An alternative (but plausible) Jewish Thanksgiving Day [View all]

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving more years ago than I care to admit, I was making some purchases in one of Brooklyn’s major Kosher supermarkets. A woman in a bit of a frenzy ran in and made a beeline to the meat and poultry section, where she asked the guy behind the counter if any turkeys were still available for sale. Shaking his head, he apologized and told the customer that not a single turkey was left. I was sure the woman would run out of the store and look elsewhere, but instead, she shrugged and asked the butcher for the largest chicken he had. “My kids,” she said,” won’t know the difference anyway.”

Not a November goes by that I don’t recall that incident and muse over how enthusiastically the American Jewish community – even those in “yeshivisha” conclaves – embraced the holiday of Thanksgiving. Which I’ve always found strange since the root of the holiday lies in the attempt of English colonists to escape Catholic domination and be able to freely practice a new kind of Christianity. Things, of course, have changed in the course of four hundred years. The New Testament spirituality that the Mayflower journeyers brought with them to North America has become increasingly secularized, and Jews, seeing no conflict with their own religion, have become as comfortable as gentiles in enjoying the festivities of the late Autumn celebration.

More than a few tradition-minded families, no doubt, still see the day as a time to bow their heads and express appreciation – in contemporary terms – for a successful harvest and for having survived another year. Over the last century or so, this sense of gratitude has, unfortunately, become increasingly diluted. As the bounty of the land and reasonably good health became more and more taken for granted, the emphasis of the holiday changed to what you might call the three F’s – Family, Football, Feasting. What, then, is the draw for Jews?

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-alternative-but-plausible-jewish-thanksgiving-day/

My family always celebrated Thanksgiving.