NEW YORK (AP) β Hanukkah starts next week, and several Hanukkah-themed products inspired by Christmas are on sale this holiday season.
For Jews who admire their neighbors’ Christmas trees, there now is a Menorah Tree, designed so lights can be put on top for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights.
Jewish author Abra Liberman Garrett, a fan of the Christmas story “Elf on the Shelf,” has written a new Hanukkah book called “The Maccabee on the Mantle.”
And instead of a gingerbread house, Jews can buy a Hanukkah House with a candy star of David. It’s made by Manischewitz (man-ih-SHEV’-itz), best known for selling kosher wine and Passover Matzo.
Dianne Ashton, a religion professor at Rowan University, says some Jews complain that Hanukkah shouldn’t be a Jewish reflection of Christmas.
She says it’s like Christian complaints that “it’s difficult to keep Christ in Christmas with all the consumerism.”
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