*Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration in Jewish culture that commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the second temple in Jerusalem. This holiday celebrates the Jews rising up against Greek-Syrian oppressors during the Maccabean Revolt*

Many people may refer to America as a “melting pot” or a “salad” because through immigration, many cultures and religions have begun to blend together. One person who is a prime example of this is Adalise Goldman, or how her friends know her, Ada. 

Goldman was born to a Mexican-American mother and a Jewish-American father, so the holidays in her house are a little different. 

“We put up both sets of decorations,” Goldman said. “We kinda blend it together, but we do put up more Hanukkah than Christmas.”

Holidays weren’t always like this in her house though. She says that when she was younger her parents wanted her to discover religion on her own so they tried to represent both in their home.

“My parents were never strict on religion,” Goldman said.” They never tried to force me into one or the other.”

Goldman recalls times going to Sunday school and learning about the Torah and Jewish religion and she fell in love with it. This is what motivated her to pursue her practice in the Jewish culture.  

Goldman said there are a lot of misconceptions about Hanukkah and just the Jewish religion in general. In fact, she even states that Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Torah. That it’s one of the “less” important holidays in comparison to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in regards to the Torah. 

“People just hype it up because it’s around Christmas,” Goldman said.

Goldman urges people to not refer to Hanukkah as the “Jewish Christmas” or anything else because Hanukkah is Hanukkah, not anything else. 

Goldman’s journey in discovering her Jewish religion has yielded many accomplishments: She is president of the Oklahoma Association of Temple Youth (OKATY) at her temple, she has gone to Israel for a month to learn more about Jewish culture and she plans to go back to Israel after she graduates. 

Because of her many accomplishments, her family has started to follow her lead in religion, especially around the holiday season.

“Instead of decorating Christmas or Hanukkah cookies we decorate holiday cookies,” Goldman said. 

Despite her mother’s side celebrating Christmas, they still try to be all-inclusive when going to Goldman’s house during the holidays.

Though the two cultures may not seem connected, Adalise Goldman has found a way to define the melting pot.