This 12 months, the primary night time of Hanukkah will fall on the identical day as Christmas for the primary time since 2005.
Christmas and Hanukkah each all the time fall on the twenty fifth, however of two totally different months, with Christmas approaching the Dec. twenty fifth of the Gregorian calendar, and Hanukkah beginning on the twenty fifth day of the month of Kislev within the Jewish calendar.
Hanukkah’s begin date on the Gregorian calendar varies 12 months by 12 months as a result of the Jewish calendar is predicated on luni-solar calendar cycles. According to Chabad, months underneath the Hebrew calendar observe a lunar cycle, lasting about 354 days. To preserve from falling behind the roughly 365-day photo voltaic calendar, there is a thirteenth month on the Jewish calendar each few years to make a “bissextile year.”
Another distinction is that on the Jewish calendar, holidays start at sunset and proceed by means of the following day, so Hannukah, which lasts eight days, will get its begin this 12 months hours after the beginning of Christmas.
Hanukkah and Christmas have solely coincided a handful of occasions since 1900, in accordance with the Jewish Federations of North America. They began on the identical day in 1910, 1921, 1959 and 2005. Rabbi Joshua Stanton, vp of interfaith initiatives for Jewish Federations of North America, views it as a possibility for studying, collaboration and togetherness.
“The objective isn’t proselytizing; it is studying deeply from one another,” Stanton instructed CBS News in a press release. “It’s others seeing you as you see your self.”
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, government vp of the Orthodox Union, stated he views the convergence of holidays as a possibility to worth the various non secular panorama within the U.S.
“This is one thing that we now have realized that we should work onerous to guard, particularly in occasions of rising antisemitism and different types of hate,” Hauer instructed CBS News in an electronic mail.
The convergence of holidays additionally supply distinctive alternatives and challenges for interfaith households. Some individuals rejoice what’s often known as “Chrismukkah,” a reputation derived from the overlap of the vacations that was made fashionable by the tv sequence “The O.C.”
“I feel that, particularly as Hanukkah has change into seen as type of the Jewish Christmas, we’re seeing increasingly curiosity in type of how they may correspond to at least one one other. Both holidays are all for mild and in God’s presence in darkish occasions,” Candida Moss, a professor of theology on the University of Birmingham, instructed “CBS News 24/7.” “And in fact this presents an enormous alternative for interfaith households to rejoice each traditions alongside each other.”
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, stated he feels that every vacation needs to be given its due, somewhat than blended collectively, “as a result of I feel that does hurt to the distinctiveness of every.”
“But the proximity can really lead us to know extra, to understand extra about those that make up totally different faiths, and for us to create extra mild in an typically very darkish time of 12 months,” Jacobs instructed “CBS News 24/7.”
The two holidays will coincide once more in 2035 and 2054, in accordance with Hebcal.
It’s additionally uncommon for Hanukkah to start out on Christmas Eve. It’s occurred twice within the final 50 years: in 1978 and 2016.
