Editing Hanukkah (section)

=== Relationship to Christmas ===
{{See also|Jews and Christmas}}
In North America, Hanukkah became increasingly important to many Jewish individuals and families during the latter part of the 20th century, including a large number of [[Jewish secularism|secular Jews]], who wanted to celebrate a Jewish alternative to the [[Christmas]] celebrations which frequently overlap with Hanukkah.<ref name="ChristmasResponse">{{cite journal |last1=Abramitzky |first1=Ran |last2=Einav |first2=Liran |last3=Rigbi |first3=Oren |title=Is Hanukkah Responsive to Christmas? |journal=The Economic Journal |date=1 June 2010 |volume=120 |issue=545 |pages=612–630 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02305.x |s2cid=17782856 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~leinav/pubs/EJ2010.pdf |access-date=30 December 2019| issn=0013-0133 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How Christmas Transformed Hanukkah in America|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-american-style/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=My Jewish Learning|language=en-US}}</ref> Diane Ashton argues that Jewish immigrants to America raised the profile of Hanukkah as a kid-centered alternative to Christmas as early as the 1800s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Ashton|first=Dianne|url=http://archive.org/details/hanukkahinameric0000asht|title=Hanukkah in America : a history|date=2013|publisher=New York : New York University Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-8147-0739-5}}</ref> This in parts mirrors the ascendancy of Christmas, which like Hanukkah increased in importance in the 1800s.<ref name="federalholidays">{{cite web|author=Jacob R. Straus|date=November 16, 2012|title=Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103115217/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf|archive-date=January 3, 2014|access-date=January 2, 2014|publisher=Congressional Research Service}}</ref> During this time period, Jewish leaders (especially [[Reform Judaism|Reform]]) such as [[Max Lilienthal]] and [[Isaac Mayer Wise]] made an effort to rebrand Hanukkah and started creating Hanukkah celebration for kids at their synagogues, which included candy and singing songs.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rubin|first=Debra|title=Since the 1800s, Hanukkah in the US is a response to Xmas|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/since-the-1800s-hanukkah-in-the-us-is-a-response-to-xmas/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref> By the 1900s, it started to become a commercial holiday like Christmas, with Hanukkah gifts and decorations appearing in stores and Jewish Women's magazines printing articles on holiday decorations, children's celebrations, and gift giving.<ref name=":0" /> Ashton says that Jewish families did this in order to maintain a Jewish identity which is distinct from mainline Christian culture, on the other hand, the mirroring of Hanukkah and Christmas made Jewish families and kids feel that they were American.<ref name=":0" /> Though it was traditional for [[Ashkenazi Jews]] to give "gelt" or money to children during Hanukkah, in many families, this tradition has been supplemented with the giving of other gifts so that Jewish children can enjoy receiving gifts just like their Christmas-celebrating peers do.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-gifts/ |title=Hanukkah Gifts |publisher=My Jewish Learning |last=Rosenstock |first=Natasha |date=1 October 2016 |access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> Children play a big role in Hanukkah, and Jewish families with children are more likely to celebrate it than childless Jewish families, and sociologists hypothesize that this is because Jewish parents do not want their kids to be alienated from their non-Jewish peers who celebrate Christmas.<ref name="ChristmasResponse" /> Recent celebrations have also seen the presence of the [[Hanukkah bush]], which is considered a Jewish counterpart to the [[Christmas tree]]. Today, the presence of Hanukkah bushes is generally discouraged by most [[rabbi]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last=Diamant | first=Anita | title=Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends | publisher=Schocken Books | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8052-1095-8|quote=Rabbis are emphatic and virtually unanimous in their feeling that there is no place for Christmas celebrations within a Jewish home.}} But that would seem to be overstating the case, vide {{cite book |title=Ask the Rabbi: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of Being Jewish |author=Ron Isaacs |year=2003 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=0-7879-6784-X}}</ref>