Is Pink Jewish? Religion explored as singer's Menorah post celebrating Hannukah sparks controversy online

American singer Alecia Beth Moore Hart, better known as Pink, recently responded to a comment criticizing her for celebrating Hannukah. This was to embrace her Jewish heritage from her mother's side.

Hart shared an Instagram post on December 7 as she celebrated the first night of the Jewish tradition with her family. The first slide on the photo was a picture of the Menorah, the nine-branched candelabra.

In the second slide, Pink was seen singing prayers with her daughter, Willow, who was lighting the candles. Her son Jameson, also present in the clip, wished her a "Happy Hanukkah."

While captioning the post, Hart wished for peace in everyone's hearts, homes, and the world. However, one commenter called the singer's celebration "tone deaf" in reference to the current situation between Israel and Palestine.

Hart responded to the criticism with a jab:

"Tone deaf to be Jewish? Or alive? I’m confused."

Commenter criticizes the singer for celebrating Hannukah. (Image via Instagram/@pink)

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Pink's 2023 Hannukah celebrations post sparks controversy online

The Just Give Me a Reason hitmaker seemingly triggered quite a few people with her post, as many expressed their disapproval of her Hannukah celebrations. After Pink's response to the commenter who called her insensitive, another Instagram user accused her of not having any empathy for the "ongoing massacre".

The commenter also blamed her for not celebrating Hannukah in private, reasoning:

"The world is in pain."

Hart asked the second commenter how celebrating the Jewish festival has anything to do with a lack of empathy. To that, the user replied:

"Jews everywhere are pausing celebrations or celebrating in private as they march for humanity. Bless them and bless you. I hope you can pray for the thousands of Palestinians killed and still await their death as you celebrate tonight."

Screenshots of these comments on the singer's post were reposted on X, where people flocked to share their opinions. Some people called out Australian-Israeli political activist Avi Yemini because of how he captioned his repost. Many accused Jewish people of playing victims and using the trope of 'antisemitism' to counter other people's opinions.

Elsewhere, on another repost by an X user, Jean-Michel Connard, netizens defended Pink. Instead, they condemned the commenter's suggestion for the singer to celebrate Hanukkah in private.

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Pink's religious practice

Hart has been quite public with her Jewish legacy as she has been celebrating Hanukkah with her family for years now. In 2021, she also shared a similar post of her kids lighting the candles and later joining them to harmonize the prayers.

She made Kugel, a traditional Jewish dish during a TikTok Live in November 2022. Hart also told her followers that her dream Jewish meal consists of fired latkes, matzo ball soup, fresh warm challah, and kugel.

The Grammy-winning singer had previously also posted about her Jewish lineage on Instagram. In 2017, she shared her experience of taking her daughter Willow to Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial Museum. While referring to the neo-nazi march, she wrote about headlining a show at a place where the tunnels were built by Hitler. She wrote:

“I walked through this tunnel to get to the stage while people just like him marched in Charlottesville. My heart aches for the amount of hatred in this world.”

Nevertheless, Hart went on to say that Hitler did not win and that hate did not win. She said people from all walks of life gathered there in Berlin for her show and it was a living testament of Hitler's defeat. Pink added that Berlin is filled with loving people who accept her for who she is.