A Chanukah Thanksgiving

Maybe you’re feeling a bit torn apart this year? Chanukah or Thanksgiving? Or perhaps it’s quite simple for you. Maybe you’re even pushing Chanukah aside; after all there are seven other nights and only one evening for Thanksgiving. Is it a number’s game?

This is the year when Chanukah and Thanksgiving fall on the same day. Well technically Thanksgiving doesn’t start until Thursday and Chanukah begins Wednesday evening but for all practical purposes the first day of Chanukah is Thursday as well. So, this is it. This is where you decide whether you’re an American Jew or a Jewish American. It’s tough. Turkey or latkes? Or maybe Turkey with latkes? Or is it Turkey and then latkes? This is a very significant year as it seems like it will be 7,000 more years until these two holidays clash again. I don’t really want to think or wonder what and if this world will be like then. If my memory or history lessons serve me right, Chanukah came first. No turkeys. No shopping. We were too busy cleaning, polishing and rededicating the temple, which had been defiled by the Greeks.

Artist: Debra Sifen

I was recently shopping at Trader Joe’ for our Shabbos dinner. I was watching the gawking checkout lady (she was amazed at the amount of food I was purchasing). Then came the comment, "Getting ready for Thanksgiving? Well, I don’t see a turkey here.” I started to explain that this purchase was not for Thanksgiving, but for a regular Sabbath meal, but then decided to just hold my explanation and said, “No. I haven’t bought the turkey yet.” She then let me know that I had better get one soon. After so many years of feeding the religiously starved population a few times each month, I’m sort of used to preparing a Thanksgiving meal weekly.

I actually have fond memories of Thanksgiving both as a child and adult. Other than a few thousands of dead wild life and the fact that we robbed Native Americans of their land, it’s really a feel-good, be-good holiday. It’s a holiday when families come together to be thankful, and I’m sure we could each come up with a long list. My Happy Chassid Hubbie likes to remind me, every day is Thanksgiving when you’re Jewish. Of course, I don’t think you have to be Jewish to be thankful everyday; it’s just it’s built into our ritual hard drive.

I recently had the privilege of listening to a video by Rabbi Fohrman. As he explains, Chanukah is the ultimate holiday for giving thanks, but it goes much deeper than turkey and shopping (he didn’t mention the turkey or the shopping). What is it about the oil and the fire that made this holiday so special? Why such a focus on the oil? It’s not such a huge miracle in comparison to, say, the splitting of the sea. Maybe it’s even scientifically explainable. I’m sure some heretic has figured it out. The fire of Chanukah represents far more than just a flame. It represents our SOURCE. There are a couple other instances when we see a burning flame: the burning bush, which was NOT being consumed and a burning mountain (Mount Sinai), which was NOT being consumed. What is it about these flames and the oil, bush or mountain NOT being consumed? Rabbi Fohrman suggests that seeing beyond the flame is what separated Moses from other shepherds and had him selected as the leader of the Jewish people. Seeing that there was more to the flame, a source of the flame is what made him our leader. Not all who walked by a burning bush would have thought it so odd. Moses however, noticed. It is this noticing that made him unique.

Chanukah is more than a holiday of lights. It’s a holiday of “hallel and hoda’ah (praise and thanks),” but it is the ultimate holiday of thanks…it is a holiday of recognition, dedication and thanks. It is the holiday that reminds us (if you’re paying attention) of our SOURCE via the burning flame.

Oh and by the way, I did purchase my turkey, and I will set my hubbie to cooking it (which he artfully has mastered over the years). We will enjoy it and give thanks, yes for being American, but more importantly for being connected to G-d. Chanukah will remind us never to forget that.

So, Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your loved ones and your turkey. Be kind as you go out to battle the shoppers. And most importantly be thankful.