How Hanukkah Became an American Success Story : Judaism: A holiday that is relatively minor overseas has been transformed in the U.S. as Christmas and popular culture influenced religious tradition, a scholar says.

There once was a time when Hanukkah was just a blip on the Jewish holiday calendar.

Lighting menorah candles was the way Jewish families traditionally celebrated the ancient military victory of the Maccabees, who reclaimed the temple of Jerusalem from its pagan defilers about 2,000 years ago.

Even today, in Israel and most of the Jewish world, Hanukkah remains a minor holiday: No big party. No presents. Just candles burning to commemorate the miracle that, according to tradition, kept the Maccabees’ temple lamps burning for eight days despite a shortage of oil. But in America, Hanukkah has become a very big deal indeed.

Critics have long argued that this child-centered holiday has evolved in this country into a major competitive winter sport--the Jewish antidote to the Christian Christmas celebration.

And with its decorations, festivities and eight days of lavish presents, critics say the original significance of Hanukkah--the survival of Jewish culture in the face of overwhelming obstacles--has been lost in the trappings of consumerism.

But Jewish historian Jenna Weissman Joselit isn’t bothered by lavish Hanukkah celebrations. Windup musical menorahs? She loves them. Recipes for tuna fish sandwiches shaped like Maccabean soldiers? Fabulous. One of her favorite images is a kitschy 1950s photo of children opening presents beneath a giant dreidel, the spinning top that is Hanukkah’s emblematic toy. The scene is a suburban Jewish echo of their Gentile neighbors’ Dec. 25 ritual.

To Joselit, these snippets of popular culture are evidence not of how one religion is overcome by another, but of how a living faith adapts to changing circumstances.

And although she does not deny that families can go overboard, Joselit holds out the hope that the holiday can transcend mere materialism.

“Hanukkah is an ancient religious practice that has been adapted to modern conditions,” says Joselit, who teaches religion and history at New York University. “Do I like the entire focus on gift giving? No. But there’s always a chance that something else will come out of it.”

Joselit explores the creation of a Jewish American identity in her latest book, “The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture, 1880-1950” (Hill & Wang). Her description of Hanukkah in America, as it evolved from a minor holiday 100 years ago to a central celebration today, illustrates the dynamic relationship between religion and popular culture.

In 1880s America, Hanukkah was mostly ignored. Much more appealing was the Victorian Christmas with its lavish feasts, decorated trees and surfeit of elegantly wrapped presents.

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Concerned that Jews were attracted to Christmas, rabbis began to argue that Hanukkah had all the same qualities of that Gentile holiday. But it was difficult for Hanukkah to compete. “No amount of special pleading could elevate Hanukkah into what it was not,” Joselit said. “History and tradition militated against it. Basically, it was a modest, quiet holiday.”

But by the 1920s, things began to change, as manufacturers discovered a potential market in the Jewish community. Aunt Jemima pancake flour was touted as “the best flour for latkes,” the potato pancakes traditionally eaten during Hanukkah. Advertising for Crisco called it the best shortening for frying latkes. And Canada Dry ginger ale was the best drink to wash it all down, the commercials said.

Hanukkah began to develop a life of its own, its celebration becoming a touchstone for the Jewish family. Housewives followed recipes for Maccabean sandwiches and menorah salads. Parents put up decorations that played off holiday themes. Retailers brought out chocolates, children’s games and a range of juvenile books that celebrated the wonders of dreidels, freedom fighters and menorahs.

“Things began to change when the concept of pleasure was introduced,” Joselit said. “There were gifts and food, and the whole thing became very child-centered, colorful and creative.”

It was during the postwar period that Hanukkah truly became mainstream. As Judaism found a place at the interfaith table alongside Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, the seasonal greeting “Merry Christmas” evolved into the more inclusive “Happy Holidays.” Television shows depicted Jewish families celebrating Hanukkah with the same festive cheer and family-centered rituals as their Christian neighbors.

Now Hanukkah has taken its place in the debate over religion in the public arena. In addition to lawsuits over the placing of a creche on public property, the courts are now being asked to rule on whether oversized menorahs should stand alongside Christmas symbols at holiday displays.

“It’s really tempting to say that they’re doing this for all the wrong reasons and to say Hanukkah becomes trivial, vulgar, banal,” Joselit said. “But it’s also representative of the enigma of American culture, which mixes the sacred and the profane. It is what it is and it does come, genuinely, from the folks themselves.”

Joselit believes Hanukkah caught on because of its proximity to Christmas. The elasticity of the celebration enabled it to become a Jewish American success story because it could fulfill basic human needs for pleasure and amusement as well as tradition and continuity.

“Instead of consumer culture being Hanukkah’s undoing, it revitalized it,” Joselit said. “It gave the holiday new expression and furthered its celebration. It’s easy to trash all this stuff and to say that it’s not what we did in Eastern Europe. But it is what we do here, and there’s something wonderful about this notion of Happy Hanukkah.”