Chanukah is great, but we don’t fully celebrate the actual kindling. Many Jews know that Chanukah has something to do with candles, but they're not sure exactly how, what and when. For some, they only know Chanukah is here when the lobby has a small decorative electric menorah in the shadow of a gigantic xmas tree.

But Pope John Paul's exoneration of Jews of the crimes we’ve been historically accused of, and that Christianity even owes us a debt, shocked the community.

The fact is, we’re now accepted in most situations. Jews have equal opportunity in employment, and even seem to get preferences in certain professions. We’re lucky they’re not filing lawsuits to achieve equal rights to become accountants, doctors and lawyers.

But there’s still one area of discrimination that persists, and that’s the country club. Most states have laws preventing discrimination on the basis of race or religion, but the laws don’t necessarily change attitudes.

When a Jew walks into a country club, he doesn’t have to look at faces to know he's not welcome. He could figure it out when he asks for directions to the dining room and is directed to the garbage shed.

However, being the Chosen People, some Jews choose to take their "choseness" to mean something Moses would not recognize. They've convinced themselves they didn't want to be members of those country clubs in the first place. So Jews built a better and bigger club across the street so that the Gentiles would be envious when they drove by.

If the Gentile country club had a swimming pool, the Jews get a lake. If the Gentiles had a piano bar, the Jews will have a 32-piece orchestra. If the Gentiles had tuna fish, the Jews had caviar. If the Gentiles had a picnic in the park, the Jews had a cruise to the Caribbean.

The country club story is typical of how Jews handle discrimination. They don't confront it, they build around it. But is this the right way? When women were denied the right to vote, they marched in the streets. The Jewish answer to discrimination has been to scream and plead. If they were suffering, the answer was to forget and move on.

Not only did Jews avoid fighting for their rights – they decided to avoid the problem by losing their identity. That's why Jewish accountants from Brooklyn try to talk like West Point cadets from North Carolina, and fashion designers named Goldberg from the Bronx become Yves St. La Shmutz from Paris.

Jews never fought for equal rights for themselves – only for acceptance. Persecuted in so many countries, they felt lucky to be able to live in a country where you could be Jewish without fearing for your life.

We were discriminated against, let's be honest. Not so long ago, a Jewish name would bar you from major corporations, and also prevent you from renting an apartment. The way a Jew could easily check into a hotel was if he owned it. Finding a hotel to stay in, with a Jewish name, was as easy as finding a ham sandwich at a Bar Mitzvah.

That's different now. Yet, after having attained so many equal rights America offers all minorities, Jews still pray to be exonerated from the frequently contrived crimes of which they’ve been accused.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the Jews take this opportunity to develop enough pride to face the world with their real Jewish names? Jews should feel so delighted to test their popularity by knocking on the doors of the most exclusive country clubs.

And not just country clubs. Now they can hold their heads high with their own noses, their own accent and walk arm and arm into a Synagogue – even with a Jewish wife!