Many people wonder why Jewish holidays shift so much from year to year. Sometimes Chanukah, for example, comes closer to Thanksgiving and at other times it falls closer to the secular New Year. Wouldn't it be more comforting and reassuring to have Chanukah fall on the same English date every year?
That our Jewish holidays shift each year is a result of basing our calendar on the lunar cycle, which has 354 days in a year rather than 365 as in the Gregorian calendar. Each year we are approximately 11 days ahead of the regular calendar. In three years we are more than a month ahead. If we follow the lunar calendar strictly (as Moslems do), Jewish holidays would eventually fall in the wrong season. We could end up with Chanukah, for example, in the Spring or Passover in the Fall. So we place boundaries on how much Jewish dates can vary.
Every three years or so (7 times in 19 years, to be exact) we adjust our calendar by adding an entire leap month; in fact we double an already existing month Adar and create Adar I and Adar II. The reason we select this month is because it contains Purim, the happiest holiday of the Jewish year, and we want to double our pleasure (actually, we celebrate Purim in Adar II only). The consequence of a leap year is that people who say Kaddish at the anniversary of a loved one will recite this prayer almost a month later than in a regular year.
Well, now we understand why the Jewish calendar shifts, but we must still address the question of how this variable calendar makes us feel. If you think about it, following the moon cycle is fitting for the Jewish people. The lunar cycle, with its waxing and waning is very much like Jewish destinya trajectory that brings us periods when our fate is tragic as well as moments when we experience elation.
Similarly, the fact that our holidays move around from year to year reflects the hard reality that Jewish life is episodic--our history is unpredictable and the choice of occasions for celebrating depends much on the noblesse of countries in which we live.
But the greatest advantage, in my mind, is that the shifting of holiday dates provides variety so that we do not take the presence of holidays for granted. By their varying yearly placement they teach us to appreciate life in very different ways, depending on what other secular holidays they are associated with. For example, when Chanukah coincides with Thanksgiving, as it does this year, it makes us think how double blessed we are. We are thankful not only that we live in a great country that protects the rights of all people, but also that we have religious freedoms for which in the Chanukah story the Maccabees fought so hard. In a similar vein, when Chanukah falls doser to the secular New Year, it prompts us to think of renewal and rededication, so much needed as a means to combat the harshness of the winter onset.
So, appreciate Chanukah whenever it occurs and use each day to reflect on another blessing that you have in your lives.
Chag Sameach! Happy Holidays!