Celebrating Jewish Life in Collier County, Israel and the World
Federation Star Published by the Jewish Federation of Collier County serving Naples, Marco Island and the surrounding communities
www.JewishNaples.org INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
7A Community Focus 11A Jewish Interest 15A Tributes 19A Focus on Youth 21A Commentary 23A Rabbinical Reflections 24A Synagogues 26A Organizations 29A Business Directory 30A Community Calendar 31A Community Directory 1B Arts & Culture 5B Women’s Cultural Alliance 6B Men’s Cultural Alliance
4A Federation success story: The Greenbergs
November 2013 - Heshvan/Kislev 5774
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Vol. 23 #3
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Doubling your pleasure Judge Norman Krivosha President
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n November 28 this year, a special event will occur. The first day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the American holiday of Thanksgiving will be on the same day, an event that has never before occurred and will not occur again, absent some changes either in the Jewish calendar or the Gregorian calendar, for more than 70,000 years from now. The reason is simple enough. By current law, Thanksgiving is set as the fourth Thursday in November, meaning it cannot be later than November 28 in any year. Hanukkah on the other hand, because of the Jewish calendar, cannot be earlier than November 28.
The Jewish calendar repeats on a 19year cycle while Thanksgiving repeats on a seven-year cycle; therefore, one would expect the two holidays to coincide every 133 years (19 x 7 = 133). However, while a form of Thanksgiving has been celebrated in “the new world” since perhaps as early as 1621, Thanksgiving was not first formally enacted until 1863 by President Lincoln during the Civil War. The last time the overlapping holidays could have happened was in 1861, two years before the formal proclamation. And why you might ask, won’t it happen again for more than 70,000 years? The reason is that the Jewish calendar is slowly moving ahead of the Gregorian calendar at the rate of four days per 1,000 years. So, while in the foreseeable future, Hanukkah should be as early as November 28, in the future, because of the movement of the days, the earliest date for Hanukkah will be November 29, a
day after Thanksgiving’s latest date to occur. Currently, the earliest date for Hanukkah and the latest date for Thanksgiving will be in 2146; that is on a Monday, too late for Thanksgiving. Thus, we shall have to wait more than 70,000 years for the two holidays to repeat themselves; the Jewish calendar will have looped around the Gregorian calendar and Hanukkah will fall on November 28, the same date as Thanksgiving in the year 79,811. This is probably not worth worrying about or even thinking about for most of us. This, however, is a wonderful day, while we are eating our turkey and latkes, to give dual thanks for much of what we have and what we have been blessed with. We are thankful that the Maccabees, under the leadership of Mattathias and then his son Judah, retook the Temple from the Greeks and with G-d’s help
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Community Chanukah Celebration
11A Ken Wetcher leads High Holiday services in Prague
Jewish Federation of Collier County and our Community Synagogues and Organizations invite you to join us
Wednesday, November 27 at 5:45 p.m.
The Lawn at Mercato Across from Silverspot Cinema
19A Rising young star: Zachary Schiller
2B New museum exhibit
Greetings from Community Leaders Candle Lighting Concert by the Naples Klezmer Revival Band and lots of holiday spirit for the whole family! WE CELEBRATE OUR JEWISH COMMUNITY Jewish Federation of Collier County • Beth Tikvah • Chabad Jewish Center of Naples Jewish Congregation of Marco Island • Naples Jewish Congregation • Temple Shalom Jewish Family & Community Services of SWFL • Hadassah • Humanistic Jewish Havurah • Israel Bonds • JNF Jewish War Veterans Post 202 • NCJW • Naples Friends of Magen David Adom • Naples Jewish Social Club • ORT
Jewish Federation of Collier County Inc. 2500 Vanderbilt Beach Rd., Ste. 2201 Naples, FL 34109
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