Edmon J. Rodman is a Los Angeles writer and designer.
How Jewish is Thanksgiving? With relatives flying in from eretz everywhere, with drama in the kitchen and at the table, and a time to give modim, thanks, and say Shehechiyanu for being able to celebrate together another year, how can we not think of Thanksgiving as an adopted Jewish day of family gathering?
Though Judaism is a religion of feasts, with a seudat mitzvah (a feast commemorating the completion of a mitzvah) for circumcision, consolation, completing a tractate of Talmud or preparing for Purim, there is no seudah for thanks.
Deuteronomy does tell us, however, that upon being brought into the land of olive trees and honey, “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks.”
Even considering a tough economic year, with retirement funds shrinking and the cost of food and tuition growing, whichever calendar you follow, are there really ever enough available days to give thanks?
With mainstream culture where we lie and rise, it’s a struggle being a religious minority in America. Every so often Jews need — without the threat of identity loss — an opportunity simply to fit in. We need to bring home the turkey like everyone else, and sit around watching football.
Thanksgiving for many Jewish families is a time to meet, greet and eat between Sukkot and Chanukah.
Some think Thanksgiving feels much like Sukkot. Both are harvest holidays where thanks and praise are given, and mass quantities of food are communally shared.
Thanksgiving is an American holiday with origins in a persecuted religious group who makes an exodus and finds its way, if not to a promised land, then to a land of religious freedom. Ring any bells, dinner or otherwise?
Speaking of Israel, the Jewish State is a major turkey-producing country, with many kibbutzes specializing in turkey ranching. My wife once tended a turkey co-op for a month — a month that lasted a lifetime. Every Thanksgiving she regales us with stories of corralling, feeding, even injecting turkeys.
Today, many kosher turkeys are grown without
hormones. And according to Cook’s Illustrated, a gourmet magazine, kosher birds, because of the salt used in koshering, are moist and taste best.
But this holiday is not just about turkey. The Jewish community has found community-minded ways to celebrate with tzedakah activities. Many synagogues contribute staffing along with material and financial aid.
Thanksgiving also is one of the few days in America where interfaith cooperation reigns, with many synagogues and churches holding combined services. As a child at such a service, the first time I went to a church, the service ended with the congregation singing a song of thanks that began, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing … ” From a hymn book I sang along, reassured to discover that other people sang about God.
This year at my Thanksgiving dinner I plan to break bread with the Motzi and end with the Birkat HaMazon, the grace after meal that begins, “Let us thank the One whose food we have eaten.”
Guests also must give thanks — that is, if they ever want to be invited back. Praise all who make Thanksgiving possible. Selah: To whoever had the culinary wisdom to menu plan and cook, the skill to chop and blend and simmer, the patience to test, time, taste and season. Praised on Turkey Day they all should be; thanked and praised.
So, pass the turkey, b’vakasha!