It's a Chrismukkah year.
The start of Hanukkah in the Jewish faith on Wednesday night coincides with Christmas Day for the first time in 19 years and only the fifth time in the 20th or 21st centuries (the others were 1910, 1921 and 1959).
Hence, Chrismukkah. It dates far earlier than its modern introduction in a 2003 episode of the Fox Television teen series "The O.C." -- its first usage was among middle-class Jews in German-speaking countries in the 19th century.
This year, too, the eight days of lighting the menorah include the seven days of Kwanzaa, a non-religious African-American holiday celebration. From Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, the seven candles of Kinara are lit nightly.
The confluence makes a reflection of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in Omaha's history never more timely.
The city's first organized Hanukkah observance could have been in 1867, less than three months after the first Jewish worship service. To observe Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish New Year -- about 20 of the city's estimated 30 "Israelites," as the Omaha Herald referred to Jewish people, met in a 24-hour prayer service "in an extemporized Synagogue in the house of Mr. (N.) Rosenthal."
Because Judaism regards Hanukkah as a minor holiday, it could be the reason the first newspaper mention of Omaha celebrating it doesn't appear until 1889. Or that the 1968 master's thesis "The Jews of Omaha: The first sixty years" by Carol Gendler, the Omahan who died earlier this month at age 91, doesn't include a mention of Hanukkah.
"During the past week, the Hebrew people have been celebrating one of their most beautiful holiday seasons,'' the Omaha Daily Bee reported on Dec. 29, 1889. "It is called the Chanuka or feast of dedication, and is designed to keep in memory the re-dedication of the temple at Jerusalem by the illustrious General Judas Maccabeus in the year 167 B.C. The eighth and last day of the feast occurred on Thursday and the congregation of Israel (Temple Israel) celebrated it at Metropolitan hall with an entertainment and supper to the children of the Sabbath school."
In 1910, the first of the aforementioned five modern overlaps of Christmas and Hanukkah, Rabbi Frederick Cohn began the Festival of Lights with a children's service on the afternoon of Dec. 25 at Temple Israel's synagogue at Park Avenue and Jackson Streets (today's St. John Greek Orthodox Church).
Hanukkah observances in 1911 were many. A cantor from Minneapolis conducted services at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel, 13th and Pacific Streets (the area was an early Jewish settlement); Rabbi Cohn spoke at Temple Israel; and a chorus of 15 voices and an orchestra were in concert at Chevra B'nai Israel, 18th Street and Capitol Avenue.
Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel and Chevra B'nai Israel, both orthodox Jewish congregations, merged to form Beth Israel at 52nd and Charles Streets in 1950.
The Jewish Community Center hosted in 1929 the first joint children's program for the JCC's Sunday school and the Talmund Torah. The Children's Theater of the JCC presented the "Pictures out of the Past" one-act play.
(Sidebar: The JCC is older than thought, given that it's preparing to celebrate its 100th year in 2025. While its first freestanding building opened in 1926 in the southwest corner of 20th and Dodge Streets, the JCC began in 1922 on the third floor of the Lyric Building at 19th and Farnam Streets.)
Omaha Tech graduate David Lazarus, whose career as an opera singer included performing in the Hollywood Bowl, was the guest artist in 1932 at the Junior Society of the Conservative synagogue's first Hanukkah dance and program at the Hotel Fontenelle downtown.
The dedication of Beth-El synagogue at 49th Avenue and Farnam Streets was scheduled during Hanukkah in 1941. Rabbi David Goldstein expected 5,000 visitors during the eight days.
It wasn't a Chrismukkah year in 1966, but the 42 children who attended afternoon classes at the Montessori Wisdom School in the new Maple Village subdivision in northwest Omaha put on an ecumenical holiday program. One act was for Hanukkah and another for the Nativity scene.
In 1976, Temple Israel held its first congregational dinner since the synagogue was damaged in the May 6, 1975, tornado. Beth Israel followed its annual Hanukkah dinner with a children's program that honored the founders of the United States and American Judaism since it was the nation's bicentennial.
Temple Israel has moved to 132nd and Pacific Streets, Beth Israel to 126th and Pacific and Beth El to 144th Street and West Dodge Road. With the Chabad Lubavitch at 120th and Shirley Streets, Omaha's Jewish houses of worship are near the Jewish Community Center campus on 132nd south of West Dodge.
Some holiday activities might be new, such as a dreidel tournament, but the menorah remains the centerpiece of Hanukkah.
Kwanzaa: Omaha's first observance of Kwanzaa, a non-religious, cultural celebration started in 1966 in the United States by California college professor Maulana Karenga, was in 1976.
Omahan Jeff Patterson's one-act play consisted of African dance, poetry and music performed by a cast of children ages 6 to 13t. It took the stage at the Woodson Center in South Omaha, the UNO student center and the North Branch YMCA.
In 1977, Patterson expanded the Kwanzaa offerings to a New Year's Eve celebration at American Legion Post 30's celebration with members of the Kellom Girls Club and Freedom House. Other performances were at the Logan Fontenelle Center, the Evans Manor and the North Branch Y.
A grant from the Nebraska Arts Council to the new Third World Coalition of Minority Artists helped fund the 1978 presentations that included one at the Joslyn Art Museum during a "That's Wintertainment" weekend.
Many years since then, the Great Plains Black History Museum was the hub of Kwanzaa activity.
This is the second year for ONE (Omaha, NE) Kwanzaa, formed to consolidate the holiday's programming by various organizations. A kid-friendly Kwanzaa Kickoff, 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 26 at the Essential Gathering Place, 5001 N. 42nd St., begins this year's Kwanzaa week.
Whatever you may celebrate this week, Happy Holidays!
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