On The First Day of Hanukkah, My True Love Gave To Me...
חג חנוכה שמח
is pronounced in English - Hag Hanukkah Sameah
The first h in Hanukkah and the last h in Sameach are guttural as in Old Middle English and in German.
Thanksgiving is a classic American festival, and I love it. Hanukkah is a classic Jewish festival of thanksgiving, and I love it!! !! Happy Hanukkah and Thanksgiving to you and yours! And all my Flickr Friends
This is The Jewish Festival Of Lights It was of course familiar to, enjoyed and celebrated by all The Disciples. The candles are lit to honor God, and to remember the great miracles that have enabled us to reach this day in this season... I say thanks for each day I wake up, since it is a great miracle for me that my ticker is still ticking...;))
First Night = 2 Lights
The taller one, is used to light the other one. Like an officer and one enlisted man.
Hanukkiyah
The Hanukkah (Chanukah) Menora or Candelabra is known as a Hanukkiyah (pronounced: ha new key ah, with the accent on the second syllable, New))
This year, the first day of Hanukkah, based on the Lunar Calendar, and Thanksgiving, based on the Gregorian Calendar, fall on the very same day. The last time Hanukkah and Thanksgiving overlapped was in the 1800's. It will not happen again for about 79,000 years. So please enjoy this one!!
Because the Gregorian and Jewish calendars have slightly different average year lengths, over time they drift out of sync with each other. As a result of this, Thanksgiving Day will not fall entirely within Hanukkah again in the foreseeable future. (One physicist has calculated that, if the Jewish calendar is not revised, Thursday, November 28 will not fall during Chanukah again until the year 79811.)[14][21][22][23][24][25][26]
However, since the Jewish day does not begin at midnight, but on the sunset before it, those celebrating both holidays will light the second candle of Hanukkah 2013 the evening of Thanksgiving Day, the first candle having been lit on Wednesday, November 27; there will continue to be occasional years in which Hanukkah and Thanksgiving partially overlap, with the first night of Hanukkah beginning in the evening of Thanksgiving. For example, 2070 will be one such year, when the first night of Hanukkah will be the evening of Thursday, November 27.[14][27][28] 1918 was another such year.[29]
Thanksgivukkah
Thanksgivukkah is a holiday name portmanteau neologism given to the convergence of the American holiday of Thanksgiving and the first day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah on Thursday, November 28, 2013.
It is a result of a rare coincidence between the lunisolar Hebrew calendar (whose dates reflect both the moon phase and the time of the solar year, and which can have between 353 and 385 days per year) and the Gregorian calendar.[4][5][6][7] Because the calendars are not calculated the same way, Chanukah appears at a different time each year on the Gregorian calendar.[8][9]
The term "Thanksgivukkah" was trademarked by a Boston-area resident who, along with her sister-in-law, created a Facebook page and a Twitter account devoted to the phenomenon.[10][11] Boston Magazine reported that the once-in-a-lifetime concept was embraced around the U.S.[11]
There has been some disagreement about the name: the Manischewitz company, the country’s top producer of kosher food, has spelled the dual-holiday with one fewer "k" towards the end, as “Thanksgivukah”;[12] and Israeli newspaper Haaretz posed the question: "Why 'Thanksgivukkah'? Why not 'Chanksgiving?'".[13] Haaretz points to a clip from The O.C., the source of the portmanteau "Chrismukkah", as the basis of the "Thanksgivukkah" portmanteau.
Contents
Similarities between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah
While the imagery and products surrounding the day are light-hearted, advocates contend it has a broader significance resonant with American democracy.
“There are amazing similarities between the Pilgrims’ quest for religious freedom and what the Maccabees were fighting for,” one advocate told the New York Daily News, referring to the Chanukah story of Judah Maccabee, who led the Hebrews’ fight for freedom from and military victory over the Greeks in the 2nd century BC.[49] “This a great opportunity for Jewish Americans to celebrate this country and for everyone to acknowledge the greatness of our shared religious freedoms.”[19]
In 1888, the New York Herald wrote that "The two festivals merged well together," describing Hanukkah as "a thanksgiving festival for deliverance from… tyranny".[16] A "Thanksgivukkah Manifesto" has been penned, claiming that it is the ideal holiday for increasingly secular American Jews.[58]
Additionally, some have claimed that both Hanukkah[59] and Thanksgiving[60] have roots in the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.
History
Thanksgiving Day has fallen during Hanukkah at least twice between 1863 (when Thanksgiving was proclaimed a U.S. federal holiday by President Abraham Lincoln) and 2013: in 1888 Thanksgiving was the first day of Hanukkah, and in 1899 it was the fourth day.[14][15] The 1888 coincidence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah attracted some media attention at the time, with the New York Herald reporting on joint Thanksgiving–Hanukkah services held in "various synagogues" and a sermon given by Rabbi Frederick de Sola Mendes.[16]
Thanksgiving occurred later in 1888 and 1899 than is possible under current U.S. law: as a result of changes between 1939 and 1941, Thanksgiving is always held on the fourth Thursday in November. The last time Hanukkah overlapped with the fourth Thursday of November was in 1861, before Thanksgiving existed.[17] As a result of this confusion, some media reports have mistakenly claimed that Thanksgivukkah had never occurred prior to 2013.[18][19][20]
Because the Gregorian and Jewish calendars have slightly different average year lengths, over time they drift out of sync with each other. As a result of this, Thanksgiving Day will not fall entirely within Hanukkah again in the foreseeable future. (One physicist has calculated that, if the Jewish calendar is not revised, Thursday, November 28 will not fall during Chanukah again until the year 79811.)[14][21][22][23][24][25][26]
However, since the Jewish day does not begin at midnight, but on the sunset before it, those celebrating both holidays will light the second candle of Hanukkah 2013 the evening of Thanksgiving Day, the first candle having been lit on Wednesday, November 27; there will continue to be occasional years in which Hanukkah and Thanksgiving partially overlap, with the first night of Hanukkah beginning in the evening of Thanksgiving. For example, 2070 will be one such year, when the first night of Hanukkah will be the evening of Thursday, November 27.[14][27][28] 1918 was another such year.[29]
Celebrations
A menurkey on the first night of Thanksgivukkah
Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston said he would proclaim November 28, 2013, “Thanksgivukkah,” saying through a spokeswoman: "This is a big deal, a once-in-a-lifetime event.”[30]
Massachusetts State Representative Louis Kafka and a local rabbi are planning to host a gathering close to Thanksgivukkah, that will include a turkey-shaped menorah to give to fellow representatives to put in the Massachusetts State House.[11]
In New York City, Macy's will include a giant dreidel in its Thanksgiving Day Parade to honor the occasion.[4] The Dirty Sock Funtime Band decided to celebrate the release of their new album and the spirit of Thanksgivukkah with a special show in New York City, which will include a Thanksgivukkah song entitled: "Hannukah, O Hannukah (Introducing the Menurkey!)".[31]
A rabbi in Mineola, Long Island, granted a pardon to a kosher turkey in honor of Thanksgivukkah.[12]
A Los Angeles-based festival co-produced by singer/songwriter Craig Taubman will be held on November 29, 2013, at the Pico Union building, featuring the Moshav Band and hip hop rapper Kosha Dillz.[32][33] The festival is being funded by a campaign on crowdfunding platform Jewcer.[34]
The Beth Tfiloh Congregation in Pikesville, Maryland, is setting off fireworks to celebrate Thanksgivukkah.[35]
Outside the United States, in London, England, the Saatchi Shul will host a Thanksgivukka Friday night dinner.[36] In Tel Aviv, Israel, Nefesh B'Nefesh will co-host a Thanksgivukka Friday night dinner and clothing drive.[36]
There have been parodies of it, by satirist Stephen Colbert and by satire news program Dish Nation.[7][33] A parody faux scary movie trailer was created, starring comedian Yisrael Campbell, reflecting the sheer horror of the convergence, showing what happens when the celebrations of a non-Jewish family observing Thanksgiving collide with those of a Jewish family celebrating Hannukah.[37]
There has also been opposition to the holiday on the ground that the syncretism trivializes both festivals.[38] An Anti-Thanksgivukkah anthem was featured in Heeb Magazine and subsequently in the Jewish Daily Forward.[39][40]
Food
Numerous suggestions have publicly been made for combinations of traditional dishes of both holidays. Buzzfeed posted "How to Celebrate Thanksgivukkah, the Best Holiday of All Time," with recipes for Manischewitz-brined turkey with challah apple stuffing and latkes with cranberry applesauce.[13][41]
Others focused on sweet potato latkes, latke-crusted turkey cutlets, stuffing a turkey with challah bread, pecan pie rugelach, turkey doughnuts, pumpkin kugel, sufganiyot filled or topped with a sweet cranberry or apple compote or canned pumpkin, and sweet potato, prune and carrot tzimmes.[42][43][44][45][46][47]
Lower Manhattan restaurant Kutsher’s Tribeca announced that it would serve a three-course Thanksgivukkah dinner, including sweet potato latkes topped with melted marshmallows.[12][19]
The Manischewitz company launched a multi-million-dollar multimedia campaign encouraging consumers to celebrate “Thanksgivukah.”[12]
Chicago chef and 2013 Kosherfest honoree Laura Frankel, Executive Chef at Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, has curated a menu of Thanksgivukkah dishes that includes culinary hyrbids like pumpkin-spice latkes and turkey schnitzel with thyme and orange zest.[48]
Products and shopping[edit]
Thanksgivukkah is characterized by products promoted on and sold online. Funds of over $48,000 to produce a turkey-shaped menorah, dubbed a "menurkey," were raised by a nine-year-old boy in Manhattan, New York, via a Kickstarter campaign.[49][50][51][52][53][54]
A crafter in Seattle, Washington, created another Thanksgiving-inspired menorah after she saw a camel menorah and decided she needed a "Turkorah".[5] Some have suggested that the holiday shopping season will be impacted by the convergence, and that retailers may have earlier holiday promotions.[55][56]
A Thanksgivukkah pop-up store opened in Atlanta, and the Manischewitz company has produced a line of products for this day.[57]
IMG_8102 - Version 5
