When I was growing up the question was never where would I be for Passover, the High Holy Days or Chanukah. No, the question was, where would I be for Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. Those American holidays. 4th of July made sense. My mother’s birthday was the 6th of July and my father’s was the 7th. It was a weeklong summer celebration. 

Thanksgiving had its own rhythm. There were always guests. Practicing the mitzvah or welcoming guests that we learn from Abraham and Sarah. If you didn’t have a place to go, you came to our house. That was always fun. My mother often was asked to say “grace” and her choice was always the blessing over the wine. Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine. She made all of us memorize it. 

So, is Thanksgiving Jewish? Maybe. The concept most certainly is. Based on the Israelites celebration of the harvest festival of Sukkot, the Puritans gathered to give thanks in Plimouth Plantation when they survived that first winter and the harvest was “gotten in”. I have written extensively on Governor William Bradford’s Hebrew manuscripts and his description of that first Thanksgiving in his book, On Plimouth Plantation. The celebration was based on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The Puritans definitely saw this land, not yet a country, as the new Israel, the new Jerusalem, a utopian world where they could worship G-d in the way they saw fit. Sometimes, knowing that history has filled me with pride. Other times, it seems, well, complicated. 

This year is one of those complicated years. How do we pray together in an inclusive, non-offensive way with people who may not see G-d the same way or may not even believe in G-d at all? Without losing our own authenticity?  

For more than 30 years I have been involved in planning Interfaith Thanksgiving services. Some years are harder to plan than others. In a planning meeting for this year, in what I thought would be a simple exercise of kids passing a candle and saying, “I am thankful for……..” there were some objections. What if we said, “Thank you for…….” Who is the you? Is that G-d? Could it be misinterpreted? Could someone be offended? I didn’t think so but it was hotly discussed. It actually showed a great deal of sensitivity and compassion on the part of the person who initially raised the question. I am grateful for that. 

I was also recently asked to attend an Interfaith Prayer Breakfast. Later I was actually asked to speak to this same question at that very breakfast. The organizer feels as an Evangelical Christian he can only pray in Jesus’s name but has come to realize that might be offensive to non-Christians. Can we pray at all together? My answer was yes. But it is complicated. This is what I said. 

“If your understanding of G-d includes Jesus, then pray that way. That is your understanding of the One G-d. The Muslim community has 99 names for G-d. In my tradition, we have many names for G-d. Even many understandings. One of our prayers, that praises G-d for our ancestors, says the G-d of Abraham and the G-d of Isaac and the G-d of Jacob. More recently we have added the matriarchs too. English teachers get upset. Too many repeated words. But the rabbis 2000 years ago, in the time of Jesus, taught that each patriarch and each matriarch had their own way of understanding G-d. And their own way of praying. Abraham got up early in the morning. Isaac meditated in a field. Jacob put a rock under his head for pillow. Each of those was a prayer. Jesus left us examples of prayer—very Jewish I might add. The Lord’s Prayer, beginning, Our Father who art in heaven, is a very Jewish prayer and since Jesus himself is praying, he doesn’t end it “in Jesus’s name, Amen.” Lastly I need you to understand that in this rising time of anti-semitism, for thousands of years Jews have been killed in Jesus’s name so some of my people may be uncomfortable at best.” 

This year is complicated because there have been arguments to once again to call this a Christian nation. While the Puritans most certainly came to this land for religious freedom, they did not found a Chrisitan nation. The earlier settlers were not comfortable with differing expressions of Christianity, kicking Roger Williams out of Massachusetts who then founded Rhode Island, for example. However. our Founding Fathers made sure to include freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. Some of that language was from Alexander Hamilton and some from George Washington himself, in his letter to the Jewish community of Newport RI. 

This past week I attended the Academy for Jewish Religion annual retreat. This year was on mindfulness. Mindfulness is an important component of spirituality. It is about living with intentionality. It is about noticing your thoughts and emotions and not ignoring them. It is about prayer. It has become all the rage, even in places like corporate America and places like Weight Watchers.  

Recently, I spoke about finding G-d. Jacob found G-d in his dreams, when he was alone with nothing more than a stone for his pillow. In my adult Hebrew class we looked at Jeremiah 29. There was a verb question that might change the meaning of verse 14 in its entirety. It either says, God will let himself be found. OR G-d will be found. It is a fascinating discussion. A little like a game of hide and seek. 

Where then do I find G-d? How do I pray? I find G-d in exactly this kind of intellectual debate. In the quiet stillness of the late night or early morning. In being outdoors in nature. In my own sanctuary saying prayers that were created 2000 years ago or in the words that are being created right now. I find G-d in doing G-d’s work to make this world a better place, in acts of tikkun olam, that I do with my clergy friends and colleagues. 

I pray this Thanksgiving: 

For gratitude
For this great nation.
For signs of Your creation, morning. Noon and night.
For people who work together to make this world a better place
Who partner with you to repair this earth. 

For courage
To do difficult thing
To speak with civility and clarity
To work with those who are difficult
To take on new challenges
To be a force for good. 

For strength
To turn the darkness into light
To feed the hungry
To clothe the naked
To house the homeless
To cure the sick 

For hope
To learn to smile and laugh
To sing
To pray
To rest
To live with kindness and compassion 

May each of you have a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude and meaning and a hide and seek game with G-d.