November 24, 2010: Thanksgiving’s Jewish Roots

Dear Chevre (Friends):

Thanksgiving is the only American holiday with religious overtones to which Jews can easily relate. This is not surprising, since there is strong historical evidence that, originally, Thanksgiving was consciously modeled on the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
The Pilgrims were well acquainted with Jewish history and culture. After fleeing England and before sailing for America, they spent a dozen years in Amsterdam, where they came into contact with the bustling Sephardic Jewish community that had recently been expelled from Spain. The Pilgrims identified their own journey to seek religious freedom in the New World with the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. The wigwams that they built, with help from Native Americans, for their first harsh winter on American soil resembled the temporary booths (“sukkot”) that sheltered the Children of Israel in the wilderness. The Pilgrims established Thanksgiving for the same basic religious purpose as Sukkot—to express gratitude to God for the fall harvest. With respect to timing and duration, the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621 resembled Sukkot far more than our modern celebration. The Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving took place over the course of many days in early October, not, as today, during a few hours in late November. In fact, Thanksgiving most likely coincided with Sukkot that year. (It was not until President Roosevelt, many centuries later, when the holiday was instituted on the last Thursday of November.)
In our era, Thanksgiving is truly an interfaith celebration of freedom and bounty, which Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all other Americans can share equally. Its roots, however, are distinctly Jewish.
I offer you the following prayer for use, if you wish, at your Thanksgiving tables. It was written specifically for Thanksgiving by the well-known liturgist, Rabbi Naomi Levy:
For the laughter of the children,
For my own life breath,
For the abundance of food on this table,
For the ones who prepared this sumptuous feast,
For the roof over our heads,
The clothes on our backs,
For our health,
And our wealth of blessings,
For this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends,
For the freedom to pray these words
Without fear,
In any language,
In any faith,
In this great country,
Whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants.
Thank You, God, for giving us all these. Amen.

Rabbi Brian
rabbi.brian.besser@gmail.com