Thanksgivukkah - A Crossover of Holidays
This year people will celebrate Thanksgiving and the first full day of Hanukkah, tomorrow, November 28, 2013. This crossover happens once in every few decades, with the next crossover occurring in 2070 and again in 2165. Rabbi Larry Karol with Temple Beth-El in Las Cruces, NM, said that a similar message can be found in both holidays. "For Thanksgiving, part of what we're giving thanks for is freedom," Karol said. "Not only freedom in general but freedom to worship the way we wish." In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly traced to a poorly documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth, Mass. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identifi...