Happy Thanksgivakah

It’s November and as our minds and sprits usually prepare for turkey and yams, this unusual year we also add latkas (traditional potato pancakes) to the mix when Thanksgiving coincides with Chanukah. Thanksgiving is set as the fourth Thursday in November, meaning the latest it can be is November 28. November 27 is also the earliest Chanukah can be. As the Jewish calendar drifts forward eventually the earliest that Chanukah will fall is Nov. 29. The final time that Chanukah will fall on Nov. 28 will be in 2146 — and that will be a Monday, not Thanksgiving.
The reason is because the Jewish calendar, based on lunar cycles, is very slowly getting out of sync with the solar calendar, at a rate of 4 days per 1,000 years. This means that while presently Chanukah can be as early as Nov 28, over the years the calendar will drift forward, so that the earliest Chanukah can be is Nov. 29.
The simple fact is that we could call it a great miracle that we get to see in our lifetime the only time that the wonderful American holiday of Thanksgiving gets to overlap with our wonderful tradition of Chanukah. Believe it or not, Chanukah actually has a lot in common with Thanksgiving. The early pilgrims based the celebration of giving thanks on the early Jewish festival called ‘Feast of the Tabernacle” or our holiday of Sukkot. Sukkot is declared a time of thanksgiving celebrating the bountiful harvest. The pilgrims based this celebration in the new world on this special Jewish holiday.
The Maccabees of our Chanukah is also linked to Sukkot. In the Second Book of the Maccabees, which quotes from a letter sent circa 125 BCE from the Hasmoneans to the leaders of Egyptian Jewry, Chanukah is actually called “The festival of Sukkot celebrated in the month of Kislev (December),” rather than Tishrei (September). Since the Jews were still in caves fighting as guerrillas in Tishrei, 164 BCE, they could not properly honor the eight-day holiday of Sukkot, hence it was postponed until after the recapture of Jerusalem and the purification of the Temple. This is the great miracle we celebrate on Chanukah: the ability to purify the Temple and celebrate with great joy that we could worship freely the great festival of thanksgiving on the holiday of Sukkot. They celebrated it for eight days with gladness like Sukkot and recalled how a little while before, during the actual Sukkot holiday they had been wandering in the mountains and caverns and now were free to celebrate their faith with such great joy. When we light those candles on Chanukah they are actually candles of thanksgiving with joy and song. The miracle of the oil was not that the light lasted for eight days but that our faith sustained us during dark times and thus brought us to this great time of joy of thanksgiving.
Today we Jews look at Chanukkah and see the true miracle that the Maccabees claimed as not a military victory but the fact that our faith and tradition still carries on. The miracle of the oil takes the symbol of the longevity our Jewish tradition being sustained even in difficult times and that is the miracle we celebrate when we light the menorah this Thanksgiving.
The American holiday of Thanksgiving is a quasi miracle in its own sense because once a year all faiths connect to celebrate the ability to share the bounty of our table with all. Thanksgiving is the moment we can contemplate all the blessings we have in the world. The love and the friendship we have acquired and the special kindness we can offer to others. Chanukkah links all Jews in a celebration of our tradition and this unique year we get the chance to light the menorah next to our Thanksgiving turkey and offer a blessing to all who share in our bounty.
Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed Chanukah to all.
Rabbi Jeffrey Lipschultz is the spiritual leader of Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood, NJ. He welcomes your comments at dvjewish@rof.net