Celebrating Thanksgivukkah, a Once-in-a-Lifetime Holiday

By Kate Bigam; Reprinted from ReformJudaism.org

Start basting your turkey and spinning your dreidels, because for the first and only time in our lives, Thanksgivukkah is coming! This November 28th, when American Jews gather around the Thanksgiving table to talk about the things we appreciate and to dig into elaborate feasts, we’ll have another holiday to celebrate, too: Hanukkah.

This year, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah will overlap, producing an anomalistic hybrid holiday that’s come to be known as Thanksgivukkah. There are conflicting reports about whether it’s happened before and when it will happen again, but most mathematicians and calendar experts seem to think this is the first occurence. Although the holidays would’ve overlapped in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln didn’t formally establish the holiday of Thanksgiving until two years later, in 1863, which means that 2013/5774 will mark the first Thanksgivukkah in history.

Just how rare is this holiday? Some reports say Thanksgivukkah will happen again in 2070; others, like Jewish physicist and calendar expert Jonathan Mizrahi, say it won’t repeat itself until 79811. Either way, it’s safe to say that for most of us, Thanksgivukkah is, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Now let’s address the big, practical question: How do we celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime holiday?

Glad you asked! Our recipes, ecards, and other resources will help you make this the Thanksgivukkah the best yet – er, the only one yet (and ever). Of course, we know that food is a major part of Jewish holidays and secular American holidays, and because this hybrid holiday has plenty to offer in the way of creative cuisine, many (most!) of our resources focus on food.

Ready to start planning your celebration? Start here:

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