20 December 2024
Funny Friday - Hanukkah/Christmas memes
This year marks a very rare occurrence: Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah falling on the same day. Of course, technically speaking, Hanukkah does not begin until sundown on Christmas Day. But it’s still a remarkable concurrence—only the fourth time in the past hundred years.
Why is that? Because the Jewish calendar is a lunar/solar calendar, while the Gregorian calendar (the one most Westerners use) is just a solar calendar. Since a lunar year is 11 days shorter than a solar year, the Jewish calendar has to periodically add in a ‘leap month’ (Second Adar) to prevent the entire year from drifting completely out of sync with the seasons of the solar year.
The practical upshot is that Jewish holidays—set according to the Jewish calendar—appear to shift around on the Gregorian calendar. Since Hanukkah (or Chanukah or any of a half-dozen other options for transliterating the Hebrew word חנוכה) can fall anywhere between Nov. 28 and Dec. 27, it’s not surprising that the 25th of Kislev (כסלו) doesn’t line up with the 25th of December very often.
This year, that conjunction is more than a little notable for my family, since our youngest daughter’s partner—who will be visiting us this year—is Jewish. Our ‘Christmas dinner’ will involve (among several other non-Christmasy foods) latkes!
Our family, while Christian, has always liked the core concept of Hanukkah. Because a great miracle did happen there, when the Maccabees restored the purity of the Temple: sacred lamp oil sufficient for only one day lasted for eight days. What’s not to celebrate?
Okay, enough seriousness—let the memes begin!
Got jokes?
Very funny and much appreciated. Will forward to Jewish friends!
Teacher is asking the class what they’ll do on Christmas eve. Mary, a Catholic, says that she and her family always go to church. It’s a lovely service. Then when they get home, the open a present. Johnny, a Protestant, says that they always have a big dinner, then open two special presents, then go to bed early so they can get up early to see what Santa brought. Little Abe says that they all go to the family store, look at all the empty shelves, sing “What A Friend We Have In Jesus,” and then get in their jet and fly to the Cayman Islands….
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And if you haven’t watched Red One yet, do. It has some very funny parts. I think it’s on Prime.
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And as for spelling Chanukah, to quote Andrew “Stonewall” Jackson, “it’s a damn poor mind can only think of one way to spell a word.”