Sea Street

HATCH'S HANUKKAH

The Jewish melodies about Christmas

Hanukkah songs are lame because all the best Jewish songwriters are busy writing Christmas songs

As the story goes, Hanukkah songs are lame because all the best Jewish songwriters are busy writing Christmas songs. One such composer bemoaned palm trees and blue skies in the prelude, but when the verse began he wrote, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."

Of course I'm talking about Irving Berlin, the Jewish composer that wrote the most popular Christmas song of all time, the Jewish composer that wrote the most popular song of all time, the Jewish composer that wrote the most recorded song of all time, the song that sold the most sheet music, the most air time, etc.

Irving specialized in anthems; he also wrote Easter Parade and There's No Business Like Show Business and hundreds of other hit songs through the years. On his one-hundredth birthday, he stood atop his penthouse while thousands gathered in the street below and sang White Christmas to him.

Mel Torme didn't do too badly either with The Christmas Song and then there's Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer by Johnny Marks. The list is long - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Happy Holidays and on and on and on.

Personally, I think the best seasonal composition in the American Repertoire is Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson (a non-Jew). But back to Hanukkah. The Hanukkah doldrums have been fixed-not by a Jewish composer but by a Mormon composer-none other than Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. The catchy little refrain goes like this:

Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah,
The Festival of Light,
In Jerusalem,
The oil burned bright.

Now, Orrin seems like a decent, well-meaning person to me; of course, that assumption may be challenged by his political beliefs but I will take him at his word that he "loves the Jewish people; they're God's chosen people according to the Bible."

Of course, when you're a Jew you always ask, "Chosen for what?"

Often times Christians love Jews for the wrong reasons. Here is a list of these:

1. 1.) When the Temple in Israel is rebuilt, Jesus will come back and the world will end.
2. The prophesies of Revelations will be fulfilled along with a lot of nasty consequences for the Jews.
3. Being on the Jewish side means you're on God's side, even if the Jews are wrong.

That was a short list. There used to be a newscaster in L.A. called George Putnam; he was a super Patriotic right-wing redhead and he literally ended his broadcast in front of a blue screen that featured the American Flag, an Air Force fly over, charging tanks, and these words, "I salute the American Flag, I salute Liberty, I salute Mom and apple pie." (Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit); but the sound track was John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. George loved Israel and had orgasms on the air all through the Six Day War. He loved the fighting, the dying, the military taste of it.

And then there's Jerry Falwell who kept confusing Jewish ideas with Scots-Irish ideas. And, let's not forget Pat Robertson------when he was not laughing like a maniac he professed his love for the Jews too.

Now, having been a Jew all my life and coming from an old Jewish family, "Newport, 1683" and having been involved in Jewish affairs, having been the Campaign Chairman of the Jewish Federation of Cape Cod and having produced the first Jewish Federation Telethon in America, I know a little bit about Jews. In my opinion, they fall into all categories: geniuses (Einstein and his crowd); great artists: Mahler, Mendelssohn and without getting into names, I must say great opera singers, great pop singers-Yes-Bob Dylan is a Jew, Bruce Springsteen is not. Great artists, great writers, great entrepreneurs, great everything-doctors, lawyers, you name the profession.

The movies are full of Jews from Al Jolson to Harrison Ford. They include nebbishes, like the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen to leading men with Jewish backgrounds-Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman.

But all Jews don't fall into this category, I've known some really dull and boring Jews, I've known some Jews who are not so bright. Jews, in short, are regular people like all of us and Jewish history is a history of losing more often than winning. In fact, the classic Jewish saying about Jewish history is, "We lost, we won, let's eat."

So, I hope Orrin, in his love for the Jews, does not project ideas upon us that fall more in the category of Christian hopes than Jewish reality. Most of the Jews in the world today are poor. If you want to have your heart broken, go to the mall-any mall-anywhere and encounter the Israeli kids who stand by their kiosk and call out, "Do you have a minute; can I show you something?" And if you say, "Yes," they try to sell you salt from the Dead Sea and a hundred other things of that nature. Look in their eyes and see the desperation and know that at Hanukkah time they would rather be at home in Israel-anywhere in the world except a mall.

The really sad thing about all this is that the world is not going to come to an end with the rebuilding of the Temple, the earth will be around for millions of years and mankind will either work out its problems or it will perish. ________________________________________________________________________
Be sure to watch David Rojay on The Dan and Dad Show each Saturday night at 9:30 on Channel 17. Read A RED STATE HERO and THE LONG BRIDGE RUNNER by David Rojay on capecodtoday.com. Read Sea Street-David Rojay's blog on capecodtoday.com and finally check out David Rojay on YOUTUBE. For more information, Google "David Rojay".