Idealogian

Religious Inequality

This has been the scene in front of the New York Stock Exchange for the past few weeks:

Looking at the picture, you're likely to notice a few things, in the following order:

1. The gigantic American "flag" made out of lots of little lights
2. The humongous, extravagant, six-story-tall Xmas tree
3. The smaller American flags hanging from the front of the buildling
4. The small, cheap-looking, six-foot-tall chanukkiyah (menorah)
5. The small, cheap-looking, six-foot-tall Kwanzaa kinara

It's a somewhat pathetic attempt at an interdenominational display, and I actually find it slightly offensive. I generally don't mind that the "holiday" atmosphere that pervades this time of year is overwhelmingly Christmas-y - New York is, after all, overwhelmingly Chrtistian. The music overload may be somewhat nauseating, but it doesn't particularly bother me to see other people celebrating their religion (if you can call these displays "religious").

What bothers me, though, is the sense that we Jews are being thrown a bone - and a really scrawny bone, at that. If you'd like to celebrate Xmas, by all means do so. If you'd like to include Chanukkah in the celebration, even better. But to honor one with a sixty-foot-tall tree and the other with a six-foot-tall menorah only serves to emphasize how much you value one over the other, and suggests that the menorah is there simply as a token symbol to appease the Jews (and your own PC conscience). Considerations of pirsumei nissa aside, it'd be fine with me if the menorah weren't there at all, but the way things are smacks of condescension.

The Goldman Sachs lobby has a much more appropriate display, where the tree and menorah are within an inch of the same height:

But then, what do you expect from a company named "Goldman Sachs?"