Why would a yid WANT TO celebrate Thanksgiving?

chatouli

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:37 am

Simple1 wrote:

chatouli wrote:

I like Thanksgiving for two reasons.

First, it is a chance to have family over. They don't have to stay over because it's not YT or Shabbos, they can come enjoy nice food that I didn't have to make the month before in stages, freeze, and reheat on a plata, and we can clean the kitchen normally when it's over and then they can go home. Also, I love stuffing Smile

A lot of families do just that on Sunday of Chanuka and on Chol Hamoed.

Sure. But not everybody's family is off Chol Hamoed and some people's husbands have to work pretty much every Sunday. However almost nobody works on Thanksgiving. For our family, it is a perfect time to get people together. That one reason why I personally want to celebrate Thanksgiving Smile

which is what OP was asking. Obviously your circumstances may differ!

amother

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:49 am

Thanksgiving was the only holiday we were able to celebrate with my uncle and his non-Jewish wife, and my non-Jewish cousins (that and 4th of July). And now that I'm married to a man whose father isn't Jewish, it is a way to include him, as well. We do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc.) but I insist on playing a board game afterwards instead of watching football.

DrMom

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:53 am

amother wrote:

chocolate chips wrote:

free vacation day, time to spend with the family and I like what IYamwhoIYam said...there must be several reasons why a yid should be thanking the country for.

Do Jews around the world thank their countries? Did our Zeidas celebrate the Polish & Russian holidays? I think America has a lot to thank the Jews for. Jewish immigration has brought mostly benefits for this country.

THE BEST WAY TO TRULY THANK THIS COUNTRY IS TO BE BE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. Thanksgiving is more for in appreciation for Turkey lovers than this country. Gimme a break.

Isn't it interesting how the most inflammatory, rude, extreme posts are always posted anonymously?

As far as thanking Poland and Russia -- yes, there were some good things, but a few major pogroms, forced ghettoization, Stalinist purges, and the Shoah sort of put a damper on that party.

So why don't you give it a rest?

auntie_em

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:54 am

amother wrote:

anuta wrote:

I am also against insular lifestyle that some seem to advocate; we don't live in a large Jewish community, my children feel different enough staying home for Halloween, etc., and I don't see a good enough reason (for me) to nix Thanksgiving. Another opportunity to give thanks - why wouldn't a Jew want to do it????

insular lifestyle? Seriously? Isnt that what a yid is all about. We are different than non Jews and we are proud to be Jewish!!!!!! that is the message I want to convey to my children at every given opportunity. You sound like you feel guilty forcing this upon your children. Thats sad.

Amother, I totally understand how proud you feel of the choices you make and views you hold of this country we freely live in!

Like you, I am so proud that when I am sharing them, and criticizing people who think differently, that I rush to post so that my name is proudly displayed....oh, wait. Right...not that proud.

anuta

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:55 am

amother wrote:

anuta wrote:

I posted under my own username; why didn't you?????

I am just of the opinion that non-Jewish people are also human and good. Yes, being Jewish is special, but everyone else is not inferior. If my kids grow up in the world of black and white, there is a danger of them getting off the derech once they grow up and see the nuances, and realize their parents lied to them.
All it takes is meeting one good non-jew for some....
My children play with our non-jewish neighbors, and the said neighbors come over for playdates even (gasp!!!), and my children G-d willing will go to a good reputable college which (gasp!) may be co-ed, so the way I am bringing them up prepares them to remain observant proud Jews while functioning in the world, working a normal well-paying job, and raising their own Jewish children in America.

Barbara

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 10:59 am

amother wrote:

anuta wrote:

Well, clearly we have a different worldview. To be, being Jewish is not about living an insular lifestyle. Its about following halacha, and thanking Hashem.

My child is proud to be a Jew. But that doesn't mean that he, or we, should be living an insular lifestyle. Personally, I think its sad that people feel that the only, or best, way to live their lives and preserve their Jewish values is to close off the rest of the world.

I celebrate Thanksgiving because I am an American. I celebrate it because its one of the few holidays that draws us together as a country -- Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Mormon, Taoist, and all others. I celebrate because I am always happy to have another opportunity to thank Hashem, and my family and friends. I celebrate because its a holiday where I can invite others who can actually drive to my home.

Mimisinger

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 11:02 am

I love how the amothers always get to have a strong opinion and go off on others for theirs.

I love Thanksgiving. It's a time when I can get together with my entire family for a meal. When you are a bt family can't/won't come for the chagim. Thanksgiving is a time for family to get together.

It's a secular holiday, unlike X-Mas. I don't even know how you can make a comparison. One should only be offended for the sake of the Native American's who were decimated by the settlers which is really what this holiday is about.

amother

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 11:09 am

I would go so far as to say that as Jews, we especially should celebrate Thanksgiving! It is the day set aside for Hakaras Hatov of this country, one of the few countries that has never persecuted it's Jews.
Shouldn't we teach our children how fortunate they are to live in a country such as America? The religious freedom we have here to be Jews out in the open is unparalleled and our children should be taught not to take that liberty for granted.
How can you compare Thanksgiving to Halloween or Xmas which are religious holidays and of course assur for Jews to observe? This is a national holiday meant to show gratitude to our wonderful country where we can express our Jewish identity freely and without fear of persecution.
I am not criticizing those who do not celebrate because it is too much work and Shabbos is the next day (although we always count on eating Thanksgiving food on Shabbos!). I am just speaking to those who want to make the point that we davka should not celebrate it, on principle.

StrongIma

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 11:30 am

it seems to me that hakaras hatov is such an important mida, one that should be emphasized at every opportunity. I don't see anything wrong with commemorating the pilgrim's surviving that first winter. They had fled religious persecution and we can thank them for founding the USA with religious freedom for all. Thanksgiving also commemorates the Indians doing chesed with them to help them survive. Nothing wrong with that, either.

not only that, but it is my understanding that Thanksgiving was created as a national holiday by President Lincoln after the Civil War, also celebrating and cementing the different races together in one peaceful union. I think that includes us, as well.

mummiedearest

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 11:48 am

thanksgiving is

a) a secular holiday
b) a holiday with NO details that are against halacha
c) a holiday that celebrates the survival of a group of people who came here to escape religious persecution. there were a few groups that came here for the same reason, including jews. if the colonies had not been established, the earliest jewish settlers would have had nowhere to go. in fact, some of the funds given to set up colonies were provided by jews. peter stuyvesant wanted to ban the jews from new amsterdam because of their "immoral influence," but he couldn't. his colony was partially funded by jews. and the jews who settled in his colony created a community. the early jewish communities in america shaped american judaism.

I've heard many people ask this question, and I think it a shame that schools don't teach american jewish history. we do have a history here, and it is fascinating. I am a fourth generation american, maybe that's why I'm interested in this.

meanwhile, my father is friendly with a rav who is not american by birth, but insists on celebrating thanksgiving every year. there IS what to be grateful to america for. and for the poster who asked if jews in other countries have historically displayed gratefulness to their country, yes they have. it is customary to pray for the well-being of the ruler of a country. my father has a rosh hashana machzor he picked up at an estate sale years ago. it's quite old. it has a prayer printed in it for the health of the queen of england. I must check to see what year it was printed... as for other countries, well, I don't know. but I imagine there has to be something to be grateful about before expressing thanks. we have what to be grateful for here, and there is nothing wrong with showing some hakaras hatov. I don't celebrate thanksgiving every year in the traditional way. sometimes the turkey dinner has to be pushed off. but I try to get a large turkey every year, and if we can't have a family dinner that day, we do it on a shabbos at our convenience. it's nice to have an excuse to sit down with family to dinner.

abby1776

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 12:04 pm

We celebrate Thanksgiving to give hakarat hatov to this ownderful country that is so good to all Jews. You should all be thankful for the separation of Church and State and all the services that frum Jews avail themselves of - Section 8 Housing, Food Stamps, WIC.

Also, not that our family is so large and spread out its the only day we can get together and spend time and not need to spend three days of Yom Tov together driving everyone crazy.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 12:07 pm

amother wrote:

1Life2Live wrote:

We're not so into the whole thanksgiving thing, but I think it's a great opportunity to spend with your family.

We have Shabbos every week that gives us 3 meals to spend with family. We have Motzei Shabbosim. We just had 8 days of Sukkos & have 8 days of Chanukah coming up real soon. I think thats enough family spending time for now.

But not everyone can or wants to host family and / or friends that dont live close to sleep over. I know my parents both have off that day and so they use it as a day that they invite some close friends and some family that they dont get to see all that often over. Not as a day that they sit around and say thanks and things like that, but a day to get together with people that they may not be able to on shabbat or chagim.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 12:10 pm

amother wrote:

anuta wrote:

amother, are YOU serious? No, being a Jew is not ALL about being insular, maybe for some people but not for all. In my whole life, I have never felt insular. Yes, we are different than non jews, and we are proud, but those facts have little or nothing to do with wanting to be insular.

Simple1

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 12:20 pm

chatouli wrote:

Simple1 wrote:

chatouli wrote:

A lot of families do just that on Sunday of Chanuka and on Chol Hamoed.

which is what OP was asking. Obviously your circumstances may differ!

I definitely agree that Thanksgiving is convenient for some and not for others.

zaq

Mon, Nov 21 2011, 1:02 pm

chatouli wrote:

This county has afforded us a lot of opportunities we as Jews would not have had elsewhere, both in terms of freedom of religion and education. Applause

We have opportunities here that I am very thankful for and even though America is hardly perfect, I am glad to be American and this is an opportunity for me to say thank you, even silently, because I don't believe in making a speech about it.

Even if the holiday was established by a Christian extremist lunatic fringe group, the idea of expressing hakaras hatov to a country that has been welcoming immigrants for over 300 years is one to be respected.

that being said, I don't make Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving because Thursday is peculiarly inconvenient for me to host a banquet. Thursday is when I prepare for Shabbat, and anyway who wants to make a banquet Thursday when I'm serving two more the next two days? I will be roasting my turkey on Thursday, unless it's thawed sooner, and I'll be making sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce for sure--but it will all be served on Shabbat.

Now if Thanksgiving were observed on Tuesday, that would be a different story.