For the first time in 125 years, Hanukkah (or Chanukiah) and American Thanksgiving arrive on the same day in the lunar calendar, creating a day of mass celebration of thanks in the Jewish community.
Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, is a holiday for the Jewish people to remember God’s miracles and be thankful for their blessings, similar to Thanksgiving, Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel said.
“Hanukkah’s already about thanksgiving, so I think (the overlap) will help bring more people to realize what we have to give thanks for,” Tiechtel said.
Tiechtel said the holiday commemorates God’s miracles when the Jewish people were fighting the Greeks about 2,000 years ago.
Tiechtel said the Greeks stormed the Temple and removed the high priest’s seal on all the jars of special oil. When the Jews returned after winning the battle by God’s miracle, there was only one jar left to light the menorah.
The jar only had enough oil for the candles to burn one day, but it burned for eight, Tiechtel said.
“Every day of Hanukkah when we light the menorah we say prayers to remember the miracles that happened and to thank God,” he said.
Lindsay Simon, president of Hillel Jewish Student Center and an active member of several other organizations, is hosting a "Thanksgivakkah" dinner with friends on Thanksgiving, which is the second day of Hanukkah.
“All my friends coming over are Jewish, and we’re lighting candles," she said. "There’s going to be latkes … and we’re going to have a turkey. But honestly, Thanksgiving is less important than Hanukkah, so we’re getting everyone together and more celebrating Hanukkah and just using the excuse to have a big meal.”
Simon said having Thanksgiving during Hanukkah is special, but she thinks it is important for the community to recognize the importance of the Jewish holiday.
“Lighting candles is pretty important for a lot of things, not even just Hanukkah,” she said. “It’s a representation of bringing light into this world and shining among the nations. This is a holiday where candles are important to reference the miracle, and also because we’re literally adding light to this world.”
Simon said she will serve traditional Thanksgiving and Jewish foods, but her friends will not exchange presents. Simon said gift exchange is commercial and just publicizes the holiday.
“Christmas has commercialized Hanukkah, and Hanukkah’s only popular because it’s an obvious time to show you’re not Christian,” Simon said. “Christian holidays are so commercialized that literally in October there’s Christmas stuff up ... Hanukkah isn’t the most important holiday in Judaism, but it’s so well publicized because of it’s proximity to Christmas.”
Chemical engineering senior David Bull said his friends and family have always exchanged gifts as part of family tradition.
“It’s more of a reformed Judaism approach," he said. "We say our prayers, we light the candles … being a reformed Jewish is half about being Jewish and half about getting the whole family together and having everyone there. All the Jewish family hangs out on Hanukkah, we all exchange gifts — it’s about bringing the family together and saying prayers. It’s about keeping all your old traditions alive.”
The Jewish calendar is based on the moon rotation and the Gregorian calendar follows the sun. The Jewish calendar’s leap year adds an additional extra month to make up for the appropriate 11-day difference between the two cycles.
Hanukkah is celebrated on the 28th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, which lands on the lunar calendar's fourth Thursday of November, or American Thanksgiving.
“It will be interesting to see how it comes together this year,” Tiechtel said. “Hanukkah starts on Wednesday night, and what will happen in most Jewish homes is they’ll be lighting the menorah, then having their Thanksgiving meal around their menorah. It’ll be cool.”
Reach the reporter at bstobbe@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @BrookeStobbe
