Thanksgivukkah? For Non-Jews, Here's What the Fuss is All About

Written by Bea Karnes

For American non-Jews, we typically think of Hanukkah as a Jewish holiday that coincides with Christmas.

2013 is blowing that out of the water. This year, Hanukkah aligns with Thanksgiving. Huh?

Here’s a quick calendar explanation—Christmas falls on Dec. 25. Period. However, both Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are ‘floating’ holidays. Thanksgiving perches on the 4th Thursday in November regardless of the exact date. Meanwhile, Hanukkah is determined by the Hebrew calendar, which has nothing to do with the Gregorian calendar that the rest of use. So Hanukkah has about a one-month float.

This year, Thanksgiving falls on the second day of Hanukkah.

Incredibly, according to Jonathan Mizrahi, quantum physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, this exact alignment will not repeat for another 79,043 years.

Imagine Thanksgiving in Jewish homes this year—‘Honey, should we light the menorah or have another slice of pumpkin pie?’

Oh, and one more thing, comet ISON is scheduled to soar past the sun on Thanksgiving this year.

Stock up on antacids—this holiday promises to be a doozy.

One more—kudos to the writer who came up with the phrase, Gobble Tov! It’s been repeated online so often that I can’t find the source to give proper credit.

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