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November 25th, 2013
12:47 PM ET
Eight ways to celebrate ThanksgivukkahBy Daniel Burke, Belief Blog Co-editor (CNN) - Break out the menurkeys and sweet potato latkes, people, it's time to celebrate Thanksgivukkah, a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. A calendrical quirk brings the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving together this Thursday for the first time since 1888. Scientists say the confluence won't occur again for another 70,000 years, give or take a millennium. Dana Gitell, a 37-year-old marketing manager for a Jewish nonprofit in Massachusetts, is the mind behind the mashup "Thanksgivukkah." (If you think that's a mouthful, her other ideas were "Thanksgiving-ukkah" and "Hanukkahgiving," both of which caused our spellchecker to sputter and die.) But with the right portmanteau in place, the Thanksgivukkah idea caught fire faster than a deep-fried turkey. Gitell is gathering an online album of Thanksgivukkah celebrations, and says she's received submissions from places like South Dakota and Anchorage, Alaska - outposts not typically known for having vibrant Jewish communities. Even rabbis from ultra-Orthodox sects like Chabad have jumped on board the Thanksgivukkah bandwagon. "At first I didn't know how rabbis would respond to something as irreverent as a mashup," Gittel says, "but they almost uniformly embraced it. It's completely kosher." We don't know if the rabbis approve of everything on our list, because people are sorta going nuts. Must be that once-in-an-eon thing. But without further ado (and with a nod toward Adam Sandler's "Eight Crazy Nights"), here are eight ways to celebrate Thanksgivukkah. 1. Light a menurkey Leave it to a fourth-grader to create the ultimate Thanksgivukkah icon. Asher Weintraub came up with the idea during a family trip to Florida last year. The little genius from New York City thought it'd be really cool to have a menorah, the nine-branched candelabrum used to mark Hanukkah, in the shape of a turkey. Weintraub created a Kickstarter account, raised $50,000, made a 3-D prototype and heroically fended off his father's attempt to rename the thing a "menorkey." Nice job, kiddo. The father in question, Anthony Weintraub, says he's sold between 6,000 and 7,000 menurkeys, including a few to famous finance experts and owners of National Football League teams. "I'm beginning to think my life as a menorah salesman isn't over," says Anthony Weintraub. 2. Make a nice Turbrisket Let's face it, Thanksgiving was getting pretty gonzo even before meeting Hanukkah. I mean, turducken? But Thanksgivukkah has taken meal mashups to a new level. You've got your Turbrisket (turkey filled with brisket), your deep-fried turkey, your sweet potato latkes, your cranberry-stuffed knishes, your pumpkin kugel, your pecan pie rugelach - I could go on, but I'll get fat just by typing the rest of the list. Marlene Eldemire of Cincinnati says her family wanted to make the huge mashup menu Buzzfeed posted earlier this month. "I told them they can go ahead and make it," Eldemire says with a laugh. "There's no way." So her family is settling for a few Hanukkah standbys like brisket that'll sit next to the turkey and sweet potatoes this Thursday. 3. Deck the halls for the Challahday This is another spot where people are getting really creative, says Kali Brodsky, editor of JewishBoston.com. They're making pumpkin menorahs, Thanksgivukkah coloring books for kids, and table settings that mix and match Hanukkah and Thanksgiving themes. Rabbi Rachel Silverman of Boston says she's decorating her table with Thanksgiving symbols (a cornucopia, pumpkins, harvest bouquet) and Hanukkah items (a menorah, gold-colored coins called "gelt"). If you're feeling lazy, Brodsky says, you can just print out the Thanksgivukkah place cards JewishBoston has created and set a place for Bubbe. 4. Watch a really big dreidel spin down the streets of New York To honor the confluence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, Macy's has created a 25-foot-tall, 21-foot-wide dreidel for its iconic parade. The "balloonicle" (part balloon, part vehicle) will spin just like a real dreidel, and it's the first time the parade has included a Jewish symbol, according to Macy's. "Inclusion of the dreidel balloonicle is indicative of both a nod to the rare occasion in which Hanukkah's first day falls on Thanksgiving and of the dreidel's inherent entertainment value," says Macy's spokesman Orlando Veras. 5. Party like it's 165 BC (and 1621 CE) Hanukkah, for those who need a refresher course, marks the miracle of the successful defense of the Jewish temple by the Maccabees, an army of Jewish rebels, against the Goliath-like Syrian-Greek army in 165 BC. One day's supply of oil somehow lit the temple's menorah for eight days, and the rest is history. The Jewish event and the Pilgrims' arrival in America are both celebrations of religious freedom, says Sherry Kuiper. At Kuiper's synagogue, Temple Israel in Columbus, Georgia, the kids led a service in which they dressed up like the Maccabees and Pilgrims, traveled in a make-believe time machine, and celebrated Thanksgivukkah together. The parallel isn't perfect, Kuiper acknowledges. After all, the Native Americans certainly don't celebrate Thanksgiving as the birth of their religious freedom. But Thanksgivukkah offers a reminder that the more things change, the more some things - like the human need to express gratitude - stay the same, Kuiper said. 6. Kvetch about Thanksgivukkah Okay, this one isn't exactly about celebrating. But it must be acknowledged, some folks just aren't into the Thanksgivukkah spirit. Thanksgiving was one of the few holidays on which interfaith families didn't have to explain to the kids "why mom believes this and dad believes that," argues Allison Benedikt in a recent Slate column. "I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have this one major holiday—the best one!—that isn’t in some part about what I am and my husband is not (Jewish), or what he is and I’m not (Christmas-celebrating)," Benedikt says. (And for just the record, sweet and sour braised brisket with cranberry sauce is an abomination, she says.) Jennie Rivlin Roberts, whose Judaica store, Modern Tribe, is selling Thanksgivukkah gear like hotcakes, says she understands some of the kvetching. But a mashup of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah is so much better than the usual "December dilemma," the overlap of the eight-day Jewish holiday and the cultural behemoth know as Christmas, Roberts says. "With Thanksgivukkah, you're not really mixing two religions, so you can really go for it. People may say it's silly, and yeah, some of it is, but it's also full of fun and joy." 7. Watch a rap battle between a turkey and a dreidel Julie Benko was stuck on the subway in New York City for two hours, and she was bored. So, she did what any sane person would do - she wrote a song about Thanksgivukkah. OK, Benko is not your average straphanger. She's something of a Broadway belle, having just returned from playing Cosette on a national tour of "Les Miserables." But that doesn't mean it's any easier to find a rhyme for "Thanksgivukkah." Still, Benko's klezmer-inspired tune has lots of YouTube competition. There's the rap battle between a turkey and a dreidel sponsored by Manischewitz. (Yes, they rock it old shul.) There's the slickly produced "Oils: A Thanksgivukkah Miracle." And there's this cute little number from the the Kehillah Schechter Academy in Norwood, Massachusetts, called "The Ballad of Thanksgivukkah." 8. Watch a scary movie about stereotypes
After all the candle-lighting and the decorating and eating and the kvetching and the singing, let's face it, you're probably going to be pretty tired. So why not plop down on the couch to watch the trailer for a Thanksgivukkah-themed horror movie? "Thanksgivukkah: The Movie" is about a nice gentile family who find their Thanksgiving celebration invaded by a family of ultra-Orthodox Jews. Jokes about religious stereotypes ensue. We don't know if the trailer, which is made by Jewish filmmakers, is completely kosher, but we guess there's enough time for the rabbis to sort it out in time for the next Thanksgivukkah. So, that's it. We"ll see you next Thanksgivukkah, in 70,000 years or so. In the meantime, Gobble tov, my friends.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Hope one day, Ramadan and Hanukkah falls on the same day and people around the world, if religions are still around, celebrate Ramanukkah!!
Egyptians are partial to Ramen noodles.
...Thomas' Jefferson & Paine, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bertrand Russell, Sir Edward Gibbon, Charles Bradlaugh (US Civil War General), Kersey Graves (founder Massachessetts Humanist Society), Friedriche Nietzche, Francois Voltaire et. al, all stated that "JESUS CHRIST" never existed, therefore, he DID not exist and DO NOT believe in him!
Thanksgiving has nothing to do with "GOD" (whatever that is) and should be a reflection on our community and ourselves!
The above stated is in accordance with our Founding Fathers philosophy which is DEISM.
You may know that the whole world could say that something is so and that would no more make it so than the claim of a single person. That is a common error believers fall into.
The first five presidents including John Adams, James Madison & Thomas Jefferson were strongly influenced by Deism, as was Benjamin Franklin:
“some books against Deism fell into my hands; . . . The arguments of the Deists . . . appeared to me much stronger than the refutation; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.” (from his Autobiography)
John Tyler, the 10th POTUS became a Deist.
Many believe Abraham Lincoln was a Deist.
John Remsburg, in his book Six Historic Americans (1906), cites several of Lincoln's close associates:
"After his assassination Mrs. Lincoln said: 'Mr. Lincoln had no hope and no faith in the usual acceptance of these words.' His lifelong friend and executor, Judge David Davis, affirmed the same: 'He had no faith in the Christian sense of the term.' His biographer, Colonel Lamon, intimately acquainted with him in Illinois, and with him during all the years that he lived in Washington, says: 'Never in all that time did he let fall from his lips or his pen an expression which remotely implied the slightest faith in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of men.'"
William Howard Taft, brought up as a Unitarian like Adams, is the only U.S. President to also have held the office of Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court:
"I do not believe in the divinity of Christ, and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe."
========
The Deistic side of John Adams comes out strong in these paragraphs A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787-1788)
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."
Personally I'd like to throw out the whole Thanksgiving-Hanukkah-Christmas stretch of religious excess and then celebrate a new holiday, Idontgiveafukkah, to just spend time with friends and family.
Yo. Dude. I raise a pint to that idea.
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That's exactly what most people in Asia celebrate. Band together and celebrate with them.
Nothing wong with that.
It's well known the commies celebrate capitalism as long as the new boss is same as old boss.
Hmmm, kind of sounds like Festivus, for the rest of us!
How about setting a brand new tradition here on BB and start posting things that make a modicum of sense?
Meant for lol?? the loon.
methylmercury bad for loons.
Then I suggest you stop injecting it directly into your veins.
Good suggestion but that is almost impossible if religion remains the topic.
The topic could be anything, and there is no "modicvm of sense" to be found in lol?? world. There is only the clinical insanity that is on public display here.
methylmercury bad for madd hatters, too.
Then, again, stop injecting it, loon.
How 'bout a new Islamic tradition with AK-47's being fired in the air, followed by an AKurkean meal of fallen Canadian geese and bacon, errr Bison.
That's close to making sense. Wassup?
Hey lol remember, those of us who don/t subscribe to your particular fantasy find your particular fantasy just as hateful and evil as islam. All of the abrahamic nonsense is hateful nonsense....so maybe stuff your particular bigotry for today...
Yoooze don't have to hate yer own fear. Just come to terms with it. Your bigotry should vanish.
Again, you show your disingenuous nature by failing to recognize your bigoted OP.
Why you consider yourself in any way a Christian is beyond me.
I find your particular bigotry and ad hominum attacks aganist people's own personal faith to be just as evil as the radical islamist or zealous crusader.
I apologize everyone for our nasty little lol?? blogger here. (I'm typing this from my office.) I've tried to get the keyboard away from him several times, but he's bitten several nurses, so if we can just keep him in his bed, that's accomplishing a lot. Just earlier today the wretch caused three of our patients to throw up when he suddenly screamed something into the alphabet soup we had served for lunch. I think he yelled "socheeze" or something like that. He was not happy with all those little letters.
"Scientists say the confluence won't occur again for another 70,000 years, give or take a millennium."
If the human race is still around in 70,000 years, I'm sure religion, as we know it today, will, thankfully, be long gone.
Ah yes, a confluence, a perfect storm for the fluent, or at least for those that have money, insurance, and are tired of remodeling.
The only thing you're fluid in is gibberish.
Brady Brunch Thanksgiving
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries&w=640&h=360]
Here’s my reasoning: if God doesn’t exist, then an abstraction based on God should not exist, either. How can an abstraction exist if it is based on something that supposedly does not exist?
It is OK to say that a category does not exist, gods, for example. But if you say God does not exist, you've instantiated God – made it exist at least as something about which you go on to say "it does not exist."
Is nothingness something?
Christ died for our sins,
as the Scriptures say.
4 He was buried,
and three days later
he was raised to life,
as the Scriptures say.
5 Christ appeared to Peter,
then to the twelve.
6 After this, he appeared
to more than five hundred
other followers.
Most of them are still alive,
but some have died.
7 He also appeared to James,
and then to all
of the apostles.
sin is a man made concept
the scriptures are an iron age comic book
Sin aside Sam, have you done anything wrong?
Why ask that Rb? Lookin to make some judgements?
I certainly didn't mean to run Sam off, just wanted to see what he thought of wrong doing.
Got free range to do what you want in the buybull, even to go after your daughter.
Yes Paul, the bible does accurately record the total depravity of the human family.
Stow your B S Robby. The buybull says go do her, not just it was done.
What?
Sup?
i have made bad choices, yes
so what?
Buncha silly stuff here in the babble, all made, written, and edited by politically motivated humans and heck even mark matt luke and john couldn't get their stories to agree cuz it's all fake. You been lied to and you continue to eat it up, why?
4 gospels written to 4 audiences by 4 authors.
And no real god in any of it. Loada crappa.
I continue to eat it up because it is soul food.
More like fast food for subaverage brains that can't digest reality.
Good analogy. Isn't the origin of "soul food" the crap that the owners didn't want, so they fed it to their slaves?
Servant of Christ?
Not that I am implying that the relationship between god and those saved souls is a slaveowner/slave one
oh on
that would be wrong
still on your knees, robert?
has your bloodline been down there for several hundred years?
Almost assuredly bullsh!t of course, unless you now have some actual evidence for your otherwise unfounded claims.
I got 8 d*cks.
Hey, sailor....
Does godlessness exist?
Is nothingness something?
Nothing does not exist.
Abstractions exist, and nothingness is an abstraction.
So is the following statement true?
Nothing does not exist or nothing exists.
Brady Brunch Thanksgiving
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries&w=640&h=360]
Your question: "Is this statement true?" – "Nothing does not exist or nothing exists" is a paradox based upon English language semantics. I fail to see how it proves any point. Funny attempt at a misdirect, though.
*Thanksgiving Alert*
the water dripping behind me was like a single ice cycle dripping faster than it should demonstrating that gravity changes when you are not looking that is why it is smart to buy slip on sneakers and save the best breast meat for sandwiches later
A man once achieved notoriety when he plastered the walls, ceiling and floor of an entire home with memorabilia from his life. The most sacred of all life’s moments were represented. Birth, marriage, holidays, and death.
When he sold the house a few weeks later, he was asked why.
The man said, “Because I want to see how the new owners will choose to decorate the house.” He snapped a photograph of the house and walked away.
We should give thanks along with Bibi Netanyahu for the multi-lateral deal with Iran that promises greater security for Israel.
Except Bibi and Israel doesn't see it that way.
I guess not.
There is a reverse side to reality; I can see it in my feverish dreams
The power of the anti-world is as frightening to me as a gun to my temple; exciting and dangerous
So many possibilities yet so few people willing to climb out from the tall grass to embrace the magnificence of being conscious
Hiding behind fantasies rather than breathing in the thick air of strangeness
😡
:-*
Smiley are broke.
Excellent news. Did you break smiley? Good job!
It was totally like that when I got here.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdg63c3c3Cs&w=640&h=360]
She danced
Each jewel on her gown flying outward
Perhaps never to return
Each shiny gem in a cloud of total darkness
She danced and she sang
Her gown twirling like a pinwheel faster and faster still
Soon to become many
And many to become light
And that light to become trillions of sparkles
Still she danced
And now the swirls were as giants dancing
And the dancing giants would collide in beautiful confusion
And the spinning would last forever
In rewriting its own history about Thanksgiving, white America tells a Disney-like fairytale about the English pilgrims and their struggle to survive in a new and harsh environment. The pilgrims found help from the friendly Native-American tribe, the Wampanoag Indians, in 1621.
Unfortunately for Native Americans, the thankfulness of European settlers was short-lived.
By 1637, Massachusetts governor John Winthrop ordered the massacre of thousands of Pequot Indian men, women and children. This event marked the start of a Native-American genocide that would take slightly more than 200 years to complete, and of course to achieve its ultimate goal, which was to take the land from Native Americans and systematically plunder their resources.
The genocide begun in 1637 marks the beginning of the conquest of the entire continent until most Native Americans were exterminated, a few were assimilated into white society, and the rest were put in reservations to dwindle and die.
Oh yeah, happy thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! Gobble, gobble!
I was being sarcastic Angela....
For some strange reason I am starting to like you.
Not to me!
Not to you what?
You weren't sarcastic to me.
Angela, what is your opinion of the information presented in my post?
The information was very informative!
Angela, you are short on opinions but that doesn't make you any less strange or attractive. Do you see?
Get a room.
Here are more things that don't exist even though they do:
Love
Hate
Anger
Peace
Pride
Sympathy
Bravery
Loyalty
Honesty
Integrity
Compassion
Charity
Success
Courage
Deceit
Skill
Beauty
Brilliance
Pain
Misery
Beliefs
Dreams
Justice
Truth
Faith
Liberty
Knowledge
Thought
Information
Culture
Trust
Dedication
Progress
Education
Hospitality
Leisure
Trouble
Friendships
Relaxation
adventure
energy
intelligence
sacrifice
amazement
anxiety
awe
beauty
bravery
chaos
charity
childhood
comfort
communication
curiosity
dedication
democracy
determination
failure
faith
fear
freedom
friendship
generosity
gossip
happiness
honesty
hope
imagination
justice
joy
kindness
knowledge
laughter
liberty
life
luck
luxury
materity
memory
motivation
music
opportunity
pain
patience
perseverance
pleasure
power
pride
relaxation
satisfaction
strength
success
talent
trust
warmth
wisdom
You are a strange bird.
Logically, none of those things exist.
So that proves the existence of your god? Not really as all the items are simply the outcome of the evolution of apes into h-omo sapiens. Welcome to the human race which will disappear in about three billion years or sooner.
Okay! If you say so!
Angela,
Mickey Mouse
Donald Duck
Cinderella
Prince Charming
Snow White
Romeo & Juliet
King Lear
Moby Dick
Smurfs
Gargamel
Superman
Lex Luthor
Harry Potter
Frodo
Merlin
Leprechauns
Banshees
Gnomes
Santa Claus
Tooth Fairy
Easter Bunny
Winnie the Pooh
(sorry, I'm not taking the time to list the wide array of others)
I have plush toys and action figures of most of these! Nice list!