THANKSGIVUKKAH

 

 

     Two of the winter holidays, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, will have passed by the time you have read this article.  Nevertheless, my curiosity motivated me to find out why this year both holidays fell on the same day, November 28, 2013.  It so happens that Thanksgiving is set as the fourth Thursday in November.  That day is also the earliest Hanukkah can occur because the Jewish calendar repeats on a 19-year cycle based on a lunar calendar.  Thanksgiving repeats on a 7-year cycle.  Therefore, one would expect them to happen together roughly every (19x7) =133 years.  
    The last time that would have happened was in 1861.  However, Thanksgiving was only formerly established by President Lincoln in 1863.  So, it has never happened before.   Will this unique convergence of the two holidays ever happen again?  The Jewish calendar is very slowly getting out of sync with the solar calendar.  But, if the Jewish calendar is never modified in any way, then it will slowly move forward until it loops all the way back to where it is now and Hanukkah will occur at the end of the month in approximately 77,798 years.
     What is even more interesting is that this occurrence has really generated a modern culture where the merging of the two holidays has blossomed into a dramatic appreciation of shared liberty.  Think about it.  The Pilgrims traveled from Europe to escape religious persecution.  They sought religious freedom in the new land of America and miraculously endured a long and dangerous journey.  When they arrived at Plymouth in 1620, they survived a harsh winter of famine and death.   Similarly, the story of Hanukkah depicts the struggle that Jewish people faced after Syrian Greek soldiers seized the Temple in Jerusalem and made the observance of Judaism punishable by death.  The combining of the two holidays has provided an opportunity to honor one giant celebration of thankfulness for religious freedom.  

 Thus, we had “Thanskgivukkah”!!!