Thanksgiving

 

American Jews seem to have a mixed opinion on what to do about Thanksgiving.

One religious leader I know refuses to celebrate the holiday - despite enjoying this country's freedoms since his birth - so he deliberately has macaroni and cheese on the last Thursday of November. Seems to me his thumbing his nose at one of the few American holidays that ALL Americans can celebrate is an acknowledgement in its own right - a special Thanksgiving Day meal.

Many in the Ashkenazi Orthodox community agree with our "mac-n-cheese" guy, but not all.

Most observant Sefardi Jews, even those who were born outside the 50 States, acknowledge the holiday; some celebrate it, understanding that of the UN's 193 member countries, the United States ranks in the Top 5 of countries where Jews are treated as "just another citizen" - the mark of a truly free people.

Is (national) Thanksgiving a non-Jewish custom rooted in idolatry or is it a foolish custom?.

Ran (Rabbenu Gerondi Nissim 11th Century) and Maharik (Rabbi Joseph Colon ben Solomon Trabotto, 15th Century) rule that only customs that have a basis in idolatrous practices are prohibited. Apparently foolish--but secular--customs are permissible so long as they have a reasonable explanation (and are not immodest). Normative Halakhah follows the ruling of the Ran and Maharik. (1)

According to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in four published responsa [rabbinic rulings] on the issues related to celebrating Thanksgiving, all conclude that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday but a secular one.

Rabbi Feinstein reinforces his understanding that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday in a responsum published in 1980. He states: "On the issue of joining with those who think that Thanksgiving is like a holiday to eat a meal: Since it is clear that according to their religious law books this day is not mentioned as a religious holiday and that one is not obligated in a meal [according to Gentile religious law] and since this is a day of remembrance to citizens of this country, when they came to reside here either now or earlier, halakhah [Jewish law] sees no prohibition in celebrating with a meal or with the eating of turkey. One sees similar to this in Kiddushin 66 that Yanai the king made a party after the conquest of kochlet in the desert and they ate vegetables as a remembrance.

"Nonetheless it is prohibited to establish this as an obligation and religious commandment [mitzvah], and it remains a voluntary celebration now; in this manner--without the establishment of obligation or religious commandment--one can celebrate the next year too with a meal.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik also agreed that Thanksgiving was not a Gentile holiday, and ruled that it was permissible to eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Rabbi Hershel Schachter, in his intellectual biography of Rabbi Soloveitchik, Nefesh HaRav, writes:

"It was the opinion of Rabbi Soloveitchik that it was permissible to eat turkey at the end of November, on the day of Thanksgiving. We understood that, in his opinion, there was no question that turkey did not lack a tradition of kashrut and that eating it on Thanksgiving was not a problem of imitating gentile customs. We also heard that this was the opinion of his father, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik."

Others have also recounted that Rabbi Soloveitchik ruled this way, and that he found it difficult to comprehend how one could consider Thanksgiving a Gentile holiday or that it was prohibited to celebrate it. Indeed, there were instances when Rabbi Soloveitchik implied to his students that he and his family celebrated Thanksgiving, although shiur [class] was always held on Thanksgiving.

An exactly opposite approach to the rulings of Rabbis Feinstein and Soloveitchik appears to have been taken by Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner. Rabbi Hutner argues that it is obvious and apparent that--whatever the merit of celebrating Thanksgiving the first time in the 1600s--the establishment of an annual holiday that is based on the Christian calendar is, at the very least, closely associated with idol worship and thus prohibited.

Rabbi Hutner argues that such a celebration becomes a "holiday" through the creation of an annual observance and celebrating Gentile holidays is obviously wrong. Rabbi Hutner concludes: "In truth, one must distance oneself from these types of customs and even from those events that are similar to these types of customs . . . The truth is simple and obvious."

But Rabbis Feinstein and Soloveitchik, giants of their generation, ruled that Thanksgiving is not a religious event. Moreover, Thanksgiving does not fall on a specific date (as do, for example, Jewish holidays) but on a specific day (Thursday) of a specific month (November).

In Israel, in his sedur v'Zerah haShemish, Hakham Shalom Messes notes that the whole Hallel is said on Independence Day (fixed date, not day) either with, or without, the related blessings (depending on tradition).

We are told (Jeremiah 29:7) to "Seek the welfare of the country where I have sent you into exile; pray to the L-rd for it, for your welfare depends on its welfare.”

The Mishnah, too, enjoins us to pray for the government. In Pirkei Avot, Chapter 3, Mishna 2, it states: “Rabbi Chanina deputy of the Kohanim said ‘Pray for the welfare of the government. If it were not for the fear of the government, each man would eat his neighbor alive!’”

In the 14th century, Rabbi Dovid Abudraham first included a prayer in the Siddur, writing that it is the “custom to bless the King, and to pray to G-d that He may give him victory.

The preceding 3 paragraphs from Ask Moses at http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/577,2067239/What-is-the-origin-of-the-prayer-for-the-welfare-of-the-government.html

As Thanksgiving (and by extension, July 4, Independence day in the US) is a national, vs. religious, holiday, there is a question about reciting Hallel for US holidays, even though we (Jews) enjoy greater freed to practice our religion here than almost anyplace else in the world.

At my synagogue, Thanksgiving is recognized as a holiday by starting shaharet one hour later than usual (I'd rather it started one hour EARLIER than usual, but I'd probably be the only one there). Will Hallel be recited? Don't know; this is my first Thanksgiving holiday with this congregation.

I'm a red, white, and blue son of the US of A; I'm also an Israeli. Finally, I'm the father of a young woman (born in the USA and now in Israel) who will not celebrate the holiday. A religious issue? No; for her it is a moral issue; she abstains in honor of the Indians the Europeans killed with sword and disease. (For those who play at "political correctness," Indian is the proper term; just ask the Seminole Tribe of Florida, "a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe, the only tribe in America who never signed a peace treaty (http://www.seminoletribe.com/)."

Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail dot com

 

(1) All information, unless otherwise noted, is from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/About_Holidays/Non-Jewish_Holidays/Thanksgiving.shtml

 

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