As part of new, temporary tax relief ahead of the holiday season, the Trudeau Liberals are offering Jewish Canadians a discount on “Hanukkah bushes,” according to a government website.

Under the “Christmas and similar decorative trees” category of the GST/HST break website, which explains the brief but complex measure, bureaucrats list the items that are and are not eligible. Eligible items include natural and artificial Christmas trees along with Hanukkah bushes.

“I'm telling you; I have never heard of this until today, and I've been Jewish all my life,” reacted Rebel News' Yanky Pollak upon learning of the listing for 'Hanukkah bushes.'

Items that did not qualify for tax breaks, meanwhile, included poinsettia plants and decorations “for a Christmas tree or other decorative tree” along with “holiday-related decorations that are not in the physical form of a tree (for example, Christmas tree themed decorations for a wall).”

The Liberals' listing of Hanukkah bushes drew confused responses from commenters on social media.

“Does anyone know where such a thing can be purchased? Asking for our friends,” wrote The Canadian Jewish News in a post to X. “Well since there is no such thing it's easy to exempt it,” replied commenter Georgeanne B. Others ridiculed the measure as an attempt to buy votes and as a display of cultural illiteracy.

While the concept — a small, real or artificial tree adorned with Jewish-themed decorations akin to a Christmas tree — does appear to exist in some small manner among households in North America, complete with its own Wikipedia entry, the idea is not one adopted by many Canadian retailers. Searches to purchase a 'Hanukkah bush' returned few results.

The concern “most people have with Hanukkah bushes is that they are too close for comfort to Christmas trees,” explained an entry discussing Hannukah bushes on My Jewish Learning. “Slapping a Jewish star on something and then calling it a Jewish ritual item is like putting a lion mask on your dog, having him run around in your backyard, and calling it a safari.”

The Liberals' tax break, which runs from December 14 until February 15, has received backlash for doing little to alleviate consumers' expenses ahead of holiday shopping and could cause headaches for many businesses trying to navigate what is and is not eligible for the temporary tax break.

“Look, small businesses don't mind trying to help their customers save some money,” Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly recently told The Ezra Levant Show. “But all of the administrative costs to put this in place are going to exceed, for many, the value of any additional dollars their customers may be able to spend in these businesses.”  

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