by Jeffrey R. Sipe

It's Christmas Eve and I'm walking across Union Square when I come upon a group of Jewish guys, the same guys in hats and payos who are always around during Christmas and Hanukkah asking guys like me "Are you Jewish?" Normally I smile, say "no" and walk on though. Once, a teenager in hat and curls responded with "That's OK! Have a happy Hanukkah, anyway!"

But this time when I'm asked if I'm Jewish, I think I'm going to be cute or funny or something and I say "No, maybe next year." The bespectacled middle-aged guy who seems to be the one in charge looks at me and says, "Why not this year?" And now I'm on the spot. I have to come up with something, and, as usual, the easiest thing to come up with was the truth. So, I say, just a tiny bit meekly, "Well, I really haven't put a lot of thought into it." He says, "Well, maybe, you could think about it. Would you like a menorah?" I say, "Sure. I'd love a menorah" because I like religious stuff even if I'm not religious. He gives me a plastic bag with candles and a menorah that I will have to assemble at home.

I thank him, sincerely, and walk on to the bar in the West Village where I am to meet a friend before going to a Christmas Eve party. I sit at the bar, order a beer and show the bartender my new menorah. He says "I just played a Hanukkah song. Do you want me to play it, again?" I say, "No, That's OK. I'm not Jewish. Some guy just gave me a menorah." And he says, "OK, I'm half and half so I play music for both."

When my friend arrives I show him my new menorah. He says, "What are you doing with a menorah? I'm Jewish and I've never owned a menorah." We drink our beers and then proceed to the Christmas Eve party just a couple of blocks away on West 10th Street where there are all kinds of people celebrating Christmas Eve together, no one asking if anyone is Christian or Jewish or Hindu or Muslim.

The next morning my 14-year-old-son watches me assemble my new menorah and place it on my fireplace mantle. Somehow that brings memories of breaking the fast in the Middle East with Muslim friends during Ramadan. My son says to me, "Dad, you are the only person who would be given a menorah while walking down the street and take it with you to a Christmas Eve party." My first thought is to say, yeah, aren't I special, aren't I unusual, aren't I cool, but I just look at him and say, "I hope not."

******

Jeffrey R. Sipe is a writer/journalist, who, no matter how hard he writes, having grown up in Speedway, Indiana, still can’t get the sounds of race cars rounding Turn 4 out of his head. He has written about the film industry for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Sight and Sound, The Financial Times and other publications. He also once worked as the “boom guy” on a film that nobody saw, but he challenges everyone to see just how long they can hold a metal tube with a microphone attached over their heads.

Discover Lokkal:
Scroll SMA's Community Wall below.
Mission

Visit SMA's Social Network

Contact / Contactar