Happy Hanukkah!

[Wizzard419]

To any of the members out there that celebrate it, Happy Hanukkah!

[Sleepy90]

Happy Hanukkah to Len,Mark,Yodiwan and anyone else who is celebrating.

[MmeLeota]

Happy Hanukkah everyone!!!
In the words of Adam Sandler...."Put on your yarmulka, it's time to celebrate Hanukkah"

[Wizzard419]

Drink your gin and tonika?

[NaCler]

... and smoke your... oh, family site. Sorry

Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate it!

[mindflipper]

The oft under-appreciated and misaligned holiday.

I equally echo a "Happy Hanukkah" to all!

[Len90]

To all my fellow menorah lighters, I wish you all a happy and healthy Hanukkah.

Mindflipper: You really are correct. It is very often under-appreciated to the point where people forget about it. The misalignment can easily be explained though! Hanukkah, like all other jewish holidays, is based on the hebrew calendar. The days per month in the Hebrew calendar is fewer than the days per month in the Gregorian Calendar. Because of this, when a Jewish leap year occurs there is an extra month added in as opposed to the extra day added into the Gregorian calendar. This year, 5771, is a Jewish leap year and there will be an extra month added in. That means Hanukkah will fall out around the time of christmas next year. Remember, the Jewish new year usually occurs sometime September, so he extra Hebrew month will be during the middle to end of August 2011.

[Jacca5660]

Happy Hanukkah Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!! ;+>

[Wizzard419]

Apparently the modern version stems from the comercializaton of christmas, which is why there are presents now. I still feel that the dreidel plays into sterotypes too much though.

[mindflipper]

To all my fellow menorah lighters, I wish you all a happy and healthy Hanukkah.

Mindflipper: You really are correct. It is very often under-appreciated to the point where people forget about it. The misalignment can easily be explained though! Hanukkah, like all other jewish holidays, is based on the hebrew calendar. The days per month in the Hebrew calendar is fewer than the days per month in the Gregorian Calendar. Because of this, when a Jewish leap year occurs there is an extra month added in as opposed to the extra day added into the Gregorian calendar. This year, 5771, is a Jewish leap year and there will be an extra month added in. That means Hanukkah will fall out around the time of christmas next year. Remember, the Jewish new year usually occurs sometime September, so he extra Hebrew month will be during the middle to end of August 2011.

I actually meant to use the word "maligned", Len90, not "misaligned" (I blame it on the cold for the vocab error); however, I did enjoy your explanation a great deal. I meant to use "maligned" because it gets treated like the lesser holiday with Christmas being in the same month.

[Len90]

To all my fellow menorah lighters, I wish you all a happy and healthy Hanukkah.

Mindflipper: You really are correct. It is very often under-appreciated to the point where people forget about it. The misalignment can easily be explained though! Hanukkah, like all other jewish holidays, is based on the hebrew calendar. The days per month in the Hebrew calendar is fewer than the days per month in the Gregorian Calendar. Because of this, when a Jewish leap year occurs there is an extra month added in as opposed to the extra day added into the Gregorian calendar. This year, 5771, is a Jewish leap year and there will be an extra month added in. That means Hanukkah will fall out around the time of christmas next year. Remember, the Jewish new year usually occurs sometime September, so he extra Hebrew month will be during the middle to end of August 2011.

I actually meant to use the word "maligned", Len90, not "misaligned" (I blame it on the cold for the vocab error); however, I did enjoy your explanation a great deal. I meant to use "maligned" because it gets treated like the lesser holiday with Christmas being in the same month.

LOL it's okay. It does feel that way and you are 100% correct.

[Wizzard419]

To all my fellow menorah lighters, I wish you all a happy and healthy Hanukkah.

Mindflipper: You really are correct. It is very often under-appreciated to the point where people forget about it. The misalignment can easily be explained though! Hanukkah, like all other jewish holidays, is based on the hebrew calendar. The days per month in the Hebrew calendar is fewer than the days per month in the Gregorian Calendar. Because of this, when a Jewish leap year occurs there is an extra month added in as opposed to the extra day added into the Gregorian calendar. This year, 5771, is a Jewish leap year and there will be an extra month added in. That means Hanukkah will fall out around the time of christmas next year. Remember, the Jewish new year usually occurs sometime September, so he extra Hebrew month will be during the middle to end of August 2011.

I actually meant to use the word "maligned", Len90, not "misaligned" (I blame it on the cold for the vocab error); however, I did enjoy your explanation a great deal. I meant to use "maligned" because it gets treated like the lesser holiday with Christmas being in the same month.

You're not terribly far off since both are drastically different in terms of celebration/importance than they were 100 years ago. Before the 50's or so Hanukkah was like the Hebrew version of saint swithin's day, mostly known but not celebrated and Christmas, from a historical standpoint, is considered a sort of marketing tool since the traditions and so forth are very close to the pagan holiday Saturnalia, and most of the modern traditions are very different from the past. I do miss the notion that bad children would be kidnapped by a black spanish midget (yes, that is the precursor to what the elf legend is).

[Jacca5660]

Santa as we know it is a German tradition. NOT SPANISH!! Do you just put stuff out there to see if you can bull you way through it?? Christmas as we know it has always been either a commercial holiday or a day of drunken debauchery, at least in the English tradition. The church tried to ban Christmas for these reasons!

[Wizzard419]

Santa as we know it is a German tradition. NOT SPANISH!! Do you just put stuff out there to see if you can bull you way through it?? Christmas as we know it has always been either a commercial holiday or a day of drunken debauchery, at least in the English tradition. The church tried to ban Christmas for these reasons!

Oh... sorry try again. I do loves me some historical trivia.

So anyway, Santa as we know it comes from Dutch (Sinterklaus), and I said that Zwarte Piet (Black Pete aka the origin of the elf) was rumored to be from Spain. I have no idea why he's black or why it's acceptable to go around in black face (in Europe, not here) during the holidays.

As for drunken debauchery, it really toned down for the bulk of the history as the Christmas Orgy (which did happen under the previous holiday) never caught on. While the heavy drinking and having too much fun were taboos, the more likely reason they banned the holiday was politcal since they were trying to distance themselves from the Church of England's traditions, that and they were not fully behind the 25th being the true birth date of jesus.

[Jacca5660]

This could become a long debate if I let it, since apparently you just read the historic cliff notes. maybe you just watch badly researched documentaries?? Anyway you look at it, well put nicely, you've got it sooooo wrong. Try reading more then one book. Correction, you're from Southern Cal, try watching more then one video!!