Chanukah vent - stupid grocery store

[JennyMominRI]

I just wanted to add that it's certainly easy to say ,Who cares what get said,when you are a member of the dominant Paridigam.
I wonder what the reaction would be if retail stores in this country started saying a Peaceful Ramadan every fall.

 

[vivilasvegas]

I just wanted to add that it's certainly easy to say ,Who cares what get said,when you are a member of the dominant Paridigam.
I wonder what the reaction would be if retail stores in this country started saying a Peaceful Ramadan every fall.

I don't belong to any religion anymore!!! So really, I don't care what you say to me! I'll take it with a smile and smile back at you! Peaceful Ramadan everyone!

 

[JennyMominRI]

I don't belong to any religion anymore!!! So really, I don't care what you say to me! I'll take it with a smile and smile back at you! Peaceful Ramadan everyone!

As a memeber of no religion at all,I do believe that's what you would say. That's what I would say,but do you think that would be the reaction of people that throw a tizzy when someone says Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas? If they can't handle a happy holidays,do you really think they would be ok with Blessed Solstice or Peaceful Ramadan?

 

[vivilasvegas]

As a memeber of no religion at all,I do believe that's what you would say. That's what I would say,but do you think that would be the reaction of people that throw a tizzy when someone says Happy Holidays and not Merry Christmas? If they can't handle a happy holidays,do you really think they would be ok with Blessed Solstice or Peaceful Ramadan?

Well, I guess I really don't understand those people then. My parents are strict Catholics. If someone wished them Happy Holidays, or Happy Kwanzaa, etc..., they would not throw a fit. They would smile, say thank you, and that would be the end of it.

I think the posts we see on this board are examples of the extreme.

 

[tiggersmom2]

I just wanted to add that it's certainly easy to say ,Who cares what get said,when you are a member of the dominant Paridigam.
I wonder what the reaction would be if retail stores in this country started saying a Peaceful Ramadan every fall.

If we lived in the Middle East, this may be a concern but it certainly isn't here. We are not a Muslim society so I'm pretty sure we won't be wishing a peaceful ramadan in the grocery stores anytime soon.


FWIW - in my area most places say Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah.

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Actually, I don't live on the West Coast anymore (and when I did, I lived in a very conservative, Republican county, so I have to say I find the little play on words inaccurate and a little tiring). I'm glad for you that you are receiving the type of cards you seem to want to receive. But that certainly is no indication of how religious the people who send them are, only the degree to which they desire to acknowledge all their friends beliefs, or perhaps the degree to which they associate with people of other faiths in general.

Very well said. I live on the East Coast -- even the same state as Dawn CT -- and we must socialize in different circles because virtually every one of the cards we received said "Happy Holidays".

Happy Holiday to everyone! May you and your families have wonderful celebrations!

 

[rigs32]

I think the posts we see on this board are examples of the extreme.

Personally, I think the people on the boards who insist I have no right to be frustrated are the extreme.

 

[ford family]

I've read and re-read all of your posts to this thread and still can't bring myself not to respond to this.

Having just watched the movie "Paper Clips" last nite (see my other thread on that very topic), your post quoted above immediately made me think about the Holocaust. During the time that Hitler and the Nazis were exterminating 6 million Jews (and 5 or so million others), millions of people around the world, including many here in the US, said essentially the same thing. Who cares? It doesn't affect me. I'm not Jewish. It is irrelevant to my life. And the horrors went on and on.

Only after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor did the US enter the war because then it did affect "us". How different things might have been had the US joined the war several years earlier.

Can you possibly see now why your post would be offensive to a great many people?

No.
I view people as people, not check to see what their label says. I believe strongly in freedom of speech, freedom of action, freedom to worship, freedom to not worship. The Holocaust was a terrible thing (I am not ashamed to say that I came out of the Holocaust Museum in Washington in tears). I find your suggestion that my not caring about what Hannuka means or represents indicates that I would have stood by and let genocide happen to be extremely offensive. I suggest you re-read your history books because very few people anywhere were aware of the "final solution" project until the horrors unfolded after the war had ended. They were aware of Jews being taken from communities in occupied Europe, often with the co-operation of the local populace, but there was no awareness that these people were being sent to death camps.

ford family

 

[ford family]

I have two questions for Dawn and Ford Family. One I asked in another thread, but will reask. If you had a friend or co-worker who was Jewish and they invited you to their house to eat latkes and light candles, would you go?

How would you feel if you had visitors of another religion at your place of worship?

OK, another question (I can never stop at 2, even though I should be going to bed). If you were invited to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah of a friend or family member, would you make an effort to go? Why or why not?

It has never arisen because I don't know any practising Jews and, being self employed nowadays, do not have any co-workers.
People of my acquaintance may be Jewish but their faith or ethnicity wouldn't come up in conversation. In your hypothetical example I would politely decline because I am an atheist and do not go to any religious gatherings. (one exception, I was a last minute substitiute reader at a carol concert last week but the primary purpose of the church service was not to worship but to raise funds for a cancer charity and the reading was from Dickens).
Obviously, as an atheist I do not have a place of worship.
I would not attend a bar/bat mitvah in a synagogue but would be happy to attend any celebration afterwards in a different place.

ford family

 

[ford family]

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html

According to this source, the Jewish population of the USA is nearly 6,000,000 or two percent, whereas the UK has only 300,000 or half of one percent. Adjust this for the more secular nature of the UK and you can start to see why this thread has become so polarised.

ford family

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Here's my completely non PC reply....who the heck cares??? Happy Holiday, Happy Kwanza...whatever!!!!!!!!!! Take it with the intent that it is given...meaning, "hey, hope you have some great days!!!"

Man, and religion is supposed to help people?

Again, if the conversation about the inventory hadn't happened, I agree that a nice greeting is welcome, even if it's not something that I personally celebrate. But it could be that the OP did take with the intent it was given. Now it could be that it was a clueless checker who heard the conversation and not really listened, in which case yes, it's the thought that counts.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It has never arisen because I don't know any practising Jews and, being self employed nowadays, do not have any co-workers.
People of my acquaintance may be Jewish but their faith or ethnicity wouldn't come up in conversation. In your hypothetical example I would politely decline because I am an atheist and do not go to any religious gatherings. (one exception, I was a last minute substitiute reader at a carol concert last week but the primary purpose of the church service was not to worship but to raise funds for a cancer charity and the reading was from Dickens).
Obviously, as an atheist I do not have a place of worship.
I would not attend a bar/bat mitvah in a synagogue but would be happy to attend any celebration afterwards in a different place.

ford family

Interesting. I know 2 atheists (probably know more than that, but 2 who I know are). One is my BIL, who came to my DD's Bat Mitzvah. He didn't feel like it was an improper place for him to be. The other very openly atheist person is my brother. I don't think that he would refuse to come to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah (he lives across the country and wasn't able, but he would have it he lived closer, had the $, etc). He argues religion in general, but doesn't believe that we should believe what he believes. So being an atheist doesn't mean that a person refuses to observe a religious event.

So how about eating the latkes if you were not there for the candle lighting?

 

[DawnCt1]

I have two questions for Dawn and Ford Family. One I asked in another thread, but will reask. If you had a friend or co-worker who was Jewish and they invited you to their house to eat latkes and light candles, would you go?

How would you feel if you had visitors of another religion at your place of worship?

OK, another question (I can never stop at 2, even though I should be going to bed). If you were invited to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah of a friend or family member, would you make an effort to go? Why or why not?

Of course I would go. I have been to Passover Seders (sp) before. I have attended three Bar Mitzvahs and my boys have attended several collectively. When our children were little at the "holiday concert" they sang Chanukah and Christmas songs. I would also welcome anyone to my church.
And of course I would latkes and would NOT be tempted to bring my own ham sandwich.

 

[DawnCt1]

Unfortunately every religion has it's lampshade cousins

That same co worker would "suck up" to our boss who would visit twice a year and take us out to dinner. She too was Jewish but somewhat more "inclusive". The co worker would go out of her way to use Yiddish words and talk about cultural issues that she was sure I wouldn't be familiar with, criticize my food choices as (the word for not clean) and then start a discussion about the scandals in the Catholic church. (I am not Catholic but I guess Christian was close enough). The message she was clearly attempting to send to our boss was, "I am on your side, she isn't". I know that she is NOT representative of most Jews. In fact, she was unlike anyone I have ever met and I am happy not to be working with her. God works in mysterious ways.

 

[momof2inPA]

I truly doubt that the bagger at the grocery store was meditating on and calculating how she could insult the OP, especially yesterday when the grocery stores were so crowded. She/he was probably thinking about their next break. Actually, the grocery store I frequent has baggers that are mentally handicapped, so I definitely wouldn't hold the wrong holiday greeting against them.

As for Christian sensitivity to Jewish holidays, one sunday school class at my Catholic Church has a passover meal every year with all the traditional foods. And we live in the middle of nowhere, with little to no Jewish population.

 

[ford family]

So how about eating the latkes if you were not there for the candle lighting?

Having looked on Altavista and seen that they are potato pancakes, why not, I eat hot cross buns at Easter.

ford family

 

[JennyMominRI]

Having looked on Altavista and seen that they are potato pancakes, why not, I eat hot cross buns at Easter.

ford family

They are so good. Especially when you make them with green onions and parmasano reggiano . Then you eat them with sour cream or applesauce.Yummo

 

[Tigger&Belle]

What is parmasano reggiano? Must be cheese, but I've never had it in latkes. I used grated onions and even my onion hating kids like them.

 

[JennyMominRI]

What is parmasano reggiano? Must be cheese, but I've never had it in latkes. I used grated onions and even my onion hating kids like them.

It's aged Parmesan cheese

 

[DawnCt1]

They are so good. Especially when you make them with green onions and parmasano reggiano . Then you eat them with sour cream or applesauce.Yummo

Sounds good, Italian latkes.