When I first heard about Thanksgivingkuh, it somehow did not
sound right to me. It is a sort of
comical take on the extremely rare occurance of the American secular holiday,
Thanksgiving, and the first day of the Jewish religious holiday, Hanukkah,
occurring on the same day. The
next time this convergence will occur is on 28 November 79,811. Since the Hanukkah festival lasts
for eight days, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have and will continue to occur on
other days within the eight-day period over the years. The last time both holidays fell on the
first day of the festival was on 29 November 1888. Hanukkah 2013 began on Wednesday 27 November because the
Jewish day begins at sundown. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar-based and on a nineteen
year cycle, the festivals move around in date much more than in the common
Gregorian Calendar. Hanukkah
begins each year on the 25th day of the month of Kislev.
Thansgivingkuh (Thanksgiving + Hanukkah) cards have appeared
along with a menurkey (menorah + turkey).
A menurkey is a turkey decoration whose tail holds the candles normally
place in the sacred menorah.
I asked a Jewsih friend what he thought of Thanksgivingkuh
and he said he had not heard of it but that he was amused. My friend did not
share my feeling that the merging of the two holidays, one secular and one
religious, was somehow sacrilegious.
Though Hanukkah is a religious holiday, many American Jews see it as
overly secularized and commercialized.
Some see it as a time to give gifts so that their children will not be
upset about not celebrating Christmas.
Hanukkah celebrates a Jewish military victory in 165 BC/BCE
over the Greek/Syrian army of Antiochus Epiphanes after which the candle in the
Temple burned for eight days on a supply of oil sufficient for only one day. The battle ended on 25 Kislev. This was seen as an affirmation from
God of the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The word “Hanukkah” derives from the
Hebrew verb חנך which means “to dedicate.” The festival is mentioned in the New Testament at John
10:22-23. The events of Hanukkah are recounted in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees.
Rachel Gurevitz, the Senior Rabbi at Congregation B.nai
Shalom in Westborough, Massacusetts, sees Thanksgivingkuh as a chance to
discuss Jewish and American history with children, seeing a convergence of
meaning in both holidays. Rabbi
Shmuley Boteach, on the Fox News Channel, said essentially the same thing.
I am not a humorless Scrooge, but Thanksgivingkuh still
strikes me as questionable.
………………………………………….
I am not sure who first pointed this out, but Hanukkah, from
a Christian perspective, is very important. If Antiochus Epiphanes had succeeded in basically
exterminating the Jewish religion, then Jesus would probably not have been born
as a Jew. Jesus had to be truly human, He had to
be truly divine, and He had to be Jewish.
Salvation comes through the Jews (John 4: 22). God used the Jewish nation over the centuries to reveal
Himself in a manner intellible to man’s limited understanding. All of history before the Crucifixion
was a preparation and an explanation of what God is like and what the
Crucifixion and Resurrection mean.
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