News Tip: Thanksgiving And Hanukkah Share Themes Of Liberation And Freedom

With Thanksgiving already a major family holiday for American Jews, this year's proximity of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah should provide many Jewish families with a doubly joyous occasion to celebrate, says a Duke University associate professor of history.

This year, the first night of Hanukkah occurs the evening after Thanksgiving. "Thanksgiving and Hanukkah seem to be even a better fit than Hanukkah and Christmas," says Malachi H. Hacohen. "You will probably see many parallels drawn between the Jewish liberation holiday and the celebration of American freedom."

Still, Hanukkah has already been incorporated into the larger holiday season in this country, Hacohen says. "It is a mark of the uniqueness of the Christian-Jewish relationship in the United States that Hanukkah has taken some characteristics of Christmas -- gift-giving, for example -- without losing its character as a Jewish religious and national holiday."

Hacohen says the way in which Hanukkah has become part of the holiday season in America is almost unheard of in Europe. Non-Jews in America respect Hanukkah as the "Jewish Christmas."

There is a residual discomfort among Jews with a holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ, but both holidays have largely been subsumed by American consumer culture, he adds.

Hacohen, Fred W. Shaffer Associate Professor of History, teaches Jewish history and is especially interested in Jewish-Christian relations and in the relationship of cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism and Jewish identity. He can be reached for additional comment at (919) 684-6819 or by e-mail at mhacohen@duke.edu.