The Sad Case of the Hanukkah Bush

There's something rather odd about the Chanukah Bush . . .
or perhaps I should say Hanukkah Bush . . .
That seems to be the preferred spelling for this cross-cultural monstrosity.
It justs strikes me as such a pathetic thing.


(SOURCE)

I never had tree envy. Besides the Jewish pride with which I was raised, Chanukah was always the far cooler holiday. For one thing, we got presents for eight nights . . . Even better, we would get cash . . . Cold hard cash to spend how we wanted (It helps to avoid the "That's what I wanted last year syndrome")
As well, it was simple math
-Chanukah Menorah = Fire.
Tree = Wood.
Fire + Wood = More Fire, no Wood.
Menorah = Winner, Tree = Looser.

Yet even if someone does have tree envy, why, oh why, the Hanukkah Bush?
It seems so empty, it says "We have nothing" so we're going to copy you . . .
Why when Chanukah has so much joy? So much vibrancy and warmth, so many wonderful customs . . .
And to sell it out for a tree? A tree that even gentiles admit is nothing more than a pagan ritual that has anyway sold its soul to the emptiness of American Consumerism . . .

The very name points out to something is wrong with the Hanukkah Bush.
It's a Hanukkah . . . Bush.
Yes, a bush.
Webster's says a Bush is:

1 a : a low densely branched shrub b : a close thicket of shrubs suggesting a single plant
2 : a large uncleared or sparsely settled area (as in Australia) usually scrub-covered or forested wilderness -- usually used with the

Yes that's right . . . we Jews, even when settling on apologeticist, assimilationist stance, still manage to remain self-deprecating .
They don't want to have a Hanukkah tree, a Hanukkah Oak or Hanukkah Redwood . .
No, it's a Hanukkah bush, a Hanukkah shrub . . . a Hanukkah Lichen perhaps?

It's interesting, in a certain psychological sense, that the bush is used to celebrate the Post-consumerist Holiday Season™; besides the defeatist reasons listed above, I mean.
After all, where was Moses, head of the Jewish people, chosen other then the burning bush . . .
Rashi explains that G-d picked the image of a burning bush to give over this most important message to the future redeemer of Israel since the bush was so lowly, as if to say: I am with you in your troubles, even when you are as lowly and despised as the bush.
Even when we try to hide, G-d is there with us.


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