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Stores competing for who’ll make the most over-the-top donuts, meat boards and fish boards for $300, hiring a band instead of just playing music. Is this what chanukah is meant to be? It’s almost as if the Yevanim won. People in Israel are at war with people displaced and held under hostage and this is how we celebrate? Where are the Rabbonim when it comes to addressing needles spending?
Welcome to the generation of complete pleasure anytime and running after every desire that even comes to your mind. And then we wonder why we’re going broke and can’t afford to buy clothing for our children when they need it
I hope that the Jewish community stays safe this Chanukah. I feel like a lot of the publicly displayed Jewish symbols (ie. menorahs) will potentially get vandalized this year due to the matzav.
Perhaps this is what Chanukah is supposed to be? Why does celebrating this way equal “Yevanim”?
I don’t see many Jews following the basic Mitzvah of lighting one candle each night for a half hour. We praise (actually now it’s assumed) those who add a candle every night & buy beautiful Menorahs to enhance the Mitzvah. So why should the non-lighting celebrations of Chanukah be any different?Most of the big cities have needles exchange programs
This year I decided to focus just on the essentials – lighting the menorah & time with family. In past years I’ve spent so much time decorating and undecorating the house, it’s become burdensome. Why bother? Living simpler is less stressful, but the modern world wants everything to be so complex it takes away from the joy at the heart of the holiday.
“[markets selling] the most over-the-top donuts, meat boards and fish boards for $300….. Is this what chanukah is meant to be?
Obviously not when a much healthier veggie platter and parve dip would mamash be considerably cheaper
90% won’t be enjoying 300$ meatboards this Chanuka. Look at the majority of Frum Jews who live simply & celebrate Chanukah correctly. Why are you so negative on the Frum community all the time?
Thank you!
People have gone very upscale across almost all our communities over the last 15-20 years. This has affected everything. Year round.
Haimy, I think you’re absolutely correct with respect to most Frum communities. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cry for the other 10%, though.
Lakewhut, that’s not how marketing works. If you advertise in a publication that has tens of thousands of readers, then depending on your profit margin, your advertising investment could easily pay off even if just 1% percent of the readers buy your overpriced meat board. If you don’t believe me, look at all the ads in Jewish newspapers and magazines for luxury apartments in Eretz Yisroel. Do you really think more than 10% of the readership can afford to even think about such a thing?
SACT5:
Why is time with family “one of the essentials” of Chanukah? It’s wonderful to spend time with family but why does this become an “essential” of Chanukah? It seems to me that we have copied this from another religion.
That’s why I said essential and not mitzvah. In America most things we do for Hanukkah are borrowed from the goyim who borrowed from the pagans. Anyone seen those giant inflatable lawn dreidels? What’s the big constant? The winter solstice is a miserable, dark, depressing time of year that needs some light & joy added. I included spending time with family because that is important, and while more of a goyish tradition, if I don’t manage to get to my in-laws for latkes my mother-in-law will turn me into chopped liver!
Happy Hanukkah!!! 🕎
A high end grocer in a frum community is hosting a raffle over chanuka. The raffle is for private chef dinners, wines and the like. And of course, meat boards etc. I get it. Raising money for a good cause sometimes requires going over the top.
You enter the raffle by spending money in their store. No proceeds go to EY, to causes, etc. No trip to EY. Not even an offer of “donate to Zaka or Hatzalah” to earn an extra ticket. The store owner has every right to make a parnassah and run a promotion. But this is just so distasteful.
We have over a hundred brothers and sisters held captive in hell on earth. Jewish soldiers are literally being murdered daily. Zaka and Hatzala members are struggling with the shock of what they saw and need money for therapy.
Please, celebrate chanukah and promote your businesses. But do so with some taste. We are a special nation, an Am Hanivchar. Chanukah marks an amazing time, when a hishtadlus and emunah saw nissim. This is the time to focus on more than your daled amos, your business or your food. What does it say about a community when this is an acceptable way to behave?
We are better than this.
SACT5:
A Freilichen Chanukah and enjoy the Latkes. We would not want you to be turned into chopped liver!! C”V
Much of the marketing you will come across in frum publications are aimed at a small slice of the population. How many families will many children are going to luxurious hotels, are going to Europe touring ancient Jewish communities, are buying fur coats, glamorous jewelry, buying luxurious SUV’s, have private chefs, live live in 2,000,000 homes, etc.? I assure you that not more than 20% of the frum world is living this way.
Most frum families live quite simply. Much of our income goes to tuition, therapy, basic food & shelter, normal clothes, & the occasional new hat or sheital.
Stop looking at the high spenders amongst us that capture much of the advertising dollars spent. These advertisments don’t reflect
The majority of bnei Torah families.We live simply, we’re careful with our budget, we have our priorities straight. I’m proud of the frum world in so many ways.Thanks Common!
I really enjoy coming back to your one-liners!
Dear Lake,
Is this how you celebrate?
Stores competing for who’ll make the most over-the-top donuts, meat boards and fish boards for $300, hiring a band instead of just playing music. Is this what chanukah is meant to be? It’s almost as if the Yevanim won. People in Israel are at war with people displaced and held under hostage and this is how we celebrate? Where are the Rabbonim when it comes to addressing needles spending?
Those things may or may not be bad, but they’re hardly dystopian.
The Wolf
I love how there are also health-conscious people who forget what the whole point of all the foods is: to eat things cooked in oil. I hear plenty of people talking about baked or air-fried latkes and/or donuts. Why eat them then? The point is the oil, not the latkes or donuts!
I don’t buy the fancy donuts, I refuse to do that. I got a few of the regular, old, boring ones – they’re still delicious! I got pizza for my kids, and while I usually don’t eat fries too much, I made sure to order some this time, so I had the fried food. For this past Shabbos, I bought the frozen Moroccan cigars, and fried them on Thursday night. We then reheated them for the Shabbos meal. They’re something I almost never buy otherwise.
There are plenty of good options to fulfill the minhag of the fried foods, sometimes even “special” foods, without breaking the bank. Do you usually bake or grill your chicken? Make some fried shnitzel instead! Have some french fries with it too.
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