Christmukkah

The Friday market at Musrara
functions as usual

It's Chrismukkah ... that's the word around town. "Chrismukkah" is when Christmas and Hannukah coincide. Most jews of american and european origin are more caught up by Christmas than by Hanukkah ... so there's a subtle movement to "judaize" Christmas hence allowing the euro-american jews enjoy Christmas while not losing the spirit of Judaism ... "within limits"! That's the other catchword.

The rest of East Jerusalem continues life as usual ... it's predominantly muslim so the spirit of Christmas is rarely seen. "Rarely" because there are some shops that display christmas trees and decorations. For the most part it's christian shops but there are also shops run by young arab muslims who have studied in christian schools that have imbibed the christmas spirit in them. It's a little refreshing to see some christmas joy in that quarter. By the way, the rabbis have ruled that christmas trees are idols and hence it's forbidden for a jew to put up one. Ultra-orthodox jews would even close their eyes and spit when they walk pass a christmas tree. So much for the Chrismukkah spirit ... I wonder why they don't think of the Hannukiah (hannukah candelabra) as an idol. It's as ubiquitous and bright as the christmas tree during the 8 days of Hannukah.

A christian shop with a
christmas tree

Weatherwise it's very cold. The forecast is rain for the next 3 days but on Christmas eve the rains should stop but temperatures will fall to 8 degrees. Christmas will be very very cold. That'll be nice ... like the old days 25 years ago when it felt like Christmas. It hasn't been like this for the past 15 years with the drought and weather change. A hot Christmas just doesn't feel like it.

School has closed for the Christmas holidays. That means I have lots of work to do when the students are gone. Moving hundreds of books from one section to another. Christmas isn't much of a holiday for me.