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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

As we all know tonight also happens to be Chanukah. In both holidays we see the theme of hakarat hatov, giving thanks. In the Gemara where it talks about Chanukah it says, “hallel v’hodaah”. This teaches us that the holiday is not just about what happened in the Chanukah story but it is also about having gratitude and being thankful to Hashem. Therefore it is awesome that we have this rare opportunity to enjoy Chanukah and Thanksgiving dinner together!

There are two main mitzvot on Chanukah. The first is to light the candles and the second is to say Hallel. Hallel is all about giving thanks, which is the reason for Thanksgiving. In the Jewish world, there is a big question if Jews in America are allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving because it is not a Jewish holiday. However, many people say it is okay to celebrate it and that it is even a good holiday to celebrate because the main theme is hakarat hatov, which is also a main theme in Judaism and in Chanukah .

Besides that first obvious connection between Chanukah and thanksgiving, Chanukah and thanksgiving connect in a deeper and unexpected way. Thanksgiving and Chanukah both share the theme of bringing family together. Another mitzvah of Chanukah is lighting candles “נר איש וביתו” – in your home. A question that arises is if we want to do persume nissah why don’t we do it in a public place instead of doing it in our homes? For example, on Purim, the mitzvah of megillah which is done also because of persume nissah, can be done anywhere, so shouldn’t we be allowed to light Chanukah candles anywhere too?

Why is it that the mitzvah of persume nissah on Chanukah is centered around the home (neir eish ubeyto)? The reason is because the whole idea or theme of Chanukah is fighting assimilation. Antiochus and the Greeks wanted to extinguish Judaism but we fought through and won so Judaism could thrive.

On Chanukah the Halacha doesn’t want us to light on our own and for our candles to be out and by itself because then it can get swallowed up. Rather, we must light in our home because that is where our roots are from and where we are strongest. Chanukah is a holiday about family and when we are with our family we are strongest and we understand our roots almost to the point that it is nearly impossible for us to stray from our roots and assimilate. The inner strength that we get from our roots will help us remain strong in the fight of assimilation. This is another connection between Chanukah and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is about going back home. After all Erev thanksgiving is known as the most traveled day of the year because everyone’s going home. Chanukah also is about going back home because home is where we gain our strength to go forward and bring the beauty of hashem to the world.