Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day festival of lights, begins on Christmas Day this year, which has only happened four times since 1900.

For some rabbis, the intersection of the two religious holidays represents an opportune occasion for interfaith engagement.

“This can be a profound opportunity for learning, collaboration and sharing,” said Rabbi Josh Stanton, vice president of the Jewish Federations of North America. He oversees interfaith initiatives involving the 146 local and regional Jewish associations that his organization represents.

“The goal is not proselytizing; it’s about learning deeply from each other,” he said. “Others see you the way you see yourself.”

One example of togetherness: A Chicanukah party hosted by several Jewish organizations in Houston on Thursday evening, bringing together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities for a “cross-cultural holiday celebration.” The Venue: Houston’s Holocaust Museum.

The food on offer was a mix of both cultures – for example, a latke bar with guacamole, chili con queso and pico de gallo, as well as applesauce and sour cream. The donut-like pastries consisted of sufganiyot — a Hanukkah specialty — and buñuelos, and the mariachi band played the Jewish folk song “Hava Nagila.”

“What really brings us together are our shared values ​​– our faith, our families, our heritage,” said Erica Winsor, public affairs officer for the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

Rabbi Peter Tarlow, executive director of the Houston-based Center for Latino-Jewish Relations, said the first Chicanukah event 12 years ago drew 20 people, while the crowd this year was about 300 and could have been larger given the number of participants would not have been limited. He said the partygoers were a roughly even mix of Latinos – some of them Jews of Latino descent – and “Anglo” Jews.

“There is too much hatred, too much division against both Jews and Latinos,” Tarlow said. “This is a way for us to come together and show that we support each other.”

While Hanukkah is intended as a happy, solemn holiday, rabbis note that this year it comes amid ongoing conflict between Israeli forces in the Middle East and concerns about widespread incidents of anti-Semitism.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, acknowledged that many Jews may be afraid of Hanukkah this year. However, he expressed confidence that most would maintain the most important tradition: lighting menorah candles and displaying them in places where they are visible through household windows and in public spaces.

“The attitude of our community — without acrimony, just determination — is that the menorah should be in our windows, in a place where the public will see it,” Hauer said.

“It’s less about us, the Jewish community, and more about the world,” he added. “We must share this light. Placing the menorah in the window is our expression of our work to be a light among the nations.”

Hauer agreed with Stanton that this year’s overlap of Hanukkah and Christmas is “an extraordinary opportunity to see and experience the diversity of America and the diversity of its faith communities.”

Rabbi Motti Seligson, public relations director for the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, noted that this year marks the 50th anniversary of a milestone in the public lighting of menorahs. On December 8, 1974, as part of an initiative by Lubavitch leader Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, a menorah was lit in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Liberty Bell was then located.

“Hanukkah is a celebration of religious freedom, so it will not be taken for granted,” Seligson said. “One way to do this is to celebrate it publicly.”

He said Chabad is organizing about 15,000 public menorah lightings this year through its many branches around the world.

“There is certainly some concern,” Seligson said, citing concerns about anti-Semitism and political tensions. “Some people wonder whether Jews will celebrate as openly as they did in the past.”

“What I’m hearing is there’s no way we can,” he added. “The only way through these difficult times is to be stronger, prouder and shine brighter than ever.”

Stanton agreed.

“In our history we have experienced both easy and difficult moments,” he said. “For us, security doesn’t come from hiding. It comes from reaching out our hand.”

Why is Hanukkah so late this year? The simple answer is that the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and does not agree with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on December 25th. Hanukkah always begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, a date that falls between late November and late December in the Gregorian calendar.

The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005. But the term “Chrismukkah” — which denotes the overlap between the two holidays — had become a popular term even before that. The term gained additional meaning in 2003 when the character Seth Cohen on the television series “The OC” adopted the fusion holiday as a tribute to his Jewish father and Protestant mother.

This season, Hallmark Channel debuted a new Christmas movie called Leah’s Perfect Gift. It stars a young Jewish woman who has admired Christmas from afar and gets the opportunity to experience it up close when her boyfriend invites her to spend the holiday with his family. Spoiler alert: Not everything goes smoothly.

Although such storylines suggest that some Jews are fascinated by Christmas, Stanton says research from Jewish associations shows that there is an increase in Jews seeking deeper connections to their own traditions and community, as well as an increase in Jews who are Volunteer for charity during the holidays.

“The opportunity is to share with others how we celebrate Hanukkah,” he said. “It is a holiday of freedom, of hope, that shows that you are proudly Jewish.” ___

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