Thanksgiving IS a Jewish Holiday
Rabbi Bonnie Koppell
Thanksgiving is a quintessentially Jewish holiday. First of all, there is traditionally a family gathering with lots of food. But beyond that, giving thanks is A, I might say, THE, foundational Jewish value. Hakarat ha-tov, recognizing, appreciating, and giving thanks for the good in our lives, is an essential part of the Jewish spiritual path. The very word Yehudi, a Jew, stems from the root toddah- thank you. The American holiday of Thanksgiving has its roots in the Biblical holiday of Sukkot.
Gratitude is central to Jewish philosophy, ethics, and daily practice, a bridge between the Jewish spiritual path and the holiday of Thanksgiving. Jewish practice encourages us to be mindful of blessings and life’s gifts, which we acknowledge with deep humility and deep appreciation. When we awaken into consciousness first thing in the morning, before we even get out of bed, the very first word we say is “Modah.” “Modah anee- I am thankful.”
In Deuteronomy 8:10, Moses reminds the Israelites to “eat and be satisfied and bless Adonai your God for the good land which God has given you.” It is all too easy to eat mindlessly and forget to take a moment to appreciate how extraordinary it is to have more than enough. Sukkot is a thanksgiving celebration of the fall harvest, essential to sustain us through the winter months ahead.
Did you say HaMotzi when you sat down for your Thanksgiving meal? Can you think about adding that very short blessing to your meals on a regular basis as a way of enhancing gratitude in your life?
The Talmud expands on the idea of gratitude with an emphasis on gratitude’s importance in daily life. In Berakhot 54b, the Talmud states, “A person is obligated to recite a blessing over the good as well as over the bad.” By promoting the practice of giving thanks in both positive and challenging times, the Talmud reminds us that gratitude can be a form of resilience. This teaching echoes across Jewish prayer, which incorporates blessings for everything from waking up to observing natural wonders, to seeing something unusual to meeting a great scholar or leader.
Recognizing blessings is integral to maintaining hope, faith, and inner peace. There is a Yiddish saying that reminds us, “If you cannot be grateful for what you have received, then be thankful for what you have been spared.” Wise words. Aviva Zornberg puts it this way- “In gratitude, one acknowledges one’s own insufficiency and the surplus of blessings that fill that gap.” She reminds us that gratitude requires vulnerability and openness, which ultimately brings us closer to each other and to God. When we deeply feel a sense of gratitude, it brings about a sense of humility as well, as we realize how little control we have in our lives and how much we depend on others to meet even our smallest needs.
In the 1990’s, there was a remarkable scientific study that came to be known as “The Nun Study. Seven hundred nuns between the ages of 75 and 102.4 agreed to participate by allowing access to a journal entry that they had written in their youth, when they first entered the convent. Researchers analyzed them in order to assess what were their positive and negative emotions when they were young.
For the next 60 years, the nuns all, obviously, lived very similar lifestyles. The results, published in 2001, were startling. The more positive emotions – contentment, gratitude, happiness, love and hope the nuns expressed in their autobiographical notes, the more likely they were to be alive and well sixty years later. The difference was as much as seven years in life expectancy. Being grateful, it turns out, is good for our health and well-being.
Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude. In one study, they asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics.
One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives.
Turns out that there is great wisdom in our tradition that directs us to not wait until our annual celebration of Thanksgiving to remember to count our blessings, but to fill our lives with expressions of gratitude each and every day. To be a Jew is to make every day a day of thanks giving.
I’ll conclude with the inspiring words of Zelig Pliskin, which you can find on your Shabbat bulletin, "Living with gratitude elevates your entire life. You become a more spiritual person. You become a more joyful person. You become a kinder and more compassionate person. You become a calmer and more peaceful person. You become a person who lives in greater harmony with others."
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