A Jewish Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is not a Jewish holiday but it is quite the Jewish holiday.  In fact gratitude and thanks is fundamental to Jewish thought.  Additionally, Jews have always had an obligation to give thanks and appreciation to our host country.  This is true in particular for this country, the USA which has been a country of kindness to our People.

Gratitude and thanks has many faces and many dimensions.  It starts with a recognition of those that have done kindness to you. This includes of course G-d and then all those that have been messengers and angels to bring Hashem’s blessing into our lives.

Once we have the recognition, we ought to articulate the thanks.  Verbalizing thanks is a form action.  Action, by definition actualizes something.  In this case, it actualizes the feelings of gratitude we have towards others.

(Occasionally, the gratitude needs to take on the form of action, in the sense of doing something to demonstrated our appreciation.)

Gratitude helps us recognize that we are not alone in this journey and there are those around us and above us that care for us and value us.

As we enter into this Thanksgiving weekend, let’s incorporate the reciting of the Modeh Ani in the morning to express our thanks for the gift of life and the Shema in the evening to express our thanks for purpose.  This is the Jewish way and this is a Jewish Thanksgiving!