[manc]

I never knew this until last week, and yet I had dated a NY Jewish girl for a long time, and I was with her family a lot.

[nopardons]

Growing up in NYC, I went to school with and had friends of different religions and different races ( back then, we all got along, everyone was more or less the same [ you would NEVER know that the black kids were black, if you were blind and only heard them speak...we all sounded the same! ] and nobody gave a damn about race nor religion; we were friends or not, because of who you were ( personality )/what you liked to do ) and so, I'm speaking from what I saw.

In the early/mid '50s a few SECULAR Jews began having "HANUKKHA TREES", but they were small and there were NO elaborate gifts, decorations, etc.! They were given HANUKKHA GELT ( gold foil covered chocolate coins ), which I found kinda funny, since all of us kids ate those year round.

Now, the whole Hanukkha thing is really out of control and the meaning of that celebration is almost lost; sadly.