A whole LOT of gentiles learned the words to "Hava Nagila" by way of Harry Belafonte, as it turns out.
LOL! We learned it in third grade music class, along with another one that went something like,
Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah come light the menorah Let's have a party, we'll all dance the hora [Something I don't remember] and latkes and good things to eat Gather 'round the table, we'll give you a treat
There's more, but I've forgotten the rest.
And there's a long, long tradition of atheist Jews who still maintain family and cultural ties. The menorah I light? My great-great-grandparents brought it with them when they came to this country from Russia in 1888. I'm not going to give up lighting it just because of a little detail like not believing in God. Some things are important.
Oh yeah, I totally get it.
I think there are lots of secular/atheist "Christians" who do the same kind of thing, putting up Christmas trees and having Easter egg hunts for the kids without actually believing any of it or imbuing it with any deeper meaning.
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Date: 2010-12-06 11:06 am (UTC)A whole LOT of gentiles learned the words to "Hava Nagila" by way of Harry Belafonte, as it turns out.
LOL! We learned it in third grade music class, along with another one that went something like,
Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah come light the menorah
Let's have a party, we'll all dance the hora
[Something I don't remember] and latkes and good things to eat
Gather 'round the table, we'll give you a treat
There's more, but I've forgotten the rest.
And there's a long, long tradition of atheist Jews who still maintain family and cultural ties. The menorah I light? My great-great-grandparents brought it with them when they came to this country from Russia in 1888. I'm not going to give up lighting it just because of a little detail like not believing in God. Some things are important.
Oh yeah, I totally get it.
I think there are lots of secular/atheist "Christians" who do the same kind of thing, putting up Christmas trees and having Easter egg hunts for the kids without actually believing any of it or imbuing it with any deeper meaning.