It's beginning to look a lot like Chrismukkah
Just got word from Fox that they're sending a news camera crew in from Chicago today to film our Chrismukkah/Hanukkah party this evening at our house. It's windy like heck today and starting to snow... we hope they're able to make it safely and in time.
We've invited a few other interfaith families to light Menorahs, exchange gifts and get tipsy on Manishewitz mulled wine. We're serving cinnamon challah, matzoh pizza, curried latkes and cranberry blintzes.
Perhaps Fox is thinking about turning us into a new reality show? Since we live in Park County, Montana, they might as well call it "The P.C."
Here's the pitch - a nice liberal minded family (call them the Chrismukkah family) sell everything and move from the big city to a small cattle ranching community in ulta conservative but scenic Montana. She's a reserved WASP from the midwest, he's a wacky Jewish liberal from New York City. Their 18 month old daughter is blonde, cute, precocious and witty. When they can't find a decent job that doesn't involve relocating manure, they decide to start a greeting card business out of their old barn. The greeting cards celebrate diversity, tolerance and peace... but the nieghbors all think they're just PC nuts. The show follows the Chrismukkah family as they get into all sorts of mischief trying to make a sucess of their fledgling card company.
Picture "The Simple Life" meets "Curb your Enthusiasm" meets "The Brady Bunch" meets "The O.C" meets "Little House on the Prairie" and you get the idea.
5 Comments:
Bubbie and Zaydie [bubbie.zadie [AT] gmail.com] -- the G in Gmail is for Gefileter Fish Mail] -- write to Ron and family,
from their blognik blogsite at http://bubbieandzadie.blogspot.com
Hi Ron,
Matt Sedensky's AP story went around the world, was printed in over 500 newspapers worldwide, even picked up later by the Religion News Service and Jewsweek.com and hundreds of Christian and Jewish bloggers and websites. You and your wife are following your hearts, your instincts, your sense of things as they are. The letters and stories you have colleceted show that you are doing a good thing.
Don't let the turkets get you down, just keep flying with the Montana eagles. In 1983, when we first started our Hannukah letter writing proogram for Jewish kids in North America, to write special Hannukah letters to Bubbie and Zadie in Nome, Alaska (that's where we lived at the time, go figure, and now we are in China, figure go!), the New York Times wrote a cute story about us by Nadine Brozan, November 22, 1983 issue (it's on NYT archives site) and all hell broke loose, too!
Just like in your case, some religious groups from the organized religious side of things, lambasted us, criticized us, said we would go to hell, said we would messing with Hannukah, said we should shut up. Most of our mail has been 100% positive, but the organized religion groups always have to protect their turf. Comes with the territory. So pay them no mind. No, listen to them, pay attention, and respect their POV, but keep going with what you are doing. You are serving the needs of thousands, tens of thousands of New Families, blended families, and they need you. It's okay. Trust us, ye olde Bubbie and Zaydie, we know exactly what you are doing, and why you are doing it.
In 25 years, people will look back and say: What was the fuss all about. Chrismakka is wonderful! And for those who celebrate just Hannukah or just Christmas, that's cool, too, neh? We are the world, we are the children, say this Bubbie and Zaydie, Ron.
And we are not even intermarried! But we understand, we understand, and we bless your creativity and silly sense of humor. Fly high, dear Ron, and remain true to your self!
And write to us. Why have you not written to us yet? We are awaiting your letter each day. Just a note to say hi. Okay?
Shalom and long live your vision of Chrismakka! You are a visionary, as was the writer for OC, who got this thing going. What was his name?
Love from
Bubbie and Zadie
-----------------
THE NEW YORK TIMES
by Lisa Napoli, Times reporter, Dec. 2, 2004
Bubbie and Zadie
Jewish children have no Santa Claus, but thanks to a Jewish guy in
Taiwan, they have Bubbie and Zadie (bubbieandzadie.blogspot.com).
Who? Daniel Halevi Bloom, a freelance editor and reporter, invented
these Jewish grandparents (the names are Yiddish for Grandma and
Grandpa) in 1983 to bring Hanukkah alive for children, particularly
those without living grandparents. Back then the medium was snail
mail, but Mr. Bloom reckons that today's Bubbie and Zadie are e-mail
users.
With Hanukkah just days away, Mr. Bloom has been busy corresponding
with visitors to his site.
Zipporeh Cohen, 13, wrote:
"Dear Bubbie and Zadie,
My own bubbie and zadie passed away last year, and I am very sad. I
live in Cleveland. Did you by any chance know my bubbie and zadie,
Hannah and Joe Freedman? They were so sweet and kind, and I miss them
terribly."
It is not just children who are inspired to write. Mr. Bloom shared a
letter with the New York Times from a 45-year-old New York man who
wrote, in part:
"Dear Bubbie and Zadie,
Thank you from a grown-up child who has never forgotten his own bubbie
and zadie."
Mr. Bloom -- 55 years young and who looks more like 45 and acts more
like 35 and feels more like 25 -- a Springfield, Mass, native who has
lived and worked in Japan and Taiwan since 1991, says Bubbie and Zadie
have received around 10,000 print letters from children over the last
21 years. He claims to have answered every one, with the help of some
very kind angels as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/technology/circuits/02diar.html
Here's another story about Bubbie and Zadie progra, Ron, that is now running year round, 24/7/365, and if any families reading this wish to particiapte, please do it's free.
Dan
====================== THE BOSTON GLOBE +++++++++++
Dear Bubbie and Zadie: Welcome back!
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/12/08/dear_bubbie_and_zadie_welcome_back/
By Irene Sege,
Boston Globe
December 8, 2004
A long time ago, in a cold, faraway Eskimo village in Alaska, a young
Jewish man named Danny Bloom was feeling Hanukkah in the air and
thinking fondly about his grandparents Max and Bella Epstein, who
owned Epstein's deli in Malden and shared summers with him at the
beach in Scituate. Suddenly, Bloom had an idea. ''Maybe," he recalls,
''there could be a bubbie and zadie that children could write to."
With that, Bloom in 1981 created imaginary Jewish grandparents,
complete with the Yiddish appellations ''Bubbie" for Grandma and
''Zadie" for Grandpa, sent out a bunch of press releases, and waited
for word to spread. It did, thanks to the Associated Press, ''Good
Morning America," and The New York Times. Over a decade of Hanukkah
seasons, until Bubbie and Zadie faded into retirement in 1991, Bloom
answered 5,000 letters.
Well, Bubbie and Zadie are back. They've vacated Nome, Alaska, moved
to cyberspace, and sent word that they're accepting correspondence via
e-mail sent to bubbie.zadie@gmail.com. As for Bloom, he's now 55 and
living in Taiwan, where he writes freelance and teaches English and
calls an Internet cafe his office. Once again, he's sent out press
releases and landed a few nibbles. Bloom answers a reporter's
questions over a scratchy connection to his cellphone and in e-mail
exchanges.
Sometimes, he's up until 3 a.m. or later, Taipei time, answering
electronic letters from nostalgic folks back West and including a
postscript of ''fun Yiddish words" such as ''oy vey" and ''chutzpah."
Originally, most correspondents were children sharing stories,
motivated by Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights that this year
began last night. Bloom discouraged them from sending requests for
gifts. ''Dear Bubbie and Zadie," wrote an 11-year-old girl from Kansas
City in 1985. ''My biggest wish for Hanukkah is not presents but just
one thing; world peace. And I hope my own bubbie and zadie in San
Francisco can fly out to KC to visit us soon. Bubbie and Zadie, I
really love you."
These days, to his surprise, Bloom is hearing mostly from adults,
although an 11-year-old girl from Cleveland asked, ''Did you by any
chance know my bubbie and zadie, Hannah and Joe Freedman?" Maybe
adults are more likely to read newspaper stories. Maybe the children
don't e-mail, and Bubbie and Zadie have not logged on to instant
messaging.
''Dear Bubbie and Zadie," writes a woman from San Francisco. ''My
grandmothers were nicknamed Big Bubbie and Little Bubbie. I could
never remember which one was which. They were Bubbie Fannie and Bubbie
Esther. One was tall and one was short, of course."
''Dear Bubbie and Zadie," writes a Hindu man from England. ''I am not
Jewish, but I like the Jewish people and their foods. My Hindu
friends' mums make me eat lots of food when I visit their homes, just
like my Jewish friends' mums -- only the food tastes better at the
Jewish homes."
As a result, Bloom is considering converting a seasonal activity for
children into a year-round hobby -- ''what I call 24/7/365/4ever" --
for adults as well as children. ''When I started this program three
weeks ago, I really focused on children. I thought it would be easier
and more convenient than snail mail," Bloom says. ''I found out
there's a hunger, especially among adults, to talk about the culture
that is vanishing."
Though Bloom denies being motivated by any lingering envy of Christmas
back in Nome, Alaska, which, after all, is decidedly closer to the
North Pole than his native Springfield, he remembers feeling left out,
but ''never jealous," at Christmastime as a boy. ''My family never had
a Christmas tree," he says. ''I know Christmas is a wonderful holiday
for Christians. I wondered if Bubbie and Zadie could give Jewish
children a sense of Hanukkah warmth similar to Santa Claus." Bloom
also remembers critics who complained he was adding a dollop of
Christmas to a Jewish holiday. ''Some of the Orthodox Jewish leaders
were worried that I was leading the children astray, that I was doing
something that wasn't kosher," Bloom says. ''I never got any nasty
letters," he adds.
Bloom early on imbued Bubbie and Zadie with a life story, borrowed
heavily from the experiences of his own grandparents, that includes
immigrating from Lithuania in 1917, meeting each other in the new
country, and running a delicatessen. He sprinkles Bubbie and Zadie's
replies with snippets from his life and his own fond memories.
''Parents have to be strict, but grandparents have the freedom to be
your friend," he says. ''I just have tender, magical feelings. When I
write the letters in their name, I'm using the memory of my bubbie and
zadie."
He tells one correspondent that Bubbie and Zadie like Chinese food. He
tells another, ''We are from Boston, by the way, long ago, and before
that, of course, Kiev and Warsaw and the seaside countryside of
northern Poland."
Bloom, a 1971 graduate of Tufts University, visited his brother in
Alaska in 1979 and wound up staying a dozen years. In 1991, he moved
to Japan for a girlfriend and a newspaper job, and five years later he
landed a newspaper job in Taiwan.
Bloom celebrates Hanukkah this year outside of Tapei, where the only
other Jew in town is away visiting friends. Bloom doesn't own one of
the ritual menorahs that hold the candles Jews light each night of the
holiday. ''I have a little sculpture I put candles in," he says.
''I'll light the candles and say the prayers and think of Bubbie and
Zadie."
The whole idea of the holiday of Chanukah is about the Jews fighting assimilation. Yes that is what the holiday about. It is not about eating potato pancakes or doughnuts. That only shows a major miracle that transpired on Chanukah. The very reason for the so-called necessity for such a holiday called Chrismukkah goes against every principle of Judaism and the Holiday of Chanukah. In Judaism a marriage of a non Jew is not even recognized as a marriage at all. All it is recognized as is a sin. Thus your wonderful Holiday that you made a nice and charming websites about is celebrating a sin. What is next? The Jewish pro-pork eating website? Or the Jewish Lets all eat on Yom Kippur website? The truth is, if the mother is Jewish, the child is Jewish. The father can be a gorilla, it makes no difference. The Truth is a Christian child does not have the right to celebrate Chanukah. Yes he does not have the right. It is a spit in the face to every Jew that actually cares about Judaism. I pity you all, who celebrate it, and for the Jews that do celebrate it, I wish you all a refouah shelaymah. I know, none of you know what it means, go ask your grandmother, if she is still alive. I am sure you all made her very proud by the way. (Note, it was not an insult)
This is the second comment I'm posting on this sight.Most Jews and Christians alike would say I'm paying you folks way too much attention-attention you hardly deserve.Ok,ok I understand...you're trying to do a good deed,to help the world understand.Understand this:the kids of intermarried couples will go around confused and ashamed for most of their grown-up lives.Now I don't believe in hell but if there was such a thing this little bunch of Chismukkans would be there by now.You don't have much to live for since you've given up on what countless generations of Jews in exhile have worked for.Do me a favor:think of your kids.
Regreg... you sound like you're about to launch your very own Jewish fundamentalist Taliban style movement for intolerance, hatred, ideological fascism and theological pinheadedness.
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