Guest blog by Christine Ngeo Katzman, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
I’m Chinese-American, and my husband is Caucasian. A long time ago, we chose to raise our children Jewish. We have blended our cultures, celebrating three different New Year’s holidays, for example: the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah in the fall, the Gregorian New Year on January 1, and Chinese New Year later in the winter. I have loved having three opportunities to start over. We also celebrate Christmas and Easter in secular ways.
In 2016, when my oldest daughter was 12, she announced an interesting idea: “Let’s invite all of our Jewish friends to come over for Chinese food on Christmas.”
At first, I laughed and dismissed it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the concept was brilliant. After all, we didn’t have any plans to travel or host out-of-town family that year, and some Jews have a tradition of eating out at a Chinese restaurant for Christmas anyway. So, I agreed to her idea on one condition—that she help me cook.
She happily accepted, so we planned the menu as a family, bought all the necessary ingredients at the Asian market, and worked together for hours on Christmas afternoon to chop vegetables, marinate meat, and take turns stir frying as well as literally frying over the hot stove. My husband and younger daughter participated too.
We served lo mein, beef and broccoli, pot stickers, lumpia—Filipino spring rolls—as well as latkes. Lumpia is a particularly time-consuming but an important holiday food in our family. I am Chinese, but my parents grew up in the Philippines (also where I was born). And for dessert, one of our friends brought homemade sufganiyot (jelly donuts); we also served pie.
That year, the second night of Hanukkah fell on Christmas, making the evening even more special for all of us. Two additional families attended our Chrismukkah, and each family brought a Hanukkiah to light. Our bellies were full, the light shone bright, and we celebrated friendships and family.
We replicated this event one more time in 2018 and also included my sister, who was visiting from another state. Ironically, that day, we played the board game Pandemic together.
In 2022, I met Erica Riddick, founder of Jews of Color Sanctuary in Cincinnati. I had just recently changed careers and joined the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati as a Community Building Associate. Although we first met in passing at the JPro conference in May, Erica contacted me again in September to get to know each other better.
While I never thought of myself as a Jew of Color, the incidents of Asian Hate during the COVID-19 pandemic made me realize that minorities need to be allies with each other. During my meeting with Erica, I reminisced about my Chrismukkahs past and mused about how cool it would be to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza together. Here we are now, bringing that idea to life together in 2023.
On December 17, I look forward to gathering with other Jews of Color to learn more about each other’s cultures as we combine for a wonderful Kwanzukkah event (which will include some Asian food as well), co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jews of Color Sanctuary, and the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. In this very difficult fall for Israel and for Jews around the world, I hope that these holidays filled with joy and light will bring us closer together.
Register through the Jewish Community Calendar
Jews of Color Sanctuary 