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Feb 9, 2023, 4:36 PM

To Thank Before We Think (Yitro, Covenant & Conversation)

The Ten Commandments are the most famous religious and moral code in history. Until recently they adorned American courtrooms. They still adorn most synagogue arks. Rembrandt gave them their classic artistic expression in his portrait of Moses, about to...

Feb 2, 2023, 3:21 PM

I was nearly thirteen when I really learned how to say thank you. As the Bar Mitzvah gifts arrived (sefarim, software for my new Apple II plus, and – obviously – a few pens), my parents emphasized the need...

Joseph C. Kaplan

Dec 1, 2022, 5:31 PM

Modeh Ani on Thanksgiving Week

It was supposed to be a glorious Thanksgiving week. On the Shabbat before Thanksgiving, we attended the second gathering of the rejuvenated Davar, our incredible Teaneck community group (“A Shortcut to Knowledge”), created and spearheaded by Larry Krule and Susan...

Nov 30, 2022, 5:35 AM

On Thanksgiving, Torah and Being a Blessing

I don’t do many posts on social media connected to my family, because they generally don’t want their pictures to appear or details about their lives to be mentioned. However, in the midst of a speaking/fundraising tour for Torat...

Elchanan Poupko

Nov 27, 2022, 12:24 PM

Toldot: Thanksgiving between Lincoln and Isaac

On Thanksgiving morning, my Canadian wife and I, an Israeli, woke up and decided we would find an outdoor activity for the kids and us just to learn a difficult and inspiring lesson: Americans take Thanksgiving seriously. Very seriously....

Nov 25, 2022, 6:39 PM

O Thanksgiving. . .

There were no words on the day before Thanksgiving. Only the horrifying pop pop of shots fired, hatred spewed, blood pooled, bodies felled. And empty seats around the table. The devastating news, yet again, and the lyrics running through...

Nov 24, 2022, 10:51 PM

This Thanksgiving, Let’s Reclaim Our ‘Judeo-Christian Values’

As many Americans sit down to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner, Native Americans will be gathering at the Plymouth rock historic site to commemorate a National Day of Mourning. They have been doing so since 1970, in protest of a holiday...

Nov 24, 2022, 8:35 PM

Thanksgiving is the Essence of Judaism

Gratitude is a “Great Attitude,” but in Jewish practice, it is even more than that. It is the very foundation of our identity and our tradition. "Judaism" is derived from the name Judah, the anglicized version of the Hebrew name...

Nov 24, 2022, 11:09 AM

A very Jewish Thanksgiving

'The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth,' by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Wikipedia)

Was it Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, or the First Fruits offering that inspired the American day of gratitude? We can't be sure, but the similarities are clear

Nov 24, 2022, 10:58 AM

When a turkey is not just a turkey

To paraphrase a witticism about mysticism by Prof. Saul Liberman, z”l: "Turkey is turkey, but the philosophy behind hilkhot turkey is challenging Torah.” Several leading luminaries of our generation were asked THE Thanksgiving question, and the divergence of their responses...

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