FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Christmas is synonymous with Dec. 25 – but this year, so is Hanukkah.
The Jewish holiday typically has a different start date each year, but Hanukkah and Christmas have fallen on the same day four times in the last century. Hanukkah, however, does not follow the same calendar as Christmas.
“For us, it’s the same day every year, the Hebrew month and day. It’s the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev. That’s a lunar calendar and it doesn’t correspond every year with the Gregorian calendar,” Temple Beth Israel Rabbi Rick Winer said.
The alignment of Hanukkah and Christmas made Winer reflect on the origin of Hanukkah.
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“Thousands of years ago, when the ancient temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and desecrated. The Maccabee soldiers were able to rally and push them out and came to victory. The legend says that they only found enough sacred oil to light the lamp that needs to be lit in the temple for one night. But it lasted eight, and that was a miracle. And so we celebrate for eight nights,” Winer said.