Song Lyrics by Eric Guthertz circa 1980
A lot of things are strange for Jewish kids growing up. I go back to the unplitically correct era when schools had "Christmas" and "Easter" breaks. And the Christmas pageant was usually filled with Christmas carols and the (usually drunk) gym teacher dressed as Santa. If we were lucky maybe there'd be one token chorus of Dreidle Dreidle Dreidle.
Not being able to hang out with friends a couple of days a week because I had to go to Hebrew School was another odd one. Friends would be at soccer or flag football and I'd be in the basement of a temple learning Hebrew so that I could read my Torah portion in a couple of years. I have vivid memories of Mr Kornfeld lecturing us about how we'd be better people for learning Hebrew and being Bar Mitzvahed instead of spending time outside playing.
But Easter was always the weirdest and worst. For one thing to a Jewish kid the idea of a big rabbit bringing candy and toys to little kids was kind of nutty. We could almost deal with Santa, he was a human at least. Even if he did somehow have magic properties at least he looked like someone's granpa. The most mystical character we had was Elijah and his only trick was that he drank a glass of wine at every house on Passover.
But the Easter Bunny just seemed like a freak. Come on, a man sized rabbit hopping around with a basket full of freakishly colored eggs just seemed scary. How did he get into people's houses anyway? Did he come through some freakishly large man sized rabbit hole? He never talked either. He sort of had a serial killer vibe.
The holiday itself seemed odd too. The idea of giving up something for Lent and, in those days, only eating fish on Fridays was just bizarre. As a Jewish kid you don't have to give anything up, you just have to feel guilty about what you do have.
And there's the whole resurrection thing. No disrespect intended but it just seems fantastical to a little kid. It's pretty hard to wrap a young head around. Okay, maybe so is an oil lamp that with only one day's worth of oil lasting eight days. The idea that The Last Supper was possibly a Passover Seder is also mind blowing to a young Jewish kid.
But the social aspect was disconcerting too. Most of the year the topic of my Jewishness didn't really come up. It was a curiosity and the eight nights of presents might have been a source of envy to other kids. But Easter was different. The Catholic Church only officially repudiated Jewish Deicide in the late 60's. So for many years I had to deal with other kids telling me that the Jews killed Christ. To be fair I was never literally called "Christ Killer." But it was a rare Easter when the topic of Jews killing Christ didn't come up.
Easter Sunday is still odd to me. To those who celebrate it's a religious and festive day with fancy hats, chocolate eggs and a delicious feast. To me it's another Sunday that I have to work. Maybe it's a little better because my job will be a little slower because everyone who uses our website will be celebrating. It's always a little isolating. While everyone else is having delcious cookies and baked goods I'm having a piece of matzo with peanut butter.
Don't get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for the holiday and people's beliefs, but for me I just hear the lyrics of my brother's song rolling around in my head.
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