1. I’m not sure where you see this? Parents to kids? Grandparents to grandkids? Employers to employees? I’m all of those and haven’t seen any of it!

2. there is no better person to give a gift to then to your childs rebbe/morah. we are so busy giving to organizations or links that we have absolutely no connection to. we give because we are an amazing nation of kindness and charity. but who better to give to then the person that single handedly puts in the effort every day to make your child a better person.

3. See Emes Li’yakov 670:583 that the non Jews got the idea from us. Their holiday is very recent (under 200 years old)

4. Chanuka gifts is brought down by the rama in the form of chanuka gelt. That’s like 500 yrs ago. So If anything the goyim got it from us because their gift giving was invented by Macy’s maybe 50-100 yrs ago

5. It does stem from Xmas so the Jewish kids wouldn’t feel left out. This especially became popular when most Jewish kids attended public school. This was when schools celebrated Xmas, not “Winter holiday” & gifts were exchanged. Ask any Jew from that generation & they all sung Xmas songs at the school Xmas pageant.
   So why is it still done? A great Rabbi explained, “If you have a legitimate choice between being nice & kind & making your kids happy (because it’s become standard practice in the Jewish world) or being farbissen & refusing to give toys because of its origins, choose to be nice or don’t complain when your kids resent Chanukah & you because they’re one of a handful of “Nebachs” in the class that didn’t get presents.

   • My great grandparents and THEIR parents had been doing gifts their whole lives, it was an extension of gelt giving which turned into toys, and was for the purpose of keeping the kids interested in a holiday that was long and could get boring. This was like 50 years before xmas gifts existed so no

     • The origins of Xmas gifts are from long before thr commercialization of the holiday season. They have real Christian roots – the Magi, 3 wise men etc are said to have visited yoshke after his birth and brought presents. I don’t know that that means we can’t give chanuka gifts, but there are certainly Christian roots here.

6. The miracle of Chanukah took place in the year 164 BCE which was 2188 years ago, so we are not copying Christianity; Christianity actually copied us.
   When I was a kid: I got a small box of chocolate Maccabee lollipops which costed way under $1 & on motzoi shabbos I attended an exiting Chanukah Pirchei rally.
   Today: all the Toy stores, Judaica Stores, Silver Stores etc. are very busy, while all the healthcare facilities, clothing stores etc are slow & empty.
   And every hall around from wedding halls to the smallest simcha halls are all booked for every night of Chanukah (& Sunday all day) for Family Chanukah parties & there isn’t a large fancy home without a party.
   Unlike yesterday, today everything is unimaginably expensive, regardless we still go on and enjoy life. We’re doing the right thing, forget about the world and enjoy Chanukah.

7. Chanukah is the Yom tov in which we celebrate the victory of the Jews over the hedonistic Greeks by making huge parties, eating $7 donuts and buying extravagant gifts…oh and we also light the Chanukah menorah.

8. i think i am normal avg guy , bh parnassa. have family mesibos go to other sides as well , a little chanika gelt from bubbys but dont see any gifts mayb other circles

9. Dec 25 customs have no place in an Orthodox Jewish home. Those are reform and conservative Jewish things to do. As for kids feeling left out…WHAT??? 8 Beautiful nights of menorah lights, music, food, family…compared to what? There is nothing spiritually meaningful things on Dec 25. None. A child raised properly doesn’t even think they are missing anything – they know better. They should be taught it’s all commercial and empty.

10. Who cares where it came from? So did some of our yom Kippur nigunim. So did smart phones. The thing you used to send that comment.
    So did wedding photography. So did half the music you dance to. So did the Julian calendar that V’tein tal umatar is based on.

    Genug shoiyn!!

    • @Educated

      Not true. it’s based on Shmuel’s calendar which coincidentally coincides with the Julian calendar

11. Way over the top!! Not a Jewish minhag.

12. Asking questions of sensitivity in hashkafa to a wide internet audience will never give you clarity.

13. The Ponovezh Rav said the minhag came to be mechazek the children to start learning again after the yevanim, made a rifyin in limud hatorah. See Dirshu Mishan Berura.

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