Jewish Counterparts of Santa Claus : Author Creates Hanukkah Heroes

In the frozen north, the kind of place where you might expect to find Santa and his elves hard at work as Christmas nears, a different kind of magic is about to unfold.

Soon, Bubbie and Zadie will close their tailor shop in the northwest Alaskan town of Nome, stand beneath the northern lights, hold hands and close their eyes, chanting, “Shalom aleichem shalom, peace be with you.”

Then, “through a power that is even more mysterious and powerful than that of a jet airplane or an ocean liner, Bubbie and Zadie fly through the air, as if borne aloft by the memories of all the bubbies and zadies that have come before them. And as they travel, they bring with them special gifts and the spirit of Hanukkah itself.”

Santa’s Jewish Counterparts

That is the vision of Dan Bloom, an unassuming 36-year-old Alaskan who has given birth to new holiday heroes--not competition for Santa, he insists, but his Jewish counterparts.

Bloom’s vision worked wonders with the New York publishing firm of Donald I. Fine Inc. The company decided to publish Bloom’s first book, a tale for children, in numbers far higher than an average first printing, although it will not say just how many books will hit the stores this month.

“Bubbie and Zadie Come to My House” is billed as a “new Jewish folk tale about the spirit of Hanukkah.” It is a tale rooted in ancient Jewish folklore and Alaska’s northern landscape.

Although Bubbie and Zadie (Yiddish for grandmother and grandfather) fly through the air, visiting every house where Hanukkah is celebrated, they do not use reindeer and a sleigh and are invisible to adults.

5,000 Letters Received

Like the thousands of letters sent each year to Santa Claus in North Pole, Alaska, Bloom estimates that he has received about 5,000 letters in care of Bubbie and Zadie in Nome since they sprang from his imagination several years ago.

Despite the obvious similarities between Santa Claus and his new “neighbors,” Bloom said that “In no way is it a competition, though comparisons will inevitably be drawn.”

Bloom describes his creations as “neighbors of Santa, friends of Santa.” Among the sequels Bloom envisions is a “book of Santa getting together with Bubbie and Zadie to share a meal--and to share their traditions.”

Although gifts are exchanged during Hanukkah, Bloom’s creations “do not bring presents, but, in their own way, they bring something even more important: love and caring, hugs and kisses.”

So how did Bubbie and Zadie end up in Nome?

Reminded of Russian Villages

Bloom was living in Nome at the time, one of eight Jewish people in a town of 3,500, and “it reminded me of old pictures of Jewish villages in Europe, old Russian and Polish villages. Here I was, 200 miles from Russia across the Bering Sea.”

Bloom’s own grandparents came from these Russian and Polish villages, and, in the “magic of Nome,” he resurrected their memory. But it was memories of his own childhood more than anything that prompted Bloom to create Bubbie and Zadie.

Bloom said that as a child in Springfield, Mass., he felt alienated at Christmas, “aware that the world didn’t pay much attention to my holiday, Hanukkah,” the eight-day “Festival of Lights” that commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Maccabees after their victory over Antiochus of Syria.

While his childhood friends across the street were celebrating Christmas with Santa Claus, Bloom said he “recognized the need of Jewish children in the Christmas season to have someone to relate to, like my Christian friends did.”

Letter-Writing Campaign

So Bubbie and Zadie were born. They traveled from the Old Country to New York, then moved to Nome and opened a tailor shop. There they got mail, lots of it, from all over the country, mail that Bloom solicited for his creations and answered on their behalf. But it was only after his letter-writing campaign generated publicity that publishers became interested.