Jewish Prayers For Thanksgiving? Yes, There’s A Long History
Image by Getty Images
By Sam Kestenbaum November 22, 2017
Are there Jewish prayers specifically for Thanksgiving? Absolutely, says Alan Brill, a professor of Jewish Studies Seton Hall University who writes about history and trends in Jewish spirituality and practice on his blog — it’s a tradition with a long history.
In a post this week, Brill ran through more than two century’s worth of Jewish prayers and sermons delivered around Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Prayers https://t.co/VcnVDccOPu pic.twitter.com/4vQxPM9RuX
— Alan Brill (@kavvanah) November 21, 2017
Perhaps the earliest known American Jewish sermon on Thanksgiving comes from Gershom Mendes Seixas, who in 1789 penned a long 40-page sermon for the very first national Thanksgiving. In 1905, as a special commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Jews in the United States, H. Pereira Mendes, of the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue of New York, wrote his own special prayer.
One particularly popular Thanksgiving prayer comes from Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein of New York’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun. The 1940 prayer is organized in a series of verses thanking God for blessings and praying for guidance.
The prayer also evokes patriotic ideals.
“We pray sincerely for America and the ideals of democracy and freedom that are here enshrined. May she be strong to withstand all the currents that assail her and all the forces of evil that would invade her sacred precincts,” the prayer goes. “A tower of light to her own citizenry, may she cast a steady beam and light up all the dark areas of the world and show to a perplexed and straying humanity the path of freedom, of life and of peace.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
