JBFCS: Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs

Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs of the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services

November 2004

Rabbi Stephanie Dickstein, LMSW

The Holiday Season

Which holiday does not belong: Sukkot, Thanksgiving, Chanukah? The answer: all three belong. All three share the theme of gratitude. Sukkot, the final harvest festival, is a time when we declare our thanks to God for sustenance from nature. The very name of the American autumn gathering, Thanksgiving, expresses its essence. On Chanukah we acknowledge both the historical and supernatural miracles of our history.

Many of us know the legendary connection between Sukkot and Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims, looking for a model to celebrate their survival in the New World, turned to the Bible. The sacred communal gathering associated with Sukkot inspired them to prepare a feast with their Native American mentors. The connection between Sukkot and Hanukah is clear in the earliest sources. Sukkot was the most recently missed Pilgrimage festival at the time that the Hasmonean's retook the Temple. Therefore they held a delayed Sukkot for eight days, including Hallel (the Psalms of Thanksgiving) which we still recite on Hanukah.

As we look deeper, other connections can be explored. One is the theme of home and feeling safe in our homes. On Sukkot, we leave our homes to experience both the vulnerability and the protection of the sukkah. On Thanksgiving, as the winter approaches, we gather family and friends inside our homes. Chanukah marks the rededication of our spiritual and communal home. To what extent do physical walls protect and shelter us? When do walls keep us from being open and available to others? What comforts and strengthens us in the presence of dangers which walls can not repel?

Another connection is that of daily miracles. At first glance, Chanukah appears to be about the unusual, the unexpected. It marks the victory of the weak over the mighty; the tiny amount of oil that burns seven days longer than it should have. The bracha we recite on Chanukah thanks God for the miracles of the past, at this time. It is followed by Shecheiyanu: we thank God for allowing us to reach this day. A similar phrase is found in the daily thanksgiving prayer in which we acknowledge the miracles of every day. It is those miracles, the rain that falls, the grain that grows, the tools that allow us to make food and shelter, the family and friends who love us, and the community that supports us, which all three holidays celebrate.

These "Spirituality Notes" are excerpts from our monthly E-newsletter. Articles are © JBFCS Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs and may be reprinted free of charge as long as this credit line is included.

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