Guest Post: Noah Greene's Personal Insights on Celebrating Christmas in Israel

For those who are unfamiliar with Noah from my previous blog posts, he is an artist focusing in ceramics and glass while studying abroad at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. He is my go to travel buddy, constant partner in crime, good friend, and recently acquired roommate here in Israel. I didn't want to do a stereotypical "this is what I did on Christmas" post, so I asked Noah to compile something together to give everyone a different perspective on what went down during my holiday season in Israel. I hope you all enjoy reading the following post as much as I did! Additionally, I've included a few photos and captions at the end of the post that were not originally part of his blog.


So what’s Christmas like for a Jew? Well normally back at home this means a wonderful family meal at a Chinese food joint (traditionally they were the only ones open on Christmas). Growing up in the Big Apple means that I’m not totally clueless on the Christmas holiday cheer, but I was never privy to the personal side of the holiday. I never realized there was so much emotion invested in the decorating of the home, tree and planning of the presents and food. For me the Christmas holiday season meant great shopping deals for new clothes and art supplies (true jew at heart). Even for Chanukah (especially having grown older) it's less spiced up. It’s usually a quiet family affair and maybe if we get our shit together we’ll invite friends one night for donuts and latkes. This view of the Jewish holiday is from a Reform perspective I can’t speak for the more religious jews.

Lo and behold I became friends with a Winona (who is, despite some of her protests, pretty religious). This is a whole new world for me. Having pretty hardcore stereotypes of religious Christians (oops), I’m pretty eye-rolly at most of that religious stuff. I’ll blame 90% of my french heritage on the judgy side of myself and 10% on being a New Yorker. But being a relatively good friend, keep in mind I’m a moody artist, I was going to support my friend for this strange holiday. By strange holiday, I mean celebrating a birthday at the wrong time of the year.

The decorating starts in November. This I new, very much like advertisements for holidays such as the Thanksgiving decorations sold in May; Christmas starts early. Decorations usually mean blinky blinky lights and a tree. For poor college students said tree is 2 ft tall and plastic. Ours still turned out quite nice but maybe I’m being biased. Decorations don’t always mean red and green. We (Winona) also made sugar cookies a few days before. She did not put some on a plate for Santa, I’m pretty sure that hurt Santa’s feelings.

Nothing really happens until Christmas Eve though. Note to self you don’t wish people a “Merry Christmas Eve”, just “Merry Christmas”. Usually Christmas Eve is celebrated with a good meal and I’ve learned from YouTube videos some people get one present the night before. Winona and I had delicious pasta dishes at the Shuk and watched Shameless until 10:30. A little bit later Winona went to Bethlehem for something Christmasy (I’m not sure if it was for carols or mass?).

Now what I didn’t know was that she had been spending the better part of a few weeks getting a Christmas breakfast together. In which copious amounts of food (God bless her soul) was beautifully laid out for the four of us to stuff ourselves. I was feeling particular savory and had a whole plate of avocados and tomatoes while the ladies tucked into pancakes, fruits, a version of monkey bread and mimosas. Katie and Winona exchanged gifts. A Christmas nap was in place after that. Many episodes of Shameless followed.

The new view on Christmas was more “you had to be there to feel it” feeling. The anticipation is much more palpable then I thought. I suppose its more exciting if its the whole family, but our Christmas was rather chill and quiet enjoyable. No squealing or chaos, simply a few good roommates sipping mimosas at 9AM. When I’m not in a Jew drenched country I will try an attend a “true” Christmas. Now that I’ve dabbled my feet into this holiday I’m more curious to see more of it. I still haven’t gone to a church mass or anything like it so maybe a Christmas mass would be a interesting time to go.

Happy Holidays followers!

Noah's perplexed look while I drag him around the Christian Quarter of the Old City in downtown Jerusalem to look at Christmas lights late at night during one of the days of Hannukah.

My roommates Kati, Noah, and Leslie shaping Christmas cookies for me to bake.

Noah and I by our Christmas tree before going out for Christmas Eve dinner.

My friend Adrian and I in Bethlehem outside the Church of the Nativity during midnight mass on Christmas.

Noah sleepily admiring our Christmas morning breakfast.

How to Eat Donuts and Celebrate Foreign Holidays from an Outsider's Perspective

I know this news may shock you, but Israel is a predominately Jewish country. Another interesting fact: I am not Jewish. So, this is my first Hannukah, which I so aptly am spending my time in Israel for.

Usually I give some background for what my posts are about. I, however, am not the most qualified person to fill those who are unaware in on what Hannukah is all about. Thankfully Wikipedia is readily avaiable with their Hannukah page here for anyone who wants more (or more accurate) information.

What I can tell you about are my experiences regarding the holiday while here in Jerusalem...

From what I can observe, I love Hannukah. Taken mostly from a secular and historical standpoint I think it's super nifty. It's a time of reflection, meditation, and celebration regarding the miracle of the oil burning for eight days even though there was only enough oil for a short amount of time. However, the way it's celebrated is fantastic.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I really care about two things: friends and food. And Hannukah here combinds them both.

On the first night I joined a variety of friends in different apartments for Hannukah celebrations. My friend and classmate Rivka's father who is a rabbi flew in from New York and so she hosted a Hannukah celebration for lighting the candles on the first evening of Hannukah. Afterword, people reconviened at a later Hannukah party at my Jewish Arabic TA's apartment for more food and fellowship.

Everyone enjoying latkes as we were given a brief lecture on the historical background of Hannukah.

First night of Hannukah!

I am aware that this is probably greatly due to the fact that being international students we are all away from our home communities, traveling, and also just a part of college life in general, but as beautiful as the hanukiah lighting is, it can also be wonderfully shambly. 

My classmate Reeven lighting the Shabbat candles in a bar that used to be my Arabic teacher's old elementary school during our class trip to Nazareth.

On Friday night (Shabbat) my entire apartment decided to essentially desert me for the evening so home alone I decided to carry on my roommates' traditions. After much Googling to figure out the process I FaceTimed Noah as I lit the Hannukah candles for the first time.

Lighting the hanukiah and Shabbat candles even though I was the only one at home.

This is a picture of people gathered outside Jaffa Gate at the Old City celebrating the holiday.

If Hannukah wasn't already cool enough, there's one other great part. Since the holiday is celebrating the miracle of the oil it is Jewish tradition to eat lots of fried foods. In the United States I used to think the holiday was limited to latkes and chocolate gelt. However, it also means donuts. Lots and lots of donuts, or sufganiyot as they're called here in Israel. Let's just say Noah and I had to sample around to make sure we found the best ones. Which we did.

 Some of our favorite donuts from a bakery in Mamilla, a shopping district downtown.

I write this all in good fun, but it really has been great being able to add Hannukah to the growing list of new things I've gotten to experience during my semester abroad. I've really enjoyed seeing the wide diversity of people celebrating it all around me and it's hard to not be in a holiday mood with the year coming to an end. So what I guess I'm trying to say is...

Happy Hannukah!