I pretty much agree with kareila and dustkitten -- I'd rather see maybe 50-60% generic stuff (hey, one of my favorites is Winter Wonderland), and the rest spread evenly between multiple faiths. I think that's a far better approach than WCSD's, which was trying to ban everything and pretend we're all excited because...it's winter. Right. In that case, let's just cancel that week off from school between December 25 and January 1 -- interrupts our run to the end of the semester anyway, right?
The one bit I saved from what I was going to post is this:
I did not say the Dreidel song was equivalent to Frosty the Snowman. However, Mrs. Hoch did seem to imply such in throwing a token Hannukah song in with generic/original winter stuff. Honestly, I'd find that more insulting (Jewish or not) than rounding it out with Silent Night or the like. It's either blatant tokenism (especially if it's the only vaguely relgious song on the program), or the secularization of a religious holiday -- either of which is wrong.
You may not consider the Dreidel song "overtly religious" because there's no mention of Yahweh or miracles or the like. Godly or not, it is (at least to non-Jewish ears) distinctly Jewish. I wouldn't exactly put it in the same category as "Jingle Bells" or "Over the River and Through the Woods," which I would definitely label as generic winter fare. And Kwanzaa isn't properly a religious holiday either, but a Kwanzaa song is still a Kwanzaa (non-Christmas) song. If there are better Hannukah songs than Dreidel Dreidel, say so -- I certainly have no idea what "Adom Olan" is, but if it's better than the sing-song drivel that gets passed off to the rest of us as Hannukah music, bring it on! I can deal with Sleigh Ride as a recording, but if I have to sit through one more bad middle school or high school performance of it... *strangles band directors*
no subject
The one bit I saved from what I was going to post is this:
I did not say the Dreidel song was equivalent to Frosty the Snowman. However, Mrs. Hoch did seem to imply such in throwing a token Hannukah song in with generic/original winter stuff. Honestly, I'd find that more insulting (Jewish or not) than rounding it out with Silent Night or the like. It's either blatant tokenism (especially if it's the only vaguely relgious song on the program), or the secularization of a religious holiday -- either of which is wrong.
You may not consider the Dreidel song "overtly religious" because there's no mention of Yahweh or miracles or the like. Godly or not, it is (at least to non-Jewish ears) distinctly Jewish. I wouldn't exactly put it in the same category as "Jingle Bells" or "Over the River and Through the Woods," which I would definitely label as generic winter fare. And Kwanzaa isn't properly a religious holiday either, but a Kwanzaa song is still a Kwanzaa (non-Christmas) song. If there are better Hannukah songs than Dreidel Dreidel, say so -- I certainly have no idea what "Adom Olan" is, but if it's better than the sing-song drivel that gets passed off to the rest of us as Hannukah music, bring it on! I can deal with Sleigh Ride as a recording, but if I have to sit through one more bad middle school or high school performance of it... *strangles band directors*