It's that time of year again, the time that seems to get earlier if you listen to the music playing in the mall: It's the Holiday Season. In my mind,that means the kickoff or run up to Christmas. .
I consider myself an American, I love this country and everything it has given and afforded us. So why don't I celebrate Thanksgiving in the traditional sense, cooking and serving the Turkey Dinner? There aren't too many American holidays that have actual rituals (barbeques don't count), and Thanksgiving definitely does. Thanksgiving. Is it religious? Is it secular? Certainly, it cannot be thought of as purely secular since it was the Pilgrims/Puritans, a fairly religious bunch, who originally celebrated it. It wasn't a national holiday until Lincoln's time, though many states had their own days of Thanksgiving set up in which the wording of the proclamation that founded it was clearly religious in nature- as George Washington put it in 1789 "as a day of public
thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts
the many and signal favours of Almighty God."
To me Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the holiday season, the run up to Christmas, and for those who say, "well that's all commercial," then why not celebrate Christmas too? If Christmas is nothing but a commercial entity for so many, and the lights have no religious significance why not decorate our houses for the "season." Costco sells these gorgeous icicle lights which would look great ringing my front porch. I am not saying that celebrating Thanksgiving is like celebrating Christmas. What I am saying is that if something started out religious, but has become commercial and secular, and that's the reason it is OK for us to celebrate it, in the manner celebrated by most people, then the argument could follow to both Christmnas and Halloween. Heck, Easter eggs have very little to do with Jesus!
Another aspect of the day is the meal. As a frum woman so much of my Yom Tov and Shabbos preparations and celebrations involve the meals. I cannot bring myself to serve what amounts to a yom tov meal on a regular Thursday, to elevate it to the status that I reserve for days that the Torah tells us to celebrate. (plus, do people serve their leftovers for Shabbos? from a Thursday?)
We have so many Holidays that are ours, that have depth and meaning. We have so many days where we gather as families and celebrate and appreciate what we have (not to mention the daily giving of thanks, beginning with the first moment we awake in the morning).
Thanksgiving may seem as American as July 4th, but I don't think it is. I think it goes into territory that we as people who follow the Torah, and keep its days would do better to acknowledge, but not "celebrate" in the traditional sense.
Football, however, is always OK.
3 comments:
until about twenty years ago many orthodox jew celebrated thanksgiving. R'Wein had an article aboutthe rabonnim who celebrated thanksgiving. It was a nationhal holiday and a venue for all people to pick one day to express their gratitude to this country for all ofthe opportunities they were given and most especially the refuge given.
america was seen as a christian/judaic country our penny says in g-d we trust hence when we say thanksgiving it would be to the almighty as well but not in a church/synagouge celebration but as a national holiday forall the people in the usa. aside from todays charaidy there are still multitudes of religious jews who celebrate thanksgiving. How often do we cook on thursday for shabbos hence we often eat thursdays leftover on shabbos. related
I didn't say they didn't celebrate. I said it is, in my opinion,not what I think is right. And what does celebrate mean? The Rabbonim of old sat down to a Turkey dinner? or they acknowledged to their people that it was Thanksgiving and they needed to be thankful for all this nation had afforded them? There's a big difference.
And as far as cooking on Thursday makes it leftovers? That's ridiculous. It was MADE FOR SHABBOS! Not some random Thursday night meal where because it is Shabbos food, you then serve it again. As a second best. Not my thing.
You're being a bit presumptuous about the leftovers, since many people would, indeed, cook fresh for Shabbos and freeze the leftovers for a quick weeknight meal.
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