For the Blessings that Have Been Our Common Lot
November 26, 2008
Holidays | Jewish Living
(3 comments)
 by JanetheWriter
It seems plausible that Thanksgiving as we know it today derives originally from our tradition's Sukkot. Whether or not this is, in fact, true, in our consumer-driven, must-have-the-latest-greatest-gadget, me-me-me society, this autumnal chag is a wonderful opportunity to step back, to reflect on what really matters and, individually and collectively, to celebrate our many blessings.
In my family, Thanksgiving minhag dictates that someone (usually my mother) reads a poem, prayer or other seasonal passage before we dig in. Last year, a few days before the holiday, Connecticut Governor Wilbur L. Cross' 1936 Thanksgiving proclamation crossed my desk and it was I who read it at our Thanksgiving table.
As my Grandma Hattie was fond of saying about one thing or another, "It bears repeating." And so it is with Governor Cross' 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.
For additional Thanksgiving readings and ways that we all can bring the blessing of life to others, visit the Nothing But Nets website.
And now, let us say Amen. Happy Thanksgiving!
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First of all I love the word autumnal; we have but one season to use this great idiom and I am pleased to see it grace your post. Second of all, Governor Cross’s wonderful statement fits so perfectly into the RJ.org world but has absolutely no place in the public sphere. While life was a bit different in 1936, today’s Connecticut, a place of real tolerance, might not look too kindly on its Governor declaring a statewide religious celebration. Happy Thanksgiving to all, to those who find comfort in the Creator and Preserver, and those who do not.