Happy Thanksgivukkah! Not since 1888 has Thanksgiving Day coincided with the first day of Chanukah. By way of explanation, the calendar we use in the west is solar, whereas the Hebrew calendar is lunar. Our Thanksgiving is decreed to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and, as a rule, Chanukah usually falls in December, closer to or on Christma or during the solstice week. Because of the Jewish leap year (an extra month which is added seven times in a 19-year cycle), all Jewish holidays in 2013 have fallen rather early (Rosh Hashanah was the first week in September this year). Mathematically, November 28th is the very earliest day that Chanukah can begin, and some calculations indicate that because the solar and lunar calendars are drifting apart, the two holidays won’t coincide again until the year 79,811.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:23:43 +0000
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