How Do Jews Acknowledge Thanksgiving?

Is the Secular Turkey Day a Jewish Tradition?

Nov 2, 2009

North Americans acknowledge the Thanksgiving celebration by sharing a festive meal with family and giving thanks, but is that really a Jewish tradition?

It has a common fall theme all across North America: In November U.S. residents join together to celebrate a day of thanks and to acknowledge their historic link with the pilgrims who had settled on America's shores in the early 1600s. In October, Canadian residents celebrate a similar day of thanks. Yet both holidays are based on historic Christian values and events. So is Thanksgiving really a Jewish holiday?

Jewish Traditions of Thanksgiving

The Jewish religion in fact, is filled with events and traditions that are directed toward showing thanks for one's bounty. Traditional Jews begin their day by attending morning services and acknowledging their gratitude for life, good health and other good fortunes.

After meals Jews say a special prayer to say thanks for the bounty they have received, called the birkat hamazon. This special act of acknowledgment after meals is also called bentching.

Jewish Holidays and the Act of Saying Thanks

No Jewish holiday better highlights the Jewish tradition of expressing thanks to God than the spring holiday Passover, otherwise known in Hebrew as Pesach. Jews say thanks at that time for their heritage and God's protection of their forefathers during their flight from Egypt.

Other holidays that center upon the concept of giving thanks to God include Sukkot, which acknowledges the fall harvest season and its bounty, Purim, which retells another ancient story about persecution and redemption and Chanukkah, or the Festival of Light.

Ancient Jewish Viewpoints Regarding Non-Jewish Holidays

There has been a great deal of debate throughout the centuries regarding whether Jews are permitted to acknowledge non-Jewish holidays. Talmudic commentaries written as late as 1980 focus on the question of whether Thanksgiving is a secular holiday (and thus permitted to be celebrated by Jews) or a religious Christian holiday.

According to Jewish law, Jews are prohibited from celebrating religious holidays other than Jewish religious holidays. The law is linked to the second of the Ten Commandments, which states that Jews "shall have no other gods before Me." The act of celebrating, praying or partaking in a religious holiday other than one's own is seen as bearing false witness to that religion's deity, and is thus, not accepted in Judaism.

Is Turkey Day a Religious Observance or a Secular Tradition?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) was world-famous for his halachic interpretations of Jewish law. His tosafot, or Talmudic writings on the halachic (Jewish legal) interpretation of Thanksgiving have remained a cornerstone in the debate on this topic.

In 1953, Rabbi Feinstein tackled this controversial topic by writing: "The first day of year ... (January 1) and Thanksgiving is not prohibited according to law, but pious people ... should be strict."

Rabbi Feinstein elaborated on his reasoning when it came to pious behavior in his responsa (Talmudic writings) in 1980: "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."

It may be that Rabbi Feinstein was basing his response more on the contemporary practices of American Thanksgiving than its historic origins. The Pilgrim Hall Museum notes on its website that "The Pilgrims did not call this harvest festival a 'Thanksgiving,' although they did give thanks to God. To them, a Day of Thanksgiving was purely religious."

In fact, as the author goes on to note, the first actual Thanksgiving holiday was established two years later with the religious Day of Thanksgiving for the much-needed rainfall.

Contemporary Viewpoints on Judaism and Thanksgiving Celebrations

Not all rabbis have observed the same viewpoint as Rabbi Feinstein, and not all Jews in North America observe the Thanksgiving Day tradition on this day. But as time evolved, perspectives have as well. Many Americans, and indeed Canadians, see their respective Thanksgiving holidays as opportunities to unite communities in a common goal.

In the United States, inviting friends as well as family to Thanksgiving meals is a tradition, and embodies the symbolism of the first American Thanksgiving, in which pilgrims and Native Americans sat down together.

Jewish Traditions Uniting Communities

It is a mitzvah for one to invite another to a meal, especially at Passover, when one's Passover meal is not considered complete without the presence of a stranger, or outsider, who does not have a Pesach meal. Whether initially intended or not, the tradition encourages and endorses inclusiveness.

Contemporary customs in some communities have expanded the concept to inviting non Jews to Passover meal as a way of sharing understanding. In a similar way, the increasing tendency for Jews in North America to share and be part of a Thanksgiving holiday that is increasingly becoming viewed as secular, fulfills that exchange and sharing of community values.

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