Today’s Hanukkah celebrations blend old and new

+ a hate crime in Vermont? US Edition - Today's top story: Hanukkah celebrations have changed dramatically − but the same is true of Christmas [View in browser]( US Edition | 5 December 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Choosing a Christmas tree that’s best for you – and the environment]( - [Why American democracy is often called an 'experiment']( - [How science came to be seen as a human right]( Lead story From the minute Halloween ends until New Year’s Eve, you’ll see some businesses display menorahs next to Christmas trees, and holiday concerts feature the dreidel song alongside “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” “Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas!” some people lament. The Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins Thursday night, certainly hasn’t always been as commercialized as it is today. Big gifts, public menorah lighting ceremonies, Hanukkah merch – none of that is exactly “traditional.” Religiously, in fact, it’s a pretty minor holiday. But Hanukkah’s changes aren’t just about assimilation. Samira Mehta, a gender and Jewish studies professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, explains how Hanukkah celebrations have evolved over the years – as Christmas festivities have, too. Blending old and new traditions [allowed American Jews to write a new chapter in their story]( – “engaging their Judaism in a new place and time.” If stories like the ones we’ve published today help you to understand the world better, we hope you will support our work – and consider doing it today. [Our board of trustees will match your donation, giving it twice the impact](. Thank you. Molly Jackson Religion and Ethics Editor Today's newsletter supported by [readers like you]( Candles on a large Hanukkah menorah shine in front of a Christmas tree at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in 2015. Gregor Fischer/picture alliance via Getty Images [Hanukkah celebrations have changed dramatically − but the same is true of Christmas]( Samira Mehta, University of Colorado Boulder Assimilation no doubt played a role in making Hanukkah the commercialized holiday it is today. But other factors shaped the modern festival, too, a scholar of Jewish studies and gender explains. Environment + Energy - [Real or artificial? A forestry scientist explains how to choose the most sustainable Christmas tree, no matter what it’s made of]( Curtis VanderSchaaf, Mississippi State University How many years you reuse a fake holiday tree matters. So does what happens to a live tree when you’ve packed up the ornaments. - [How a thumb-sized climate migrant with a giant crab claw is disrupting the Northeast’s Great Marsh ecosystem]( David Samuel Johnson, Virginia Institute of Marine Science South of Cape Cod, fiddler crabs and marsh grass have long had a mutually beneficial relationship. It’s a different story in the North, where the harms can ricochet through ecosystems. - [‘Inert’ ingredients in pesticides may be more toxic to bees than scientists thought]( Jennie L. Durant, University of California, Davis Inert ingredients are added for purposes other than killing pests and are not required under federal law to be tested for safety or identified on pesticide labels. Politics + Society - [Hate crimes are on the rise − but the narrow legal definition makes it hard to charge and convict]( Jeannine Bell, Loyola University Chicago There has been a sharp uptick in crimes specifically targeting Muslim and Jewish people since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October 2023. - [Why Franklin, Washington and Lincoln considered American democracy an ‘experiment’ – and were unsure if it would survive]( Thomas Coens, University of Tennessee Is American democracy an ‘experiment’ in the bubbling-beakers-in-a-laboratory sense of the word? If so, what is the experiment attempting to prove, and how will we know if and when it has succeeded? Science + Technology - [Science is a human right − and its future is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights]( Andrea Boggio, Bryant University Decades ago, the international community codified science as a cultural right and protected expression of human creativity. Reaffirming science’s value can help it better serve humanity. - [Scientists have been researching superconductors for over a century, but they have yet to find one that works at room temperature − 3 essential reads]( Mary Magnuson, The Conversation Claims about the discovery of a coveted room-temperature superconductor peppered the news in 2023. We pulled three stories from our archives on what superconductivity is and why scientists study it. Ethics + Religion - [How sacred images in many Asian cultures incorporate divine presence and make them come ‘alive’]( Michael Naparstek, University of Tennessee Through the power of rituals, inanimate objects can be understood to transform into agents who can see, hear, taste and respond to the concerns of those who worship them. Trending on site - [New England stone walls lie at the intersection of history, archaeology, ecology and geoscience, and deserve a science of their own]( - [COP28: 7 food and agriculture innovations needed to protect the climate and feed a rapidly growing world]( - [Santos, now booted from the House, got elected as a master of duplicity – here’s how it worked]( Today's graphic 📈 [A recent study estimated the methane emissions produced by each sector in 2017 in different regions of the world. The data is in millions of metric tons.]( From the story, [COP28 begins: 4 issues that will determine if the UN climate summit is a success, from methane to money]( - - More of The Conversation Like this newsletter? You might be interested in our weekly and biweekly emails: • [Weekly Highlights]( • [Science Editors' Picks]( • [This Week in Religion]( • [Politics Weekly]( • [Global Perspectives]( • [Global Economy & Business]( Trying out new social media? Follow us: • [Threads]( • [Bluesky]( • [Mastodon](• [Post.news]( • [LinkedIn]( - - About The Conversation We're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to [helping academic experts share ideas with the public](. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. [Donate now to support research-based journalism]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](