As Mike Myers used to say on "Saturday Night Live," many of our Jewish friends are "all verklempt!"
That’s because Thanksgivukkah is coming.
As the Associated Press reports: "An extremely rare convergence this year of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah has created a frenzy of Talmudic proportions." In other words, this year, for the first time since 1888, Thanksgiving and one of the days of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah overlap. Thanksgiving, on Nov. 28, 2013, coincides with the second night of Hanukkah.
The story continues, "’It’s pretty amazing to me that in this country we can have rich secular and rich religious celebrations and that those of us who live in both worlds can find moments when they meet and can really celebrate that convergence. There are a lot of places in the world where we would not be able to do that,’ said Rabbi David Paskin, co-head of the Kehillah Schechter Academy in Norwood, Mass."
The article adds, "The lunisolar nature of the Jewish calendar makes Hanukkah and other religious observances appear to drift slightly from year to year when compared to the U.S., or Gregorian, calendar."
So when will Thanksgiving and Hanukkah next overlap? Says the story, "[T]he next time [it happens] may have Jews lighting their candles from spaceships 79,043 years from now, by one calculation."
79,000 years? Oy, we should live so long.