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Thanksgiving, Sukkoth and Chanukah…
Many say that Thanksgiving is patterned after Sukkot, the Jewish Holiday of the Harvest. At Sukkot we celebrate a successful harvest, petition God for good rains and climate, enjoy the outdoors in the Sukkah and, in general, are conscious of all the many blessings of God. There is no doubt that there are some parallel themes to our American Thanksgiving day but it appears from the information below that the tie is not terribly strong.
Apparently “thanksgiving days” were not, at first, necessarily harvest festivals… Rather, Thanksgiving was a reformist, Calvinist and Puritan response to “too many” Catholic holidays. The Puritans, and before them, the followers of Henry the VIII, sought to replace “church” holidays with holidays of fasting and thanksgiving for events that were felt in contemporary life. Thus there were many Europeans—British, Irish, French, Welsch and Spanish–who had this tradition. The settlers of what would eventually become the U.S and Canada adopted these customs when they settled in the new world. Many such fast and thanksgiving days were established to mourn drought and disease, and to celebrate military victories and rescues. For the settlers in a new land, a thanksgiving day was often declared after a successful crop or a successful repelling of an Indian attackby governors and preachers in the colonial territories of Canada, and what would become the United States. Among the reasons for these declarations would be a successful harvest and the success of a territory at the turn of the year toward winter.
The tie to the Pilgrims became solidified just before the Civil War era by the author Sarah Hale, who was the composer of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” She was the person who contended that it was the Pilgrims of 1621 who established a first Thanksgiving. Evidence that this was the grand celebration she depicted with turkey, cranberry and all the trappings is sparse, as they may not have even had access to those foods. Yet her twenty-year effort to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday ultimately was successful, 'though the first Thanksgiving under President Lincoln was interrupted by the Civil War and its aftermath. Many individual states by Lincoln’s time had established a Thanksgiving Day, but the date was not uniform and some states did not celebrate it.
It was only after Hale’s campaign got the support of Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving became an official holiday. Lincoln proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November, in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states. Because of the ongoing Civil War and the Confederate States of America's refusal to recognize Lincoln's authority, a nationwide Thanksgiving date was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s.
On December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. Be that as it may, Thanksgiving Day has entered the American psyche and is the quintessential American holiday celebrated by most citizens. It is recognized as a time to reflect on all the bounty that this great country offers us.
From a Jewish standpoint, it is important to cultivate a sense of gratitude. In our daily prayers, we are reminded of God's miraculous qualities in “renewing the creations each and every day.” I encourage you to make this day a spiritual moment for those with whom you celebrate.
A more direct relationship may be found between Sukkoth and Chanukah. Some scholars contend that it was the pining for Sukkot, our Judaic major pilgrimage festival, which influenced the first Chanukah after the Maccabeen victory, as an eight day holiday. The miracle of the oil lasting 8 days may be the folklore reinforcement of this desire to celebrate the rededication of the Temple as an eight-day holiday of gratitude. There was no waving of lulavs and building of sukkoth, of course, as that was date-bound to the middle of Tishrei. But it might be that the focus on light and flame was influenced by the water libation celebrations that involved torches in the night that were developed especially in the second Temple period.
Here is how the water drawing ceremony during the holiday of Sukkoth is described in sources: Torch-laden boys scrambled up ladders scaling candelabras, 75, perhaps, 150 feet tall, to light the thick wicks of the candelabras’ four enormous lanterns so that all of Jerusalem was filled with light–like day. Kohanim began sounding their trumpets, the Levi’im played their flutes, lyres, cymbals, and every sort of instrument in thunderous, heavenly music, while all the people joined in song.
The most wondrous spectacle of all was the sight of the distinguished elders, with their long white beards, singing at the top of their lungs, dancing wildly, performing acrobatic feats, and even juggling acts. The most illustrious sage, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who presided over the supreme court of seventy elders, would juggle eight flaming torches—and never would one torch touch another. “If you never saw the celebration of the water-drawing,” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi would say, “you never saw a celebration in your life.” Might it be that this ceremony, so missed by the Judaens, rubbed off on the holiday of Chanukah and influenced it to becoming an 8-day cadelabra holiday?
Nevertheless, with regard to Thanksgiving in our nation, you may wish to use this beautiful piece by Connecticut Governor Wilbur Cross at your supper table. Cross was also an English and Literature Professor. (You may also wish to look up the footage of Cross's proclamation on YouTube from 1936! Makes for interesting viewing)
Thanksgiving Proclamation
Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November, as a day of Public Thanksgiving
…for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved State with the favored regions of earth -- for all the creature comforts: the yield of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from labor of every kind that has sustained our lives -- and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man's faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his spirit to do the great work still before him: for the brotherly word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, long search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land; -- that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home.
Beth and I wish you and yours a most enjoyable, meaningful and festive Thanksgiving (and Chanukah too!)