Thanksgiving

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Apr 10, 2025, 11:58 AM

The Thanksgiving Offering (Tzav, Covenant & Conversation)

Among the sacrifices detailed in this week's Parsha is the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering: If he offers it as a thanksgiving offering, then along with this thanksgiving offering he is to offer unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers...

Apr 9, 2025, 9:57 PM

The Essence of Gratitude, Community, and Freedom

Students enjoy a model Seder in class. Maimonides School, Brookline, MA

Throughout my life, and through my years of teaching, I have encountered many who feel bored by the weekly parshiot that relate the laws of sacrificial offerings. They seem esoteric in detail and outdated. Unrelatable. I never felt that...

Dec 23, 2024, 12:49 AM

The Holiday Card

Thanksgiving until New Years represents America’s holiday season. During this five week stretch Americans perform more charity and volunteer work than during any other time of year. American enjoy more vacation days and family time than during any other...

Ruthie Hollander

Dec 5, 2024, 4:50 PM

Are American Jews and Israeli Jews growing apart?

The 6,000 miles separating my new-olah sister and my NY self represent more than physical distance; there's a yawning gap between our perspectives

Dec 1, 2024, 5:30 PM

The Challenge of Thanksgiving

Edited by Rabbi Neil Fleischman Last week, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving: A day known for turkey and stuffing. A day known for glamorous parades and shopping bargains. A day immediate and extended families across the US gather together for dinner at...

Shamai Leibowitz

Dec 1, 2024, 2:56 PM

What do turkey, giving thanks and India have in common?

Celebrating Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to ponder the Hebrew word for giving thanks – הודו. This word has 3 different meanings: הודו (hodu) - give thanks (the imperative form, talking to a group) הודו (hodu) - India הודו (hodu) - turkey Is there any connection...

Alexander Seinfeld

Nov 29, 2024, 3:59 PM

Do Jews Do Thanksgiving?

Question for your Thanksgiving or Shabbat table – The Thanksgiving holiday is told to be rooted in European colonialism. That's why many of his statues have been torn down. So now that Columbus has become so controversial, how come we don't hear...

Nov 29, 2024, 2:52 PM

Connection Between American Jews and Thanksgiving

Photo: Miriam Alster/FLASH90

The celebration of Thanksgiving in America is deeply rooted in the country’s history and values, with its origins tracing back to 1621 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Pilgrims and Native Americans came together for a feast, sharing food...

Nov 28, 2024, 5:11 PM

My 35th Thanksgiving in America. P.S. With Gratitude

It was November of 1989, two weeks after our family immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union, and we were invited to our first Thanksgiving dinner. Most things during those first few weeks felt intimidating, foreign and...

Nov 28, 2024, 7:52 AM

Imagineering the Future of Gratitude: What Judaism and Thanksgiving Teach Us

Thanksgiving is one of those rare holidays that feels universally accessible. Who doesn’t appreciate a day dedicated to gratitude, family, and food? But for me, as someone rooted in Jewish tradition, Thanksgiving feels even more profound. It’s not just...

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