winter season steps in and encompass all empty spaces, people's thoughts are normally directed to the Christmas season. It should have been an ignorable occasion after all, but Hanukkah takes a fleeting time at the spotlight as not only Jews but nearly all nations commemorate it. So why is it such a big deal?
Hanukkah is no less than a memorial of the Maccabees who maintained their Judaism faith despite being menaced of torture by their early perpetrators. According to Religion News Service, the story of the Maccabees is not based on Torah and the Hebrew Bible so it can be reduced to one historical data.
Nevertheless, major Christian denominations the world over recognize it as holiday, perhaps, because it sits near December 25. That's just it.
Also known as Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting candles (menorahs): one candle on the first night, two candles on the second night, and an additional one candle with each succeeding night until the eight-day tribute concludes.
As a tradition, Jewish people give presents especially at the end of the celebration; although, the dilemma is that parents think their children would confuse Hanukkah to Christmas with Santa giving gifts to kids.
Meanwhile, J.K. Rowling takes part in the event, cementing its assertion as a major deal. Speaking of presents, the famous author gives the Jews a very divulging gift for the Hanukkah holiday.
There were many speculations in the past asking Rowling if Hogwarts really did have Jewish characters. At the onset of the festivity, Benjamin Roffman asked Rowling via twitter regarding this and it reads, "My wife said there are no Jews at Hogwarts. I'm Jew so I assume she said it to be the only magical 1 in the family. Thoughts?"
In a recent article written for the Tablet Magazine, the celebrated author replied, in a very occasional tweet, that indeed there were Jewish characters in Hogwarts: Anthony Goldstein and Ravenclaw.
Surely Jews have so many ways to celebrate Hanukkah, and expected is the massive gift-giving activities among members of the community. But the 2014 Hanukkah memorial is something much more special and "unprecedented" as Jews gets a dose of its own medicine: a shining, shimmering exposé from J.K. Rowling that certain Jews resided in Hogwarts too.