Posted on November 27, 2024 by Rabbi David Katz
Last Friday night I spoke to the congregation about the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m pleased to share some excerpts from that talk:
Thanksgiving isn’t a Jewish holiday per se but it certainly has a Jewish feel to it. There’s the food, the family and the leisurely pace of the day. It almost seems as if there should be a special Jewish blessing for this American holiday.
The expression of gratitude plays a big part in the life of Jews. We are commanded to recite 100 blessings each day. We have very specific blessings for various foods and for special moments in the day. There is a blessing when we eat snacks, when we eat a new fruit, when we see a rainbow, when we see someone of great secular learning and when we see someone who looks very unusual. And we have a blessing when we’re just feeling happy – the “Shehecheyanu.” Our tradition teaches us that we should express our gratitude to God all the time.
Intuitively, we recognize that we should say “thank you” when we are given something. When we are given a birthday gift we say, “thanks.” When food is served to us at the table we say, “thanks.” When we are given a compliment we say, “thanks.” The bigger the gift, the bigger our expression of gratitude.
The biggest gift is the gift of life but for some reason we neglect to give thanks to God. We wake up in the morning and a prayer does not spring from our lips. Another sunrise, another opportunity to appreciate the clear, crisp air, another opportunity to love, and it doesn’t occur to us to thank God. This is remarkable. We would teach our children always to say “thank you,” but as adults we don’t give it much thought when it comes to the biggest “Thank you ” of all.
So you’re about to say “goodbye” to your friend or family member who is going back home after Thanksgiving. Nothing to that, right? Simple….. right? You don’t even think of that plane not making it. If you did you wouldn’t be able to sleep until it landed.
But it may not be bad to think about the negative potential of any situation and then to draw back from that fear with a simple prayer, thanking God for protecting our loved ones and sustaining them…and thanking God for sustaining us, too.
The Torah is our best guide and we read in Deuteronomy that we are creatures who will forget God the moment we are satisfied with life. So we read: ” Beware lest you forget the Lord your God . . . Lest when you have eaten and are satisfied you say in your heart: My power and this might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” Dt. 8:10ff.
When we say “thank you” to the person placing the plate in front of us can’t we look a little further than the plates in front of our noses? How did that soup get there? Someone definitely cooked it but a farmer had to grow the food and send it to the factory and the sun and rain helped the crops to grow.
And who controls the sun and the rain?
But we look at the food on our tables and thank only the cook!
We are about to celebrate Thanksgiving. This is a day to be grateful. On every day and especially on this American holiday, we should lift up our voices to express our gratitude to the God of heaven and earth… to the God who gives us food, the God who gives us shelter, the God who continues to give us life.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
L’shalom,
Rabbi Katz
