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Torah Reading: Be'halot'cha

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Published: December 17, 2011

Jon Stewart obviously doesn't know the meaning of Hanukkah. What would you tell him?

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Visitor Comments: 9

(7) A Teenage Mensch, December 25, 2011 10:29 AM

The General Perspective

I think that Jon Stewart is portraying the outermost layer of what Hanukkah is about, which is usually how it is perceived to the general public. I think it is funny, though, because I know he does have that deeper understanding. I think Colbert is representing that general view that people have of Hanukkah and that he doesn't necessarily agree with them. It's all just part of the comedy schtick. Whether you find it funny or not is based on opinion, but I don't think either one truly believes in the shallowest of Hanukkah perceptions.

(6) Anonymous, December 23, 2011 1:17 PM

this is entertainment?

a new low. gee, if there hadn't been a laugh track i wouldn't have known it was supposed to be funny.

(5) Anonymous, December 19, 2011 8:32 PM

Stewart did fine; Colbert did not

this was not about competition; it was about awareness. As a 74-year old Jew, I have spent my whole life among non-Jews who knew nothing....and I mean ZERO about Jews or Judaism. and didn't especially care to. So here's Jon trying to increase awareness and here's Steven being so narrow-minded as to say "thank you; I'll pass". Certainly not very Christian of him.

(4) Anonymous, December 19, 2011 7:20 PM

I'd tell him how much I appreciate hearing words from my mameloshen (Yiddish) on mainstream TV. Your question implies that he's done something incorrect. He's not intending to offer a teaching about the holiday. He's being funny and rhyming, and that's what he gets paid for. Frankly, I enjoy that a Jewish holiday is well-known, accepted, and "normal" enough to be chuckled over in the maintstream. Cool!

(3) menachem, December 19, 2011 6:49 PM

Chanukkah isn't Yom Tov

Aviva, December 30, 2011 10:41 AM

Kudos.

Kudos.

Zev G, January 22, 2012 7:47 AM

Yes, but it makes the lyric rhyme, which makes if funny. The video is meant to be humerous! I think everyone needs to have a sense of humor when they watch this. Having a sense of humor isn't forbidden by the Torah!

(2) Baruch, December 19, 2011 5:17 PM

Enlightening?

Stephen Cobert is funny. The video is funny. At Channuka’s expense. The laugh here, from start-to-finish, is about the many ways Channuka is inferior to Christmas. It is about the many insecure thoughts and feelings of uneducated Jews when Christmas lights give them that warm, fuzzy Hellenized-Jewish feeling during the holiday season. Every Hellenized Jew and every Greek soldier that fought against, and was defeated by, Judah the Maccabee, would have loved this video’s Channuka spin. The Greeks did not want to wipe out the Jews. They wanted to Hellenize them, make them feel Torah is second-rate to the bright lights of Athens. Channuka is about cleaning the Temple in our heart and mind of images like the ones in this video. It is about understanding why the smallest spark of Torah can do more to light up spiritual darkness than any other light in the world.

(1) Anonymous, December 18, 2011 3:13 PM

You did it right, there is no reason to try to compete. If we try to compete with Xmas we will only lose for ourselves the meaning of Hanukkah. Then what, Charlie Brown will have to make a film, "Charlie Brown Hanukkah" and put it out there, "What's the true meaning of Hanukkah?" after it had been forgotten. Let's not go there, and we won't have to be brought back by Charlie Brown.

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