Jewish Thanksgiving?

If we pay attention to the news these days, we hear a lot about some of the things going on over in Israel. It prompts me to wonder though if the Jewish People there celebrate Thanksgiving.

We know they have various festivals that have been going on there, but what about Thanksgiving as we know it here in America?

And so I looked it up to see what I could find, and what follows is one site that speaks on it.

For many American Jews, the fourth Thursday in November is a chance to gather with family, eat copious quantities of turkey and stuffing, and perhaps pass out during an afternoon football game.

Most American Jews regard Thanksgiving as more akin to the Fourth of July than Christmas, devoid of religious associations and offering an opportunity to fully embrace a distinctly American tradition. The holiday’s focus on gratitude — hardly a concept foreign to Jewish thought — also provides a comfortable overlap between Jewish and American values.

Yet for a minority of Jews, the embrace of any non-Jewish holiday ritual poses challenges. In the last century, Jewish religious law authorities were called upon to determine whether it was acceptable for observant Jews to partake of Thanksgiving observances. The main issue hinges on a general prohibition in Jewish law, based on a verse in Leviticus, that is generally understood to bar copying “the ways of the Gentiles.” (It’s this principle that leads some Orthodox authorities to take issue with certain types of body piercings.)

Whether this principle applies to Thanksgiving turns entirely on whether it’s considered a “Gentile” holiday or a secular American one. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, two leading 20th century Orthodox legal authorities, both agreed that Thanksgiving was not a religious holiday, though their views are not universally accepted within the Orthodox world. One notable dissenter was Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner, who considered Thanksgiving innately Christian and forbidden to Jews.

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So, there you have it. But as usual this question makes me ask other questions about this subject as well. I will cover them along during the month of Thanksgiving.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. 

I wanted to let you know that I am not going to be putting Thanksgiving content and Bible Words together in one post.

So please be aware, that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will include content as this today.

And then on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays I will include a Bible Word.

The above will be posted at least through the month of November, Lord willing, and then we look at December and see what it brings.

Again, thanks for coming by, and have a blessed rest of your day, wherever you are reading this