Happy Thanksgivukkah! | Hanukkah and Thanksgiving at the same time? Yes!

Happy Thanksgivukkah!

For the first time in 125 years, the first day of Hanukkah– the eight day Jewish Festival of Lights– is lining up on the calendar with Thanksgiving this week. The last time was in 1888, 25 years after Abraham Lincoln officially launched the Thanksgiving holiday. But if you are waiting for the next time the two holidays connect, you need to know that it wont occur again for another 70,000 years.

Hanukkah is subject to the ebb-and-flow of the Jewish calendar set more than two thousand years ago. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November, occurring late this year, as Hanukkah, typically more lined up with the Christmas season, occurs early.

So for those of us celebrating Thanksgiving in the Jewish tradition this week, Happy Thanksgivukkah!