**************** Hanukkah dates **************** the short explanation --------------------- The jewish year is different from the christian year by 3760 . But the jewish year starts at around October . So from October to 31 of December , the difference is 3761 . Then , at January 1st , the difference returns to be 3760 . Hanukkah is an 8 days jewish holiday that is celebrated in some years at late December and in some years at early January . So , coins released at Hanukkah have sometimes 3760 years of difference , and sometimes 3761 years difference . Depending if it was celebrated at December or January . Until 2002 , only 124 special edition items were released at a "December-Hanukkah" , and have a gap of 3761 between the jewish and the AD calendars . _______________________________________________________________ The elaborated story --------------------- Hanukkah is not the most important holiday in the jewish calendar , and not in the Israeli calendar , not even in the top 5 holidays . But the "Israel government Coins and Medals corporation ltd" or "I.G.C.M.C" for short , chose it to be a "landmark" in the israeli numismatica calendar . And many medals , commemorative coins and special edition coins , were released to the markets around Hanukkah throughout the years . I checked the sKMc (2005 edition) and i found 124 items (i deliberaetly don't say coins) that have 3761 years difference between the jewish and the christian years . Most of these 124 items are gold(30) or silver(86) , that were minted in less than 10,000 copies , and are worth hundreds of u.s dollars each . (the other 7 are un-common medals and commemorative coins) The only one circulation coin in this list is a catalogue-mistake , it shouldn't be there at all . For conclusion : don't bother yourself with these items ! you will probably not see any of them in your life . I don't have any of them in my collection either . _________________________________________ some yiddishkate 1 - In Hanukkah we celebrate the victory over the Greek invaders at the 4th century b.c . 2 - The war against the Roman invaders at 66-73 AD has a reflection in the jewish calendar : "tish'ah be'av" . It is a mourning day (at mid August) about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem . 3 - The rebel against the Romans at 133-134 AD has an holiday too , it is called : "Lag ba'omer" . ___________________________________________________________ All these holidays are considered as "second level" holidays , and are not as important as the "first level" holidays (such as Passover , Yom kippur , independence day etc' ) . for example : on a "second level" holiday you go to work , and everything is open . Whereas in a "first level" holidays everything is closed . p.s ----- i invented the term "first/second level" holidays just for the sake of this explanation . There is not such a term in hebrew .