Thanksgivingukkah Devar Torah

Clearly it’s not just the Jews who have realized that this Thanksgiving – coinciding with Chanukah – is something special.  Chanukah may have fallen close to parshat Miketz before, but it’s a first for Thanksgiving.  As we learn from the Chassidishe source Fun Di Chassishe Ostros, miketz meaning end, refers to the end of days, indicating the arrival of Moshiach.  And there probably isn’t any better day/night for Moshiach to come than on the once-in-a-lifetime event of Thanksgivingukah.

It seems like it’s not only the Jews though who are thankful for the Thanksgivingukah milestone.  The fact is, for the first time in its 155-year history, Macy’s will open for Thanksgiving – obviously in order not to miss out on the miracle of the Jewish holiday.  Likewise, J.C. Penney will open at 8 p.m. to get a piece of the miraculous shopping action, which makes sense given the gematria of J. C. Penney is 233, a mere 50 less than Chag Haurim (at 233), 50 being the gematria of Nun, which is representative of the “Nes” of Chanukah.  Hardly a coincidence.

Further, Kohl’s – boasting a gematria of 196 (which happens to be the same as for the word maphal [meaning darkness]) is opening for 28 hours straight from 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Kohl’s is obviously seeking to get out of its darkness and experience the miracle of the light of the Jewish holiday here.  Of course it is, because ScrabbleFinder interprets the word Kohls as meaning: “A cosmetic preparation used by women in Egypt and Arabia to darken the edges of their eyelids.”

All of this is really just too much to be considered a coincidence, especially since 8pm is the chosen time for two of these stores to be unprecedentedly open, in conjunction with the 8 days of Chanukah.  Added to the fact that the last time Chanukah and Thanksgiving shared a date was so long ago that Thanksgiving didn’t even exist yet! But the year would have been 1888 – lots of 8s there.  And of course the date today is November 20 eighth.

And if that doesn’t convince you enough, drink 8 glasses of wine and go shoot the 8-ball after dinner with your host, my incredible, amazing, miraculous husband who is a constant source of light in my life as he and I mark 8+ years of marital happiness.