Thanksgiving is coming up. My four-year-old will be home from school on Thursday, and her father will be off of work. We’re not planning any type of big turkey dinner or anything – just some family relaxing time and then preparing for Shabbos. So when my daughter asked me why she doesn’t have school on Thursday and Friday, I had to think about what to answer.
I know many Jews celebrate – or at least acknowledge – Thanksgiving day. One family we know well does the whole thing – stuffed turkey, sweet potatoes, etc. – everything but the pilgrim and indian headdresses. But neither of the heads of this family were born in America, so they both have a deep appreciation for the freedom and peace they have experienced in in this country.
But from a religious perspective, I honestly find this practice perplexing. Aside from the fundamental concept that we should count our blessings every day, not just in November, who is it we are thanking? Does eating a shabbos meal on Thursday demonstrate gratitude to anyone in particular? Perhaps to the supermarket, or the turkey butcher. Will anyone really be upset if we eat pizza or sandwiches instead? I suppose I could look at it on a symbolic level, but somehow I find the relationship between an apple dipped in honey and a sweet new year to be a little more meaningful than turkey and pumpkins and pilgrims and indians.
At the end of it all, I think I really can take my time figuring out the details. At this point my daughter has never even heard of a pilgrim or indian (and her half-day preschool program only teaches judaic studies, so she won’t learn it there); and she doesn’t understand what America is. (She thinks Baltimore consists of our street and maybe a two-mile radius around it; she has no concept of cities within states within countries.)
My goal for this year is to help her understand that we need to be grateful that the place we live in lets us keep the torah and mitzvos, which not all places do. I’ll tell her that we need to thank Hashem every day for the many things He gives us, but this is a special day to be thankful to Hashem and also the people who made our country, for making it such a tolerant country. Some people do this by eating foods native to our country. I think we’ll do it by simply counting our blessings – starting with each other. We’ll savor the rare opportunity of a whole extra day with Abba, and spend it enjoying our freedom – particularly the freedom to be Jewish, and make Shabbos without hiding it. Come to think of it, I should be very thankful to our government for giving my husband all that extra time to help me cook and clean for shabbos. I just hope he agrees with that perspective…..