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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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I remember those "festively frugal" ads which featured a hostess with a "shmeykhl" (smile), as she was setting up what appears to be a somewhat Spartan spread on the table. What comes to mind is the hostess who serves you meagerly, giving you "a lek un a shmek."
And then there was the L.L. Bean TV ads featuring a snowy slow-motion scene complete with kids, a "hunt" (dog) and sledding. What was their tagline? "Every penny counts, so does every moment."
Gift giving at Hanukkah should not be about money. We should make every effort to stay within a "budzhet" (budget). Accumulating November "khoyv" (debt) is a bad way to end "dos yor." It leads to "yanuar boykhveytik" (January indigestion).
Shown below is a chronology of Hanukkah trivia and holiday costs from 1842 to the present:
| 1842 | Historians report that the pages of The New York Times did NOT contain a single example of advertising with a Hanukkah/Christmas theme. |
| 1870 | December had become the merchant's single largest selling month of the year. |
| 1870s | Macy's (NY) often required its clerks to work into the early morning ("frimorgn") during the hectic holiday rush. Some spent the remainder of short nights asleep on sales counters, using bolts of cloth for pillows. |
| 1894 | Bloomingdale's--no "shlock joint"--took out a full-page ad to announce that it would stay open late for holiday shoppers. |
| 1912 | Tate-mameh photographed the "kinder" (children) with an Eastman Kodak Brownie box camera (der prayz: $1 - $4) or a folding Brownie ($5 - $12). Let's see a "shmaychl" (smile)! |
| 1913 | Erector sets were very popular and sold for $.50 for the "No. O" set, all the way up to $25.00 for the "No. 8" set. |
| 1925 | Heading "di reshime" (the list) of popular gifts with "Noo Yawkahs" were fancy schmancy hats, ascot mufflers, and radiator ornaments. |
| 1930s | Betty Boop dolls are very popular |
| 1938 | Kids spent Hanukkah building houses, buying railroads, renting property, etc. with the White Box Edition of Monopoly. (der prayz: $1.69 from the Sears Roebuck catalog) |
| 1942 | A holiday subscription to Life "zhural" (magazine) was $3.65. |
| 1944 | The be-all-and-end-all gift was a Frank Sinatra "plate" (record), 78, of course. |
| 1955 | The book, "Marjorie Morningstar" by Herman Wouk is a popular holiday gift. |
| 1958 | The cost of mailing a holiday card increased from 3 cents to 4 cents
an ounce. The Hula Hoop, which sold for $1.98 in the "zumer," (summer) was marked down to "fuftsik" (50) cents by Hanukkah as the craze was fading. It was "billik vi borsht"--cheap as borsht. |
| 1960 | The Neiman Marcus catalog sold the first "His and Hers" gifts--a pair
of Beechcraft Bonanza airplanes. HIS: $149,000; HERS: $127,000. "GAY REKHEN." (GO FIGURE IT OUT.) |
| 1965 | Women's coats at Best & Co. sell for $60. No bargaining--"Dingen zich, handlen." |
| 1968 | Shoppers searched the stores for "fus" (foot) warmers, self-winding watches, and peace ("shalom") symbols fashioned from any and every medium. |
| 1975 | Franklin Simon sells women's raincoats ("regn-mantl") for $34.49; men' shoes sell for $21.90 at Wallach's. |
| 1977 | A Liz Claiborne Cosmetics Survey of women's holiday shoppers indicates that 77% prefer shopping "aleyn" (alone), and 23% prefer shopping with someone ("emetser") else. |
| 1978 | The average price of a box of holiday cards was $2.71. |
| 1980 | A Gucci catalog offered a lizard handbag with an eighteen karat-gold
detachable handle--which can be worn as a necklace ("haldzband")-- for $11,500. "Mein hartz gayt oys." (I'm dying for it.) |
| 1981 | Neiman Marcus sells a His and Hers "goilem" (robot) for $15,000. Shall we call him "Robot Redford"? |
| 1983 | Cabbage Patch doll sales were estimated at one "bilyon" dollars. Coleco chartered jets to fly more from the Orient. The late Jackie Kennedy came up short when an aide phoned FAO Schwarz in NYC and asked for one. "Me zol nit visn fun azoyne tsores." (We shouldn't know about such troubles.) |
| 1986 | A popular holiday gift in NY was a $12 deck of Leona Helmsley playing cards. |
| 1988 | Saks Fifth Avenue translators help customers shop in 9 languages. "Red su mir Yiddish." (Speak Yiddish to me.) FAO Schwarz sells a $14,500 mini Ferrari and an $800 rocking horse. |
| 1991 | A two-oz bottle of "Recession," a cologne, sold for $22.50 at
Bloomingdale's. Molly Katz ("Jewish As A Second Language") wrote about Wrapping Paper: "Gifts are opened carefully, using a pencil to lift the tape, so the paper can be saved. It isn't reused; that would be cheap. But it's a crime to throw away such lovely paper." |
| 1995 | Macy's reduced the percentage of commission for sales representatives during the five-week holiday selling season, cutting deeply into the biggest paychecks many employees receive all year. |
| 1996 | Theatergoers pay $100 to see the B'way show, Chicago." Big Onion Tours conducted its fifth annual Christmas Day walking tour of Jewish history on the Lower East Side. Kristina Swarner's book, "Yiddish Wisdom - Yiddishe Chochma" sells for $9.95 U.S. Heed her advice: "Es iz nit azoi tei'er der geshank vi der gedank." (The gift is not as precious as the thought.) |
| 1997 | Psychotherapist, Janet Daman, continues to treat people who face the problem of binge buying. "Az a nar gait in mark, fraien zich di kremer." (When a fool goes shopping, the storekeepers rejoice.) Casual business clothing is popular holiday gift, as well as Dilbert books, posters, mugs, and boxers. (No "gatkes"--long underwear!) For the "kinder," happiness is a cyberpet name "Tomagotchi" and "Sing & Snore ("khropen"), Ernie. |
| Joshua Halberstam ("Schmoozing") wrote about the elevation of Chanukah from the relatively minor holiday it was in Europe to the major Jewish holiday it is in the U. S. today. The Talmud devoted a scant two pages to Chanukah, while dedicating an entire volume to Purim,"said Halberstam. | |
| 1999 | Harry Potter books are a favorite gift, as well as Millennium/Y2K items. |
| 2000 | The Conference Board expects that per-household holiday spending
will be approximately $490. Ari L. Goldman ("Being Jewish") wrote, "Gift-giving doesn't have to mean following the throngs at the mall looking for the latest gismo... Some families set aside one night when youngsters forgo their presents for the night and donate them to children at a homeless shelter." Tickets to "Grine Felder" (Green Fields) at the Mazer Theater on the Lower East Side, range from $18 to $30. |
| 2001 | Levine Judaica sells a Chanukah Fiddler on the Roof Menorah for $85, and a Chanukah at Bubbe's--a video--for $29.95. |
| 2002 | Jewish websites state the No. 1 reason why Hanukkah is better ("beser") than Christmas: Blintzes are cheaper to mail than fruitcakes. |
Karl Bernstein, a retired school administrator wrote, "Chanukah was
a very modest holiday when I was a kid."
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| 2004 | The book, "Yiddish With Dick and Jane" by Weiner and Davilman,
sells for $14.95. A Hallmark Tree of Life card ("$1.99) says, "Chanukkah, remember the wise words of the ancient sages. ‘Let the good times SCROLL.'" |
| 2006 | A Chanukkah doggie gift box from the Bow Wow Dog Bakery costs
$9.95, plus shipping. The average consumer will spend an average of $791.10 on holiday gifts. An Abram Menorah, 12" x 12.5" silver plated brass, 9-light, sells for $99 at Home Depot. Home Depot? "Vet volt dos geglaibt"? (Who would believe it?) A Tree of Life card ($1.99) says, "Here's how to have a lot of fun this Hanukkah! Play the dreidel game with some people who aren't Jewish and make up the rules as you go along. Gimel! That means You have to dance around on one foot and quack like a duck. Happy Hanukkah!" |
| 2007 | Ellis Weiner & Barbara Davilman's book, "How to Raise a Jewish Dog" sells for $12.99. When your dog leaves the home he will be exposed to these risks: vehicular traffic, lunatics, fleas, crazy people, sinkholes, rabid possums, mailmen with a grudge, cyclists, careless Segway riders, falling icicles, foul weather, meteorites, escaped alligators, nasty children, and, of course, other dogs. Learn how to protect him from such threats! |
| 2008 | A gift subscription to JDate: 1 month, $39.99 3 months 33.33 a month 6 months 24.99 a month |
| A popular book this holiday season is "Cool Jew - The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe," by Lisa Alcalay Klug, $12.99. | |
| A .5 oz. can of "Mashuga Nuts" from "The Source for Everything Jewish," sells for $12.99. | |
| A box of 300 Chanukah Fortune Cookies sells for $84.00 from
Kosherman. Examples of Chanukah fortunes: "May your pastrami never have mayonnaise on it." |
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| Rabbi Yoel Gancz of Temple Chabad of West Palm Beach, FL, built a "canorah"--a menorah made of nearly 3,500 cans. Afterwards, the cans were donated to the needy | |
| 2009 | El Al Airlines says "Consider This an Early Hanukkah Gift"--a nonstop economy class companion fare, from JFK/Newark to Tel Aviv-- 1/1/09-3/31/09, $831.00. |
| A greeting card from DesignerGreetings.com says, "Happy Hanukkah. Love You a Latke." Cost: $2.74 USA. | |
| The book, "Yiddish Yoga - Ruthie's Adventures in Love, Loss, and the Lotus Position" by Lisa Gruberger sells for $15.00 in the U.S. | |
| 2011 | Electronic readers, such as the Kindle and computer tablets, such as the iPad, are among the most popular holiday choices among shoppers. |
| 2012 | The book, "The Oy Way - Following the path of most resistance" by Harvey Gotliffe, sells for $14.95. This delightful book is a tasty "forshpeis" (appetizer) to the uniquely expressive world of Yiddish |
| Tickets to the Klezmer musical based on the play by Isaac Bashevis Singer, "Shlemiel The First," is a popular holiday gift. Tickets ranged from $10 to $75. | |
| 2013 | The Menurkey Menorah--plastic edition--is available from Bitz of
Glitz, an online jewelry boutique, for $50. The 2013 calendar, "The Joy of Jewish Humor" by Marnie Winston-Macauley is the perfect Hanukkah gift. Where else can you learn the TOP 10 GIFTS THAT WILL DIM YOUR WIFE'S HANUKKAH LIGHTS" |
10. Anything from Craftsman
9. Your mother's secret latke recipe
7. A gift certificate to Curves
6. Anything that says "As seen on TV"
An "Irregular" designer blouse
2. A "SLANKET" for those cold winter nights
1. Rambo trilogy on DVD
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MARJORIE GOTTLIEB WOLFE believes that the best Hanukkah gift of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another.
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