Expanding Circles of Thanks
It is common among Jews to assume that Thanksgiving is really a Jewish holiday. Quoting nameless "historians," the inspiration for the Pilgrim's thanksgiving feast was the Biblical Festival of Sukkot -- a fall festival that expresses gratitude for the harvest, for the land, and is celebrated in booths adorned with fall bounty and color, complete with feasting on seasonally appropriate fare. At the core of the Sukkot observance is the recitation of Hallel (psalms sung as expressions of exultant thanks), and the shaking of the lulav and etrog (a bundle of plants symbolizing life, abundance and thanks).
Puritans were deeply immersed in the Hebrew Bible. They saw themselves as the new Israelites -- hence many took Hebrew names, gave their new settlements names from the Land of Israel, saw themselves on a new exodus journey to a new promised land. Their knowledge of Scripture was deep and personal -- they would have resonated to a celebration of autumnal bounty conducted by a people journeying from oppression to freedom.
The Sukkot theory of Thanksgiving is really great. And it could even be true. The only challenge is that I couldn't find any colonial Puritan authors who made that claim. What is charming about it, nonetheless, is the resonance that so many Jews feel toward Thanksgiving. It is a very "Jewish" holiday, even if it wasn't a Jewish holiday to begin with: Great meal, great company, celebrating life and joy and resilience and freedom in community. All values embedded deeply in Jewish tradition.
The term "Jew" comes from the Hebrew word Yehudah meaning thanks, joy, gratitude. At the core of the Jewish way is a resilient joy that directs our attention toward the blessings we already have, those we need to work toward to realize, and the need to share those blessings in community.
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Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles. A member of the Philosophy Department, he is particularly interested in theology, ethics and the integration of science and religion, as an advocate of Process Thought. He supervises the Miller Introduction to Judaism Program and mentors Camp Ramah in California. He is the author of 10 books and over 250 articles.
It is common among Jews to assume that Thanksgiving is really a Jewish holiday. Quoting nameless "historians," the inspiration for the Pilgrim's thanksgiving feast was the Biblical Festival of Sukkot -- a fall festival that expresses gratitude for the harvest, for the land, and is celebrated in booths adorned with fall bounty and color, complete with feasting on seasonally appropriate fare. At the core of the Sukkot observance is the recitation of Hallel (psalms sung as expressions of exultant thanks), and the shaking of the lulav and etrog (a bundle of plants symbolizing life, abundance and thanks).
Puritans were deeply immersed in the Hebrew Bible. They saw themselves as the new Israelites -- hence many took Hebrew names, gave their new settlements names from the Land of Israel, saw themselves on a new exodus journey to a new promised land. Their knowledge of Scripture was deep and personal -- they would have resonated to a celebration of autumnal bounty conducted by a people journeying from oppression to freedom.
The Sukkot theory of Thanksgiving is really great. And it could even be true. The only challenge is that I couldn't find any colonial Puritan authors who made that claim. What is charming about it, nonetheless, is the resonance that so many Jews feel toward Thanksgiving. It is a very "Jewish" holiday, even if it wasn't a Jewish holiday to begin with: Great meal, great company, celebrating life and joy and resilience and freedom in community. All values embedded deeply in Jewish tradition.
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