The kids had dentist appointments this evening. The office is located right above the main Ra’anana shopping mall (which just opened back up two days ago from the lock-down here) and the kids love the kosher food court in the mall so we let them have smoothies and Chinese food for dinner. When we went down to the food court I noticed that there was a chanukia (menorah) lit on the counter at the Chinese takeout counter. Cool, I thought. Then I noticed another at the burger place next door, and another at the Italian place across the way, and another at the falafel place, etc. These weren’t decorative light-bulb menorahs; they were just simple disposable candle menorah’s actually lit with real candles.
Now I can hear everyone already saying, “OK, we get it – you’re in a Jewish country! Enough already!” But what caught my attention was not just that people here put up Chanukah decorations more. Lot’s of business in the US will have a Christmas tree or some other “holiday” decorations and also a Chanukah menorah or Jewish star or something. And yes, there’s more of that (the Chanukah stuff) here. But this was different. These were not decorations. For example, the menorahs at most businesses in the US are decorative light bulb ones that are there all day, all week long. It’s indeed very nice, and it’s a good effort on the part of businesses to let their Jewish customers know they respect them. It perhaps fits into a larger American virtue-signaling mentality that wants to make sure no minority group feels left out.
The interesting thing about these food court menorahs, however, was that they were just the opposite. Had we been there an hour earlier or an hour later they would not have been there. These were not decorations. Those candles only last half an hour. They were not meant to show respect for customers, or to advertise inclusiveness, or anything else. These were personal menorahs that the workers brought so that they could actually perform the act of lighting the menorah.
And at the MacDonalds, where the workers that night were Arabs, there was no menorah. Which was just fine – its not their holiday. In fact, I would say that about just over half the food court restaurants had them. And it was just fine. It wasn’t a big deal – no one was all up in arms about how come they have a menorah and you don’t? Or how come you only have a menorah and not some other religion’s iconography? And it wasn’t as if the actual restaurant chain made a rule whereby on Chanukah it was store policy to proudly display a menorah, because in that case it wouldn’t have mattered if the workers that evening were Jew or Arab – the company menorah would have to be lit just the same.
No, these weren’t company menorahs. They were just individual people’s menorahs, just doing what Jews do. Nothing more, nothing less.
