Many of us are familiar with the words of Psalm 118, "Give thanks to THE ETERNAL for God is good, God's love is everlasting, Hodu l'Adonai ki tov. Ki l'olam hasdo." But if you've never had the pleasure of studying Hebrew you might miss a linguistic coincidence that will add a chuckle to your Thanksgiving celebration. The word hodu in the psalm that calls us to give thanks is the very same word in Modern Hebrew for turkey! I kid you not. The word Hodu means both turkey and thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. And because we all share it, people of every race and class, faith and ethnicity, religious and secular gather on this holiday to acknowledge and celebrate the bounty in their lives. We begin by telling the story of Thanksgiving's origins, which goes something like this:
"When the Puritan pilgrims arrived at these safe shores, they suffered hunger and bitter cold and prayed to the rock of their salvation. And the ETERNAL roused the care of the natives, who fed them fowl and corn and other delights. Thus they were saved from starvation and learned the ways of peace with natives of this great land. In gratitude, they established an annual day of Thanksgiving as a remembrance for future generations."
This moving tale, studied by schoolchildren and acted out in seasonal plays, celebrates the gift of life and sustenance granted to us by our Creator. It stresses the value of religious freedom and exemplifies the virtues of kindness, caring and generosity. As Americans, we rejoice in its universal message of peace and brotherhood, and claim it with great pride. But taking a closer look at our nation's history, we discover that the relationship between the pilgrims and the native inhabitants of this land was far from the idealized one portrayed in the story.
Now without the help of the Indians, the members of the English Separatist Church who came here seeking refuge from religious persecution would surely not have survived their first frigid winter in 1620. And the Thanksgiving feasts of 1621 and 1623 attest to their expressions of gratitude and mutual cooperation. But many difficult and troubling years ensued between those Thanksgiving feasts and the next one, in 1676. That year the governing council of Charlestown, MA, unanimously proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, not with the Indians, but for the victory they had won over the "heathen natives."
Sadly, the noble pursuit of religious freedom quickly degraded into a bitter war against the native peoples for dominion over this land. A lasting peace was never realized and the bloody conflicts decimated the Native American people.
The next Thanksgiving, a full century later (1777) also commemorated a military victory, this time over the British at Saratoga. And twelve years after that, in 1789, George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, against the objections of those who felt that the hardships suffered by the Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. Even President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea. Then, in 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving and in 1941 Congress finally made it a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.
In good American tradition, the holiday of Thanksgiving evolved under enormous public dissent and debate. But few of us know of about the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor who led a 40-year editorial and letter writing campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
Evidence indicates that her efforts are largely responsible for making Thanksgiving a permanent American holiday—proving once again that when push comes to shove, it takes a gal to get the job done!
What this history doesn't tell us is what the Thanksgiving holiday has meant to generations of Americans. It doesn't tell us about the experience of Africans who were brought here in chains and who lived as slaves until the emancipation. Or to the Irish, Italian, German, Jewish, and other immigrants who fled poverty and persecution in their homelands and came to seek their fortunes in America, with its streets paved with gold. Perhaps your grandparents, like mine, arrived at New York's Ellis Island with hope in their hearts and were greeted by the grace and power of the statue of liberty with her bold and inspiring inscription:
"…Keep, ancient lands your storied pomp!"…"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless; tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (Emma Lazarus)
As we celebrate this Thanksgiving we must acknowledge the sorrows as well as joys, the bitter as well as the sweet. Although we fail as a nation to fully realize the ideals of religious and social tolerance, equality and prosperity for all citizens, the gap between the ideal and the real summon all of us to bring our hearts and minds and our American spirit to work toward the vision of a 'more perfect union.'
On this quintessential of American holidays, we must also remember that our freedoms must not be taken for granted and that gratitude, for friendship and family, and for the bounty in our lives, must be cultivated and expressed. We must remember the importance of simplicity and generosity and the fact that true joy is possible only through sharing.
And so, as we offer blessings to THE SOURCE OF LIFE and ABUNDANCE let us acknowledge the sacredness of this land. Let us affirm the humanity in our neighbor. Let us find insight and inspiration in our differences as we unite in mutual cooperation and peace. And let our common love for God continually inspire in us humility and awe.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Rabbi Rosalind Glazer