A SPIRIT OF GIVING: Volunteers from the Jewish Center of Princeton recently helped donate food to the needy as part of the “Chanukah Give-Back,” inspired by the confluence of Chanukah and Thanksgiving. Shown here are Lesley Schwartzman, left, and Eliza Rosenthale.

In a rare quirk of the calendar, two major holidays are colliding this year. Chanukah, the eight-day Festival of Lights that usually falls later in the season, reaches its second night on Thanksgiving. This strange overlapping hasn’t happened since 1888, and won’t occur again until the year 79,811, experts say.

“Thanksgivvukah,” as some are calling it, presents certain challenges. But it also provides some rare opportunities. Focused on being thankful, the holidays actually share a similar message.

At the Jewish Center of Princeton, a “Chanukah Give-Back” series of community service events is in full swing. For the past several weeks, members of the congregation have been helping out at Habitat for Humanity, donating blood, delivering food to disadvantaged families, and welcoming artists from the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Today, they are serving meals at Princeton United Methodist Church’s Cornerstone Community Kitchen.

“People are responding to the challenge,” says Neil Wise, the Jewish Center’s Director of Programming. “It reminds them of the message of Chanukah, and of what being a Jew is all about — tikkun olam, which is repairing the world, and tzedakah, which is charity.”

Last year, the congregation was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for lighting the most menorahs at one time, in one place. “We had 834 people lighting menorahs at Princeton Airport, and more than 900 people attended,” Mr. Wise says. “After a program like that, the only thing you can do is run in the opposite direction. My goal for this year was to completely reinvent. Having Thanksgiving on top of Chanukah gave us the perfect opportunity for the biggest mash-up of all time.”

For Princeton resident Rabbi Justus Baird, Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, the rare confluence of holidays provides a reaffirmation of what Chanukah is about. “Having it early in the calendar is a reminder that Chanukah is really it’s own holiday,” he says. “Jews in America are so conditioned to associate it with Christmas, but really, it has it’s own message. This is a chance to associate with a different holiday and let that message come through.”

Mr. Baird says his rabbi friends are divided about the situation. “Some are really excited about the chance to tell our Jewish story in a new way,” he says. “Some are confused about what the hubbub is about. For me, I’m excited about it, because I’m so used to defending Chanukah against Christmas. This has been a needed reminder about the original meaning of the holiday.”

Adding the traditional Chanukah latkes or other themed dishes to the Thanksgiving menu is one way to acknowledge both holidays. Mr. Baird knows of people who have, with their children, created Thanksgiving-themed Hanukiahs (a nine-branched menorah) in the shape of a turkey.

“There is a great diversity of practice in American Judaism,” he says, “from Jews who will celebrate this confluence in a very excited way, to Jews who might think it doesn’t matter and isn’t a big deal. As for me, I’ll be expressing my thanks for living in a country that is so committed to religious freedom, which is what this is all about. The story of Chanukah is about how a small group of Jews kept their traditions alive in the Greek majority culture. Jews are less than two percent of the American population, and it is a struggle for us to keep our traditions alive. This holiday reminds us of the importance of doing so, even though we celebrate how integrated we are with American culture.”