December is a month stuffed with holidays that convey households, pals, and family members collectively. Among these particular events are Christmas, New Year’s, and Hanukkah. On December 16, President Biden remarked on Hanukkah throughout a speech, as famous on The White House web site: “Look, once you stroll across the White House, you’re feeling the historical past and the story of our nation, together with the story of the Jewish individuals who got here to our shores within the 1600s after fleeing persecution overseas.” He added, “Like the traditional Hanukkah story when the Jewish Maccabees fought for non secular freedom hundreds of years in the past, a letter to George Washington echoed the identical imaginative and prescient for freedom. And ever since, the values and contributions of the Jewish Americans have formed the very basis and character of our nation.”
Learn extra about Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish vacation throughout which the menorah is lit every evening, beneath. Hollywood Life has gathered key particulars in regards to the pageant, together with when it takes place in 2024, whether or not it’s a federal vacation, and extra.
When Is Hanukkah 2024?
The Jewish vacation begins the night of December 25, 2024, coinciding with Christmas Day, and involves an finish on January 2, 2025. According to Britannica, the pageant “reaffirms the beliefs of Judaism and commemorates particularly the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the lighting of candles on every day of the pageant.”
Does the U.S. Observe Hanukkah as a Federal Holiday?
While the United States observes Christmas as a federal vacation, President Biden not too long ago introduced that federal workers would even have December 24 off for Christmas Eve. As said on The White House web site, he declared: “All government departments and businesses of the Federal Government shall be closed and their workers excused from responsibility on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, the day earlier than Christmas Day.”
Hanukkah, nonetheless, shouldn’t be acknowledged as a federal vacation within the United States.
Are Businesses Open on Hanukkah 2024?
Since Hanukkah shouldn’t be a federal vacation, most shops and companies stay open. However, some Jewish-owned companies might shut through the vacation to look at the custom.