Ellen Kushner's LJ (RSS Feed)
12-19-2007, 09:17 AM
I thought this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE) was really funny - though I don't really like the way everyone uses Chasidic guys as visual representations of "real Jews." Yeah, they're colorful - but they're a weird sect from Eastern Europe who think it's still 1780 or something! I mean, it's like using the Amish to represent all Christians - or whirling Sufi dervishes to represent all Muslims. Sure, the Chasids think they're the only True Jews around - but must we all encourage them?
I also wanted to say, lest anyone misunderstand my "No Little Baby Jesus" comment (http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/141789.html), that I love Christmas. I do. We went to a Christmas concert at St. Bart's on Friday night, and I got all emotional - that music is so lovely. I grew up singing and listening to it. It sometimes makes me wish I was a Christian, so I could throw myself wholeheartedly into the passion, the pageantry and the faith. But I'm not. It's not my inheritance. But there is great beauty in every tradition - that's what Sound & Spirit (http://www.wgbh.org/pages/pri/spirit/) is all about. We can choose a tradition we're not born into, and some do. But I love the one I got. I just like visiting the others, though; it's one of the things I love about our pluralistic society, thank you very much. But it's also one reason I had to write The Golden Dreydl: it begins with a little girl's Christmas Envy . . . and in all my Official Interviews & FAQ's (http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/dfaq.html) I talk about it, too.
(Original Post) (http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/142091.html)
I also wanted to say, lest anyone misunderstand my "No Little Baby Jesus" comment (http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/141789.html), that I love Christmas. I do. We went to a Christmas concert at St. Bart's on Friday night, and I got all emotional - that music is so lovely. I grew up singing and listening to it. It sometimes makes me wish I was a Christian, so I could throw myself wholeheartedly into the passion, the pageantry and the faith. But I'm not. It's not my inheritance. But there is great beauty in every tradition - that's what Sound & Spirit (http://www.wgbh.org/pages/pri/spirit/) is all about. We can choose a tradition we're not born into, and some do. But I love the one I got. I just like visiting the others, though; it's one of the things I love about our pluralistic society, thank you very much. But it's also one reason I had to write The Golden Dreydl: it begins with a little girl's Christmas Envy . . . and in all my Official Interviews & FAQ's (http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/dfaq.html) I talk about it, too.
(Original Post) (http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/142091.html)