Happy Hanukkah From Roosevelt Island and The Maccabeats, Matisyahu,The Shlomones And A Texas Dreidel Song - First Ever Thanksgivukkah Tomorrow Too

Image from The Thanksgivukkah Buzzfeed Video

Happy Hanukkah from Roosevelt Island. Tonight is the first of eight nights of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The Roosevelt Island Menorah Lighting Ceremony will take place this Saturday November 4 at 6:30 PM in front of Blackwell House.

Image From RI Jewish

Enjoy some Hanukkah music with the Maccabeats,



Matisyahu



The Shlomones,



and the Dreidel song with a Texas twist.



This year, Hanukkah overlaps with Thanksgiving to



 create Thanksgivukkah:

In 2013, the first day of Hanukkah coincides with Thanksgiving for the first time time in history, and the last time for another 70,000 years. No, that is not a typo. This historic confluence between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars is an incredible opportunity to celebrate the Jewish-American experience and give thanks for the ways religious freedom makes America great for all of us....

Live Science adds:

... The reason for this year's rare alignment has to do with quirks of two calendars, the Gregorian and Jewish calendars. Much of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, which has a 365-day year based on the Earth's orbit around the sun, with leap years every four years. The Gregorian calendar was implemented by Pope Gregory to keep Easter in line with the season it was originally celebrated in.

But the Jewish calendar, which was created more than 2,000 years ago, follows the waxing and waning of the moon. That calendar has 12 months of roughly 30 days each, which works out to a bit more than 354 days in a year. As a result, the Jewish year creeps earlier and earlier relative to the Gregorian calendar. But many Jewish holidays, such as Passover, are tied to seasons such as spring....

Happy Hanukkah, Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Thanksgivukkah to you.