Happy Hanukkah
Hanukkah and Christmas overlap every few years, but the confluence of the two holidays coming so near this year is indeed close.
Hanukkah starts this Sunday night (Dec. 22) and continues through the week to close on Dec. 30.
Next year, the eight-day Hanukkah celebration will end Dec. 18, a week before Christmas. In 2021, it will be over Dec. 6, much earlier. But in 2024, the beginning of Hanukkah and Christmas Day will be celebrated together on Dec. 25, indeed a rare occurrence.
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the larger Syrian army.
It also celebrates a miracle that happened during this time, where just a one day’s supply of oil allowed the menorah in the rededicated temple in Jerusalem to remain lit for eight days.
The Gregorian calendar most countries use is based on the solar cycle, with 365 days a year, plus a correction every four years including 2020 coming up.
This Saturday, in fact, marks the winter solstice, which in Pleasanton occurs at 8:19 p.m., the shortest daylight period of the year.
“But the Jewish calendar is a lunar-solar calendar,” explained Rabbi Larry Milder, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton. “Every month is a lunar month, with the first day being the new moon.
“Hanukkah will always begin on a waning crescent moon, near the end of the month of Kislev. Gregorian months, by contrast, have nothing to do with the moon,” he said, adding:
“There is a lot to admire and appreciate about the holidays celebrated by other faiths. That Christmas and Hanukkah come at the same time this year gives us pause to consider what we have to learn from one another.”
“We may not believe the same things, but like the sun and the moon, we are in a kind of dance that goes round and round, shining light each in our own way. Here’s to the alignment of our cosmic lights.”
To celebrate Hanukkah, Beth Emek will host a teen Hanukkah celebration at 6:30 p.m. this Saturday (Dec. 21). At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the congregation will hold a Hanukkah Mitzvah (or good deed) night for families with young children.
“Light. Hope. Redemption. These three words will permeate my Chanukah this year,” said Rabbi Raleigh Resnick, spiritual leader of the 14-year-old Chabad of the Tri-Valley, based in Pleasanton.
“This week families of all faiths will celebrate and strengthen their commitment to God with lights,” he said, adding:
“We will reach out with the light of charity, goodness and kindness to those less fortunate than us, we will shine our inner light to heal broken relationships and we will pray that a light of mutual understanding illuminates our country during this divisive era.”
Chabad of the Tri-Valley plans a more public celebration.
Starting at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Chabad members will put electric menorahs on the roof of their cars and drive around Pleasanton with a special police escort. The car parade will arrive at the Chabad center at 3370 Hopyard Rd. for a menorah lighting to launch the start of Hanukkah, or Chanukah as Chabad prefers.
At 5:30 p.m. Monday (Dec. 23), Chabad will take its celebration to Stoneridge Shopping Center’s Grand Court, calling it “Chanukah Wonderland.” Its 9-foot-tall menorah will be lighted at 6:30 p.m.
Then next Saturday (Dec. 28), as Chanukah draws to a close, Chabad will hold another celebration in downtown Livermore in front of the Bankhead Theater. The lighting of Livermore’s menorah will end the celebration at 8 p.m.
Merry Christmas
Next Wednesday is Christmas, falling midweek, which could make family get-togethers a bit more difficult for those needing to travel long distances.
Cheer up. Because of leap year in 2020, Christmas Day will be on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the next four years.
For those wanting an early start to celebrating Christmas, CrossWinds Church along Interstate 580 in Livermore will offer Christmas Eve services at 4 and 6 p.m. on Monday (Dec. 23). Identical services will follow at 12, 2 and 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Christmas Eve. Because of the crowds expected, tickets for the services must be reserved ahead of time at www.crosswindschurch.org. They’re free.
Cornerstone Fellowship, located across from Costco in Livermore, also will have five identical services, all on Christmas Eve at 9 and 11 a.m. and 1, 3 and 5 p.m.
Catholics will have the most options for Christmas services with masses at St. Augustine just off Bernal Avenue at 4 and 8 p.m. and midnight Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at 8 and 10 a.m. Masses at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church on Stoneridge Drive are scheduled for 4 p.m. and midnight Christmas Eve and 9 and 11 a.m. Christmas Day. Also see www.catholicsofpleasanton.org.
Clergy from these and other Tri-Valley churches also offered their thoughts on Christmas:
The Rev. Mark Wiesner, pastor, Catholic Community of Pleasanton
Christmas, for many, is the favorite holiday of the year. Along with all the cultural and secular observances, for those of us with a Christian spiritual inclination there is a deeper awareness: its most profound meaning in “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
We celebrate that God has drawn near to show us how deeply he loves us. This realization can shape our lives and the way we live every day.
Everyone experiences those times when our human senses, emotions and perceptions cannot find him. But with a little effort, our hearts can know God is near.
This past year has been very difficult for many people in many ways: economic difficulties, political tensions, loss of job, or home or loved ones and more. It is a great comfort to realize that in the most difficult moments of life, the one born as a light in the darkness stands beside us.
In the daily routines we embrace — raising families, commuting to work, running errands, door-dashing meals, doing laundry, wrestling with issues and everything else — God keeps pace with us and, if we let him, helps guide our choices, actions and direction.
A consciousness of God’s presence can empower us to engage in our daily activities with a little more compassion, patience, honesty, kindness and a greater awareness that we are blessed and called to be a blessing to others.
As Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta once remarked, “It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.”
If we choose, we can live Christmas, God with us, every day.
At this time of year, or anytime you may find your faith faltering, find people of faith and hang around with them. Ask them about their faith, and how it makes a difference in their life. In moments of doubt and struggle, we all need support. Those whose faith you admire can be a great source of encouragement at Christmas, or any time of the year.
Pastor Chris Coli, CrossWinds Church
Our hope this Christmas is to bring love and encouragement to everyone who walks in our doors. Whether it’s someone who feels disconnected from God, someone who has lost their faith or someone who feels like they’re not measuring up, they will hear about God’s deep, unconditional love for them and the hope that Jesus brings.
We know that so many people today are overwhelmed with how much dissension and conflict there is in our world: political groups at each other’s throats, loudly-voiced dissension, uncertainty over what the future holds, fear and instability rising.
What most of us don’t realize, though, is this is not unlike the ancient Mideast over 2000 years ago. It was that dark time into which Jesus was born, when he came into the world to bring peace.
But in the 2000 years since, people have hijacked his name to thrust us back into the very darkness Jesus came to illuminate.
Christmas is about celebrating the one who came to bring hope and change, the one who revolutionized what it meant to be a person of faith.
So, this Christmas, we celebrate the one who came to show us the way of love, to celebrate the revolutionary who invites each of us to stand for justice, equality, and goodness.
Dana Bicker, Community Team, Cornerstone Fellowship
Christmas is a time to celebrate and remember. It’s a time to spend with family and friends. It’s a time to serve our neighbors. It’s a time to slow down and reflect on who Jesus is.
During this season, we encourage Christians to tell the story of Jesus to your family, co-workers and neighbors.
Christmas is one of the easiest times of the year to share the good news of Jesus and invite family and friends to church. We encourage you to invite at least one person to come with you to a Christmas Eve service this year.
For more information, visit www.cornerstoneweb.org.
Pastor Derek Meekins, Harvest Valley Church
Although I participate and enjoy buying gifts and decorating the Christmas tree and stringing lights around the house — as festive and heart-warming as these activities are — my primary focus during Christmas is to honor the historical event of Jesus Christ coming to this earth and being born.
But not just for the sake of his birth, but also what followed, which was Jesus dying on the cross for my sins.
Christmas Eve service will be at Harvest Valley at 5 p.m. The church is located at 3200 Hopyard Road in Pleasanton. Also see www.harvestvalley.org.
The Rev. Dr. Kevin Austin, senior pastor, Our Savior Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)
How do you respond to Christmas? For some Christmas is as the old song says “the most wonderful time of year” filled with joy and excitement, parties and concerts, decorations and carols, traditions and worship. For others, Christmas is a tough time, serving as a reminder of what once was or one disappointment after another, a time filled with stress or maybe loneliness.
To see these reactions, all you have to do is look around you in your office, your neighborhood or the local shopping center.
As a pastor, I can’t help but step back and reflect upon how the first people to hear the news of Christmas responded.
I think of Mary, the young girl who would be the mother of Jesus. When she heard the news from the angel of what was going to happen, she moved quickly from shock and fear to humble submission to the will of God, to going and sharing her news with family.
What was her news? That God had not forgotten His people. That God was not somewhere out there, oblivious to life in this world but was a God who was coming into the world with one purpose: to save us.
Why would God do this? Because God loves us. This is the heart of Christmas that God loved us so much to send his son into the world to be Immanuel God with us so that we might be saved and live eternally with him.
Christmas Eve services at Our Savior Lutheran Church at 7 and 10 p.m.; Christmas Day: 10 a.m. Church is located at 1385 South Livermore Ave. in Livermore. Also see www.oslm.net.
The Rev. Ronald Culmer, St. Clare’s Episcopal Church
Author Ron Edmundson suggests five greater joys at Christmas, and I for one agree whether you know our Lord or not:
* Lower expectations of others
* Increase your investment in others
* Examine your life and address sin; and,
* Change your perspective.
* Joy is a gift.
Joy is not based on what we have done or could do, but on God’s grace towards us. Set your eyes on the prize, set your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.
Christmas Eve services at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church: 5 and 9 p.m.; Christmas Day 11 a.m. Church located at 3350 Hopyard Road in Pleasanton. Go to www.stclarespleasanton.org.
The Rev. Heidi Hester, pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA)
The Christmas season is filled with expectations; some are tangible while others are simply unrealistic.
As much as twinkling lights on a tree or a favorite holiday song playing on the radio bring about a sense of nostalgia longed for, they do not fill the void so many seek to fill during this time of year. In my experience, that void can only be filled with a love that goes beyond my expectations and reminds me that I am not alone.
My expectation for Christmas continues to be that somehow, even for a brief moment, each person would know that they are loved and that there is hope in the love of the Christ-child.
That love is often thought of as a warm-fuzzy feeling, but the love of Christ is so much more. That love manifests itself in our relationship with one another.
Our church communities hopefully become the place where all are welcomed, where all can find a place to belong and to become part of the fabric of the community.
It is in these church communities that the Christ-child’s love for us becomes tangible: a warm meal, food for the table at the end of the month, a backpack full of school supplies, an invitation to explore this love freely given in a safe place with others on the same journey.
This is the gift that Christmas brings to us, the gift of belonging and being loved.
Christmas Eve services at Trinity Lutheran Church: 5 and 11 p.m. The church is located at 1225 Hopyard Road in Pleasanton. Also see www.tlcpleasanton.org.
New retail, dining options coming to Stoneridge Shopping Center later this yearApril 19, 2026 9:24 pm
