Why is this Hanukkah different from all other Hanukkahs?

Hanukkah is in three weeks. What are you doing about it?

HBT wants to help you get ready for this historic EARLY Hanukkah.

First, we will celebrate together on Sunday, November 24 with Hanukkah Kulanu Yachad/All of Us Together. Our Sunday morning event will help us all prepare by singing songs, buying rainbow candles, and sharing family time together. We will also prepare by reflecting on which Hanukkah message we want to share this year. Young and old, with families or not, please plan to be at HBT and bring friends too. This will be a terrific way to share what makes HBT such a special place.

Our theme will be “Thanksgivukkah,” an unusual occurrence that won’t happen again until 2070 (those predictions of 79,000 years until this happens again were just plain wrong.) Still, that’s a long time from now, which most adults will not experience unless immortality is one of our future Hanukkah gifts.

Let’s think about the correlations between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. Themes of survival, standing up for religious freedom (Pilgrims and Maccabees), and dedication to a cause quickly come to mind.  We might also consider the place of community service as a way to celebrate both holidays.

What I find interesting is that Hanukkah juxtaposed with Thanksgiving can be a very different kind of celebration than Hanukkah juxtaposed with Christmas.

This means more than latkes with cranberry sauce or turkey-shaped hanukkiyot (Hanukkah menorahs). When we bump up against Christmas, the surrounding culture encourages an unhealthy material competition: how many presents did YOU get? However, with just twenty more shopping days until Hanukkah, we are out of synch with the shopping season.

When Hanukkah arrives in November, perhaps we can alter the focus, at least for one year, from gifts to gratitude, the central theme of Thanksgiving. Both holidays can bring us together with our families. After all, we will be lighting most of our candles during a four-day holiday weekend when many of us will have time off from work. This year, Hanukkah could mean watching a movie together by candlelight, or lighting candles after a hike in the Blue Hills.

Hanukkah gratitude might lead to giving to others. Check out this extensive list of organizations and causes, Jewish and otherwise. Once Hanukkah is out of the way, we can plan to join a service project when December 25 rolls around, and help others enjoy their holiday.

I was moved by “The Thanksgivukkah Manifesto,” a serious treatment of the possibilities raised by the convergence of these holidays by Rabbi Mishael Zion on the Huffington Post. Rabbi Zion writes:

“Thanksgiving is a much needed model for an increasingly secular American Jewry….Thanksgivukkah is an invitation to celebrate the places where Jewishness enriches America, and where America enriches the Jewish people.”

Not everyone is enamored with Thanksgivukkah. Because we believe in diversity, for those who are already tired or skeptical of the hype, I commend my colleague, Rabbi Daniel Brenner’s rant ‘Why I will not be celebrating Thanksgivukkah.’ and his “Anti-Thanksgivukkah Anthem.”

My take? I think that an event that brings together two holidays that appeal to Jews, includes food, and only occurs once in our lifetime is worthy of a little humor and the kitsch that comes along with it. (Learn the Thanksgivukkah anthem here!)Come, spin the dreidl and think about the great miracle that happened---where? Plymouth Rock? Jerusalem? Or maybe, West Roxbury? We’ll find out in three weeks!