Strolling the aisles of your local Indigo, you may, amidst the meticulously strung tinsel and the merchandise encased in all manner of Christmas frippery, encounter the somewhat unlikely Mensch on a Bench. 

A crafty alternative to the popular Christmas children’s toy Elf on the Shelf  – a doll that, according to its online description, “helps Santa know who to put on the Naughty and Nice list” – the “mensch” is a stuffed doll made to resemble a chassidic man. Replete with grey-tinted beard, black hat and tallit, he wields a Chanukah candle, and appears as downright jolly as, well, Santa Claus.  

The toy, which retails for $39.95, comes with a cardboard cutout of a menorah and an accompanying storybook about the Maccabees. The box reads: “A new Hannukkah family tradition,” the idea being that the doll stays up late to watch the menorah while the house sleeps. 

The “mensch” is the product of a Kickstarter campaign created by the Cincinnati-based Neal Hoffman, who told the New York Post he was inspired to develop the toy two years ago by his son’s bad case of “elf envy.”

Some 50,000 mensches are being produced and being sold this year in Canada, at Indigo and several other stores. 

“Every year, [Chanukah] seems to become a bigger event – at least from our company’s point of view,” observed Mark Roberts, senior manager of high-end Toronto gift basket delivery service Hazelton’s.  

The company’s line of luxury Chanukah baskets, which include kosher wines, chocolates and other goodies, have been selling for 25 years, with sales increasing each year.

“We’re finding more baskets are selling across the country, as opposed to just within the Toronto area,” Roberts noted. 

Whether these sorts of products primarily target non-Jews shopping for their Jewish friends or Jews eager to jump aboard the Christmas season bandwagon, marketers are clearly capitalizing on what those outside the community seem to view as the “Jewish Christmas.”

While many Jews will tell you Chanukah, which isn’t mentioned in the Torah, by no means holds the same importance in the Jewish calendar as Christmas does in the secular one, many Jews are arguably embracing the glitzy, gift-oriented ethos thrust upon the holiday season by enterprising retailers. 

So how does the holiday’s message, traditionally understood as a fight against assimilation, get squared with an increasingly commercialized, increasingly Christmas-y Chanukah? Are we, in our desire to fit into secular (read: Christian) culture and stave off our children’s Christmas envy, selling out?

Esther Davidson is the Toronto-based owner of Hanukkah Bush Designs, a three-year-old online business that sells what the website calls “contemporary holiday décor.” This includes actual Chanukah bushes, Chanukah garlands, Chanukah crackers (think British-style Christmas crackers), Chanukah ornaments, lights and lawn décor.  

Davidson said the products are in high demand, with customers hailing from Australia to Israel. 

“These items aren’t available anywhere else,” Davidson, who was born in Israel and comes from Orthodox roots, said proudly. 

Growing up surrounded by Christmas revelry, Davidson felt extremely excluded, and joked she has been “scarred for life.”

“I felt totally deprived…I wasn’t allowed to do anything that had to do with the festive season. We were surrounded by all the lights and toys, and that mean old man who never came to visit me,” she lamented. Though, as a mother, she wouldn’t allow an actual Christmas tree in her home, Davidson was determined that her kids have a different experience.

“That mean old man came to visit my kids!” she chuckled. “They had eight gifts. We still lit Chanukah candles and ate jelly donuts, but, you know what, we had fun… 

My children, not for a split second, felt they were missing out on anything.”

Rabbi Jordan Helfman, assistant rabbi at Toronto’s Reform Holy Blossom Temple, agreed that consumerism is relatively new to Chanukah, but when asked whether consumerism distracts from the true essence of Chanukah, he grew contemplative. 

“Well, it’s kind of a funny question. What is Chanukah all about? Resisting assimilation is part of it. People often reframe that as fighting for the freedom to practise religion how we want…there’s certainly no tradition of Chanukah ornaments.” 

He continued: “On the other hand, there’s hiddur mitzvah – the idea of trying to beautify things when you celebrate them, of advertising the miracle and letting people know it’s Chanukah. So there’s actually a good reason to put Chanukah tchatchkes on your lawn, or wherever.”

Rabbi Reuben Poupko, rabbi of the Orthodox Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in Montreal, said  Chanukah was about more than opening presents. “It’s important to try to remember the core message, which is the fight for religious freedom in the face of an oppressive majority.”

He acknowledged, however, that the Jewish community is diverse, and that people relate to the holidays differently.

“For some, Chanukah is about kids and presents and that’s all there is, and for others, it’s a historical reminder to assert Jewish dignity in the face of oppression,” Rabbi Poupko said. “In the minds of some Jews, the holiday provides a counterweight to the dominant culture, at a time when the dominant culture is very all-encompassing. For others, the holiday is understood in its own context and its own way.”

Rabbi Michael Whitman of Montreal’s modern Orthodox congregation Adath Israel, disagreed with the premise that Chanukah is becoming overly commercialized, saying he’s actually seen a shift away from presents as a focus. 

“I would say more families are moving to a more Jewish appreciation of Chanukah,” he said. “Most of the members of my synagogue are not observant, but they have strong Jewish feelings…I’m sure there are families that give lots of gifts, but I don’t see that as a dominant part of Chanukah. I think people are looking for what is meaningful.”

He stressed the value of making the holiday “a happy time,” by including treats for children, good food and family togetherness. If giving presents is part of this, Rabbi Whitman said he doesn’t see that as particularly problematic, so long as it’s kept within the context of an “authentic Chanukah.”

For him, authentic means affirming Jewish pride and treasuring spirituality over materialism. 

Rabbi Adam Cutler of Toronto’s Conservative Beth Tzedec Congregation, said he’s not aware of any increased commercialization of Chanukah, and noted that the influence of Christmas on the former can be traced back to German Jewish communities in the United States.

“The inclusion of presents, as opposed to [the more traditional custom] of giving gelt, is an obvious response to Christmas.”

Regarding the fundamental meaning of the holiday, Rabbi Cutler referred to the complicated nature of the Chanukah story.

“Traditionally, we’ve said it’s a story of Jews defending themselves against the big, bad Greeks who wouldn’t let them celebrate their religion…but it’s actually more about a civil war between those Jews who were open to the idea of Hellenization and those who were not. It makes us consider questions about personal religious freedoms, about the togetherness of a community and about what it means to be a Jew in a modernizing world.”

Chanukah, then, can open up a wider discussion about how we as Jews wish to be integrated in the non-Jewish world, and where we want to draw limits. 

And this can certainly include the question of how much emphasis to put on gifts, as well as whether Chanukah’s sometimes emulation of Christmas is a good thing. 

“Do we welcome the inclusion of presents as a replacement for gelt?” Rabbi Cutler said. “Does it undermine the holiday? Add a nice addition to it? These are questions that all caring, thoughtful parents will ask, and all will come to a conclusion for their own family.”