Does the Famously Jewish Kyle Broflovski Put Up a Christmas Tree?
Though Kyle Broflovski may have begrudgingly served as South Park’s resident Jewish kid throughout the series’ 26 seasons, his family may be celebrating more than just Hanukkah come December.
In a now-viral post on the South Park subreddit, one eagle-eyed fan noticed a strange detail hiding in 2019’s “Christmas Snow”: Santa Claus swiping two jars of Tegridy Farms’ Marijuana Free Christmas Snow from beneath a decorated evergreen perched in the Broflovski living room.
“Isn’t Kyle’s family Jewish?” asked the unknown Redditor alongside a screengrab of Santa locking eyes with Ike Broflovsk during his coke-fueled Grinch expedition (see above).
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Upon first glance, this is a massive misstep that could undermine the very animated core of the Broflovski identity.
But as several Redditors noted — and this Christmas-celebrating Jewish gal can attest — a tinseled tree does not a Gentile make.
“Celebrating Christmas with a tree and presents and Santa and elves is basically a secular holiday,” wrote user Gardenfarm. “‘Christmas spirit’ and shit like that is a lot of secular tradition and marketing. It’s as secular as saying Valentine’s Day is a Catholic or even ancient Greek holiday. Same with St. Patrick’s Day, yada yada.”
WarpingLasherNoob agreed. “I live in a non-Christian country that doesn’t even celebrate X-mas, but people still decorate their houses and X-mas trees because it’s a fun thing to do,” they explained, noting that “they usually do it for Jan 1, not Dec 25 though.”
But whether or not the Broflovski Christmas tree was meant to serve as a political statement about Jewish identity, the pressure to assimilate or the omnipresence of Christmas in the American zeitgeist (it probably wasn’t), DudeistSpiderPunk said it best: “The parents were high on coke, they were celebrating every holiday.”
