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Thanksgivukah arrives

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LAKE COUNTY — One of most celebrated secular holidays is on a rare collision course with a religious observance of one of the state’s smallest minority groups. 

For the 1,500 Jews estimated to be living in Montana, Nov. 28 will present the opportunity to eat both turkey and latkes as Thanksgiving Day and Hanukkah occur simultaneously. 

“I think the last time it happened was in the late 1800s and the next time is like 80,000 years from now, so it’s really exciting and some people are calling this ‘Thanksgivukah,” said student Rabbi Laurie Franklin of Har Shalom synagogue in Missoula, (the closest synagogue to the Mission Valley.) “In my opinion that’s very nice. It’s something to enjoy.”

While the two holidays may overlap just once in several lifetimes, some scholars theorize that Judaism had an influence on today’s Thanksgiving observance. Jews celebrate a fall harvest festival called Sukkot that some Pilgrims and Puritans were likely exposed to when they were in the Netherlands, before their exodus to the New World.

“Some historians claim —although I think it’s hard to really make a hard connection between the two — that the early colonists were aware of this idea of having this feast of thanksgiving in the fall for the harvest and that maybe our beloved American Thanksgiving is partly a reflection of some of the things that the Pilgrims learned from their sojourn in the Netherlands, from their fellow countrymen there, the Jews,” Franklin said. 

Jewish historians also have theorized that Hanukkah may be a late version of the thanksgiving holiday Sukkot that emerged after the Maccabees rededicated the temple in Jerusalem. 

Today Hanukkah is celebrated by millions of people around the world. 

“I’m guessing Hanukkah in western Montana isn’t much different than in the other parts of the world,” Franklin said. 

Families will light candles in a menorah each night to commemorate oil that miraculously lasted eight days instead of one after the Maccabee revolt. Potato pancakes fried in oil, called latkes, are a staple food of the celebration, as are games with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels. Some families also give presents during Hanukkah. 

“The joy is in the increasing light when you are getting close to the equinox and the light is diminishing, and every night you are lighting an extra candle,” Franklin said. “It’s very reassuring and very comforting. There are rabbinic stories that we aren’t just celebrating the miracle of the oil and rededication of the temple, but that somehow the light of the menorah is connected with the candle of God inside of each person, illuminating their interior and filling them with divine light. It is also a reflection of the light of creation and the lights the human beings experienced in their first few days on Earth.” 

In Missoula, the Har Shalom synagogue will host an all ages Hanukkah party on Dec. 1. A traditional Eastern European band, latke contest, singing, and dancing will be on hand. 

The event is free and open to the public.

 

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