The last time Hanukkah would have begun prior to Thanksgiving was 1861, however, Thanksgiving was not yet an official holiday (made so by Abraham Lincoln in 1863).

There's some argument over whether it will happen again in 2070 or if we'll have to wait until the year 79043 (that's not a typo, I really mean 79,000 years).

Either way, lots of Turkey and latkes all around!

11/28/2013 12:59:21 AM

Quote :

"There's some argument over whether it will happen again in 2070"

can you expand on this? are the jews short on calendars or what?

11/28/2013 8:43:24 AM

The Jews use the mayan calendar. But since the mayan calendar ended they are doing their own calculations. So it could be 2070 or in 79,000 years.

11/28/2013 9:13:22 AM

Jew calendars are wonky.

11/28/2013 9:23:31 AM

The Jewish calendar is based on cycles of the moon (new moon = new month...which is where the word for "month" comes from...as well as "Monday" but that's neither here nor there).

The Jewish calendar also has a leap year where an entire extra month is added instead of just one day to offset the changes and try to keep festivals in the proper seasons.

Night 2:


And a special treat:

11/28/2013 9:46:06 PM

that still doesn't answer the question. are they having trouble predicting what the moon will do or what?

11/28/2013 10:17:04 PM

If it's anything like the Catholic liturgical calendar, it probably has a tenuous relationship to the actual phases of the moon.

[Edited on November 28, 2013 at 10:27 PM. Reason : also consider how Catholics and Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter on different days

11/28/2013 10:25:52 PM

This will either help, or just confuse you further (but hey, that's what Jews do best) http://www.jewfaq.org/calendr2.htm

11/28/2013 10:44:59 PM

It's basically the holiday for contained pyromaniacs and everything fried that you missed having fried at the state fair.

11/28/2013 10:49:57 PM

8 days = 1 day. Jews didnt know how to read the moon back then either.

11/30/2013 8:54:55 PM