Happy “Turkeynorah” everyone!!! Or should I say Thanksgivinukah?

Happy “Turkeynorah” everyone! Or should I say Thanksgivinukah?
    Are you ready to stuff the Turkey with Latkas? No joking… as you probably heard,the ONLY time Hanukkah will ever overlap with Thanksgiving in our generation, is this year: 2013. In fact, the next time Hanukkah will ever fall on November 28th is in the year 2146 (which happens to be a Monday).  So, what happened this year? Why a month earlier?
  Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of November. Christmas always falls on the 25th of December, and Kwanzaa always starts the day after Christmas.  That cannot be said about any Jewish Holiday. Even tough they are always on the same Hebrew date, the dates vary yearly on the civil calendar. For example Kislev 25th which is the Hanukah Hebrew calendar’s date, falls on a different civil date each year as demonstrated bellow:                                                                                                                                                                                In 2011: December 20-28. 
In 2012: December 8-16.
In 2013: November 27-December 5.
In 2014: December 16-24. In 2015: December 6-14
 
      The Jewish holidays are based on the Hebrew calendar or as often referred to as the lunar calendar. It has a completely different leap year system that can shift holidays each year by 11 to 28 days, because each Hebrew calendar month consist of 29 or 30 days. The Civil or Gregorian calendar often referred to as a Solar calendar because it is based upon the Earth rotation around the sun. Each month is 30 or 31days long (with the exception of February).  That is, about 12.4 lunar months, or 365¼ days a year to complete one rotation.  As a result, the lunar calendar does not line up with the Gregorian (western)calendar.
 
 To compensate for this difference, the Hebrew calendar adds an extra month occasionally. The problem with a12 months cycle is that the Lunar year will be shorter by 11 days (354 days in the year). In contrast, on a 13 months cycle the Lunar year will be longer by 19 days (383 days in the year). That is also why your Bar/Bat mitzvah will most likely NOT fall on your civil 13th birth-date. Depending on the year, it could vary between 11 to 28 days difference.

 This year an extra month was added  to the Hebrew calendar to close the gap and bring Hanukah back in December (closer to Christmas).  This modification prevents the Hebrew calendar from slowly moving forward through the Gregorian calendar, until it loops all the way back to where it is now. In fact,  it will take thousands of years before this happens again, for example; Hanukkah will again fall on THURSDAY, November 28 in the year 79811.

Finally, the month added falls on the 6th Hebrew month of Adar and is referred to as Adar II, (Adar Sheini or Adar Beit). A 13 months year, or in English a leap year is referred to in Hebrew as Shanah Me'uberet, literally: a pregnant year...no kidding! 

Please note: First night of the Menorah candle lighting starts on November 27th. That's the day before Thanksgiving, which falls on November 28th. The last night of Hanukah this year is on Thursday, December 4th .
Wishing you all and Happy “Turkeynorah” or “Thanksgivinukah”: new terms JSN’ students came up with yesterday while discussing this topic.
 And Let us all remember this overlap holiday as the year “we stuffed the Turkey with the Latkas”
haha…., I don’t know if apple sauce applies here, but sour cream will definitely make it UNKOSHER:-)