“Happy Thanksgivukkah!” many have quipped, referring to the rare occurrence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving overlapping this year.
Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, about 2,000 years after Hanukkah was declared a Jewish holiday. In 1888, the two overlapped for the first time.
Finally, in our very own 2013 holiday season, history is repeating itself. And it's a very long time before the occurrence will repeat itself.
Turns out, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have far more in common than a calendar date.
Hanukkah was established by the Jewish Sages more than 21 centuries ago to commemorate the victory of the minuscule Jewish army over the mighty Syrian Greek army who sought to deny them their religious freedom. G-d miraculously brought salvation to the Jews, and they were able to drive the Greeks away and reclaim their Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Not only that, but although they found only one cruse of olive oil to kindle the Temple's menorah, miraculously, the oil lasted eight days until new oil could be produced under ritually pure conditions.
Thus, the holiday was established to give thanks to G-d “for the salvation, miracles and wonders that You performed.”
An emphasis is put on the fact that clearly, without the help of G-d and his guidance, the Jews could not have been victorious.
Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated for similar reasons. A year after the original Pilgrim settlers landed on the shores of America, they had much to be thankful for: a good harvest, religious freedom and more.
These are some of the reasons Thanksgiving was first celebrated.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national day of “Thanksgiving.” In his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, he wrote: “The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings ... which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. ... It has seemed to me fit ... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.”
So when these holidays come along, and certainly when they coincide, how appropriate for each of us to take a moment to reflect upon the presence of G-d in each of our lives, and to recognize his interest in the details of the world and in man's mortal actions.
G-d not only created the world, but also directs the events within it, each and every moment.
As President Lincoln wrote, it is human nature to become oblivious to God's constant presence, since he clothes himself in nature. When miracles occur, they remind us of his presence and of the fact that he was there all along, even when things seemed to be running their course without him.
It is this faith in G-d that our country is founded upon, and this same faith that is so dear to every society, as it keeps its citizens G-d fearing, and therefore moral and ethical.
– Rabbi Elimelech Goorevitch is from the Chabad Jewish Center Laguna Beach.
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