December is a month stuffed with holidays that deliver households, mates, and family members collectively. Amongst these particular events are Christmas, New 12 months’s, and Hanukkah. On December 16, President Biden remarked on Hanukkah throughout a speech, as famous on The White Home web site: “Look, once you stroll across the White Home, you are 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 1000’s 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 People have formed the very basis and character of our nation.”
Study extra about Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish vacation throughout which the menorah is lit every night time, beneath. Hollywood Life has gathered key particulars concerning the competition, 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. In keeping with Britannica, the competition “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 competition.”
Does the U.S. Observe Hanukkah as a Federal Vacation?
Whereas the US observes Christmas as a federal vacation, President Biden lately introduced that federal staff would even have December 24 off for Christmas Eve. As acknowledged on The White Home web site, he declared: “All government departments and businesses of the Federal Authorities shall be closed and their staff excused from responsibility on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, the day earlier than Christmas Day.”
Hanukkah, nevertheless, is just not acknowledged as a federal vacation in the US.
Are Companies Open on Hanukkah 2024?
Since Hanukkah is just not a federal vacation, most shops and companies stay open. Nevertheless, some Jewish-owned companies could shut throughout the vacation to look at the custom.