November 2002 - חֶשְׁוָן .. כִּסְלֵו תשס״ג Cheshvan..Kislev 5763

This year there is a unique confluence of ideas. Unlike most years when the relatively minor holiday of Hanukkah intersects with the second holiest day on the Christian calendar, Christmas, this year Hanukkah intersects with its spiritual descendant, that being Thanksgiving. You ask: Thanksgiving is the spiritual descendant of whom? But I answer: not of whom, but of what! Thanksgiving is in the direct line from Hanukkah! How so? It goes something like this.

In 160 BCE, about three years after Antiochus had confiscated the Temple in Jerusalem and appropriated it for the worship of the Greek gods, the Maccabees recaptured the Temple. This was the only major victory of the Maccabees in the thirteen-year guerrilla war against the Syrian Greeks called the Seleucids. The Maccabees cleansed the Temple of the Greek idols and ritually unfit animals offered on the altar, and proposed to celebrate three years worth of holidays in a single festival. In other words, the Jewish people had been unable to celebrate any of their holidays because they could not bring their animal offerings to the Jerusalem priests functioning in the Temple. Now that the Temple was once again in their hands, the Jews (Judeans and Galileans) wanted to offer their thanks to God and to celebrate Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Pesach and Shavuot all rolled up into one holiday, times the three years they had not offered their festive sacrifices. Fortunately one of these holy days was a festival of thanksgiving and fortuitously had many days of offerings to give the Jews the feeling that they were compensating for the lost years. According to the Torah, one hundred and ninety-nine animals were to be offered during the eight days of Sukkot. Every day of the first seven, the priests would offer fourteen lambs, two rams and a goat for a sin offering. On each of the first seven days one less ox would be offered. On the first day thirteen oxen were offered. On the second day twelve oxen were sacrificed, and so on until seven oxen were offered on the seventh day. And so Sukkot, so popular in the Torah that in Deuteronomy it is simply called heChag, the Holiday, was a natural way to celebrate these six holidays rolled up into one. Besides, Chag haSukkot (the Sukkot holiday) was a festival to thank God for the harvest and Chag Hanukkat haBayit (the holiday of Rededication of the Temple) was a festival to thank God for returning the Temple for Jewish worship.

Thus Sukkot, the original Thanksgiving for the harvest, inspired both Hanukkah, the Jewish Thanksgiving for freedom of worship, and the American Thanksgiving which was originally celebrated by colonists seeking freedom of religion to honor and thank God for the harvest (and the help of their native American neighbors).

Often Hanukkah and Thanksgiving get lost in the trappings of food, candles and gift giving. My hope is that this year we can pause on both Hanukkah and Thanksgiving and give sincere thanks to God for freedom to celebrate as Jews, and for the bounty of God's gifts given to us, not only on holidays but every day. Happy Thanksgiving and Chag Hanukkah samayach!

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D.

Chanukkah Every Night on the Roof, 6:00 PM

Every night of Chanukkah beginning on Friday, November 29th through Friday, December 6th, members and friends of Temple Beth Sholom will come together to light the community Chanukkah menorah on the roof of the synagogue. The rabbi or the cantor will lead us as we sing the blessings and sing Chanukkah songs, and the rabbi may even tell a story on one or two of the nights.

This is the most appropriate place for a community menorah. A menorah does not belong on public property such as at city hall, or even in a public thoroughfare such as at the mall. The menorah belongs in our homes and at our synagogue. The menorah is a religious symbol and the Supreme Court had no right to rule that it was a secular symbol like a Santa or a Christmas tree. Let us do the right thing and gather at home and at Temple Beth Sholom to celebrate Chanukkah as a religious holiday. See you there!

Color-Me-In-Prayer Shabbat and Chanukkah Worship, Friday, Dec. 6th

Friday, December 6th is the second Shabbat in Chanukkah 5763 (2002). It is our tradition at Temple Beth Sholom to celebrate this Shabbat and Chanukkah with a pot luck dinner, followed by the service edited by Rabbi Manhoff which we call Color-Me-In-Prayer. This unique prayerbook has the traditional liturgy in Hebrew and English facing a coloring book page that reflects that prayer. Children under the age of 13, who are not yet obligated to refrain from writing on Shabbat, are given crayons and asked to color their prayers. (Adults, age 13 and up, have been known to take the Color-Me-In-Prayer prayerbook home in order to pray in color after the Shabbat.)

So bring your menorah, a dairy potluck main dish, a side dish or dessert, and a drink, and join us for the Chanukkah and Shabbat Color-Me-In-Prayer Worship. The schedule for the evening:

6:00 PM - Chanukkah Menorah Lighting on the Roof
6:30 PM - Chanukkah/Shabbat Dairy Potluck
7:30 PM - Chanukkah/Shabbat Color-Me-In-Prayer Worship

Happy Chanukkah from all of us to all of you!

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