November 2008

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. It is no longer (and perhaps never was) a celebration affiliated with any particular religion or faith, although some in America celebrate it with religious ceremonies. On a social level, it is celebrated by Americans of a broad variety of religious backgrounds.

To most American Jews, even the Orthodox, there is no question about the appropriateness of celebrating Thanksgiving, which is seen as a secular holiday representing values important in Judaism and American culture.

To many traditionalist Jews, however, commemorating any non-Jewish holiday raises questions about Biblical and rabbinic law forbidding Jews to imitate non-Jewish customs and traditions.

Is Thanksgiving essentially a religious holiday, a secular holiday, or an ambiguous one?

The first Thanksgiving day celebration was held in response to the survival by the Pilgrims of the particularly harsh winter of 1622/3. Not only did the colonists themselves celebrate, but food was sufficiently plenty that even the Indians with whom the colonists were at peace were invited. This celebration took place on July 30, 1623 (in the middle of the summer).

Similar celebrations occurred throughout the New England area throughout the 1600’s. They were local celebrations of thanksgiving used to mark the end of particularly difficult winters.

In 1789, Congressman Elias Boudinot of NJ proposed a resolution urging President George Washington to recommend to the citizens of the country a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of the Almighty G-d, especially by affording them an opportunity to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness."

After quite a debate, Mr. Washington issued the first National Thanksgiving Proclamation, setting November 26, 1789 as Thanksgiving and a national holiday "devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."

But despite proclamations of thanks issued by some Presidents following Mr. Washington, it would be decades before any further discussions about Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday.

In the South, states often issued Thanksgiving day proclamations with overtly Christian messages, such as the one delivered in 1844 by Governor James Hammond of South Carolina.

When the local Jewish community protested, Mr. Hammond was furious, exclaiming that he had "always thought it a settled matter that I lived in a Christian land [populated] by Christian people." The fact that he had been "publicly called to an account, reprimanded, and required to make amends" for acknowledging the Christian messiah, was something "I would not have believed possible, if it had not come to pass."

In 1846, when the unity of the country was again in controversy because of the Missouri Compromise and the problems of slavery, the celebration of Thanksgiving as a national holiday returned to the national agenda.

From 1846 to 1863, Ms. Sara Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady Book magazine, embarked on a campaign to turn Thanksgiving into a national holiday during which workers would not be required to go to work. Her efforts culminated in President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation of 1863.

Ever since, Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a national holiday and a day of rest at the end of November. It was originally held on the last Thursday of the month, but in 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt switched it to the fourth Thursday in order to spur holiday shopping and increase spending.

If Jewish law simply deferred to common wisdom that Thanksgiving is a "secular" and not a religious holiday, halachic controversy would end. But American law adopts a definition of "secular" that is clearly "religious" in the eyes of Jewish law.

For example, American courts have determined that "Good Friday" is also a "secular" holiday, and the Supreme Court has ruled that both Christmas and Chanukah are "secular" holidays whose "secular" displays lack religious themes.

Certainly Jewish law views none of these as "secular" and would not accept American law’s definition of "secular" as binding on adherents of halacha.

There are two important halachic issues that must be considered regarding the celebration of Thanksgiving. First, and most significant, is the question of eating a festive meal with the classical foods American tradition indicates: turkey (obviously a kosher variety) and cranberry sauce, and engaging in other activities directly celebrating the day, such as attending a parade.

The lesser celebration is the intentional scheduling of other types of events, such as weddings, to take advantage of the fact that most people do not have to work on Thanksgiving.

Among authorities of the previous generation, there are three different positions, each of which has been accepted by various halachic authorities today.

These positions all involve an understanding of the Jewish prohibition to imitate Gentile customs, which is found in Leviticus 18:3.

Tosafot, the medieval commentaries on the Talmud, understands that two distinctly types of customs are forbidden: idolatrous customs, and foolish ones, even if their origins are not idolatrous.

Rabbenu Nissim (the Ran) and Maharik disagree and rule that only customs that have a basis in idolatry are prohibited. Apparently foolish—but secular—customs are permissible as long as they have a reasonable explanation and are, obviously, not immodest. Normative halacha follows the ruling of the Ran and Maharik.

There are, however, authorities who favor a stricter interpretation. Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, the 18^th-century giant better known as the Vilna Gaon, or simply the Gra, ruled that the only time "secular" customs are permissible is when they have a Jewish origin. According to this approach, secular customs created by Gentiles are prohibited even when their origins are not religious.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein published four responsa on issues related to celebrating Thanksgiving, all of which conclude that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday, but a secular one.

The first responsum, written in 1953, discusses the deliberate scheduling of weddings and other celebrations on the religious holidays observed by other faiths. Rabbi Feinstein rules that if the holiday is based on Gentiles’ religious beliefs, weddings and the like are prohibited if the date was deliberately chosen. The prohibition, he says, is based on the principle of marit ayin, what it will look like to other people.

He specifically singles out January 1 and Thanksgiving as "not prohibited according to law." However, he continues "pious people should be strict," and, therefore, avoid scheduling simchas on those days.

Rabbi Feinstein reinforces his understanding that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday in a responsum published in 1980. He says that "since it is clear that, according to [Christian] religious law, this day is not mentioned as a religious holiday and that one is not obligated in a meal, and since this is a day of remembrance to citizens of this country, when they came to reside here either now or earlier, halacha sees no prohibition in celebrating with a meal or with the eating of turkey."

"Nonetheless it is prohibited to establish this as an obligation and religious commandment [mitzvah], and it remains a voluntary celebration," he says, citing the halachic problem of adding commandments or holidays to the Jewish calendar.

He also rules that it is permissible to eat turkey on Thanksgiving:

"Thus, it is obvious in my opinion, that even in a case where something would be considered a prohibited Gentile custom, if many people do it for reasons unrelated to their religion or law, but rather because it is pleasurable to them, there is no prohibition on imitating Gentile custom. So too, it is obvious that if Gentiles were to make a religious law to eat a particular item that is good to eat, halacha would not prohibit eating that item. So too, any item of pleasure in the world cannot be prohibited merely because Gentiles do so out of religious observance."

In two other responsa, Rabbi Feinstein elaborates. In a recently published letter, written in 1980, he seems to rule that there is a prohibition to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though he acknowledges that the holiday has no religious content. Rather, he views celebratory activity on Thanksgiving as irrational, and thus a form of imitating secular society.

A closer examination of the letter, however, reveals that the activities he would prohibit are celebratory rituals associated with the holiday, such as reciting a text or singing a song, and not merely eating a meal.

In his fourth responsum on this topic, written to a questioner who noted some discrepancies in his earlier writings on the issue, Rabbi Feinstein clearly recognizes that the prohibition of celebratory rituals on Thanksgiving is merely a stricture and not the normative halacha.

Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt, a close student of Rabbi Feinstein, also permits eating turkey in the celebration of Thanksgiving. This is permissible, he rules, because the holiday is "only a day of thanks, and not, heaven forbid, for idol celebration."

Rabbi Greenblatt adds that he posed this question more than 30 years ago to Rabbi Eliezer Silver and was told that he also ruled that it was permissible to eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

It is entirely possible that sociological changes in the US lay behind the changes in Rabbi Feinstein’s first responsum on the issue of celebrating Thanksgiving, in 1953, and his second one in 1980. In 1953, Thanksgiving was not a religious holiday, but there were those who wanted it to become one. Thus, Rabbi Feinstein thought pious Jews should be strict on this matter.

By 1980, the movement to make Thanksgiving a religious holiday had disappeared, eliminating the possibility that anyone might consider it that way. Thus, Rabbi Feinstein, in his later response, no longer calls for stricture in this regard.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University who is frequently referred to simply as "the Rav," also agreed that Thanksgiving was not a Gentile holiday, and ruled that it was permissible to eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

"Indeed, there were instances when Rabbi Soloveitchik implied to his students that he and his family celebrated Thanksgiving, although shiur was always held on Thanksgiving," said Rabbi Hershel Schachter in his intellectual biography of Rabbi Soloveitchik, Nefesh HaRav.

According to Dr. Avi Feldblum of Highland Park, NJ, on Thanksgiving day, Rabbi Soloveitchik started his shiur at YU much earlier than usual so that he could be finished in time to catch a plane back to his home in Boston to have a festive meal with his family.

But just because Thanksgiving was sufficiently important for the Rav to start his shiur early, did not mean that he would end it before completing what he wanted to understand. According to Dr. Feldblum, on Thanksgiving 1976, Rabbi Soloveitchik spent about five hours working through one Tosafot. When his aide passed him a note to remind him about his flight back to Boston, the Rav turned to him and said, "No one can leave here until we have understood what it is that Tosafot is saying."

A similar view is taken by Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin of Jerusalem, who states that it is clear that halacha does not consider Thanksgiving to be a religious holiday. Even if one were to reside in a society in which there were some denominations who celebrate Thanksgiving "religiously," that would not suffice to make it a religious holiday, as it is clear that many secular people celebrate it, he says.

"Where is there found any prohibition to rejoice on the king’s birthday and similar occasions?" says Rabbi Henkin.

He suggests that it would be good occasionally to skip the Thanksgiving meal, as a way of indicating that it is not a religious "obligation," but rather merely permissive. This, he says, would accommodate Rabbi Feinstein’s stricture.

He notes that on a Gentile religious holiday, it is prohibited to do business that would assist them because "they use that which we provide for worship." But this prohibition does not include merely "rejoicing and celebrating." To see if those activities are prohibited, the holiday itself must be examined "to determine if its origins are primarily idolatrous or not," he says.

"However, if the reason for the celebration is primarily secular, it is permissible to celebrate, such as the coronation of the king, the Fourth of July in America, or Thanksgiving. For this, it makes no difference that some Gentiles celebrate these holidays in churches," he rules.

He has, however, one significant caveat. He points out that, in the Shulchan Aruch, it is clearly prohibited to celebrate even a completely secular holiday, such as the coronation of a king, with those Gentiles who are celebrating that "secular" day with religious observances.

However, one may join with a Gentile if one is certain that this particular non-Jew does not worship in a manner or faith prohibited to Gentiles according to Jewish law.

Thus, even those authorities who would permit marking Thanksgiving with a meal would not permit doing so with Gentiles who are religiously celebrating the day. (The same is also true for a birthday party, wedding, or funeral.)

Rabbi Henkin’s position on scheduling morning services on national holidays reflects the inclination to delay the time when most people do not have to go to work. As long as the holiday is secular, it is permitted, he says, but if it is a Gentile religious holiday, he suggests ignoring it for scheduling purposes.

An exactly opposite approach to the rulings of Rabbis Feinstein and Soloveitchik appears to have been taken by Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner. In a letter published after his death, Rabbi Hutner argues that it is obvious and apparent that—whatever the merit of celebrating Thanksgiving the first time in the 1600’s—the establishment of an annual holiday that is based on the Christian calendar is, at the very least, closely associated with idol worship and thus prohibited.

Rabbi Hutner rules that such a celebration becomes a "holiday" through the creation of an annual observance and celebrating Gentile holidays is obviously prohibited.

An analogous approach, albeit less certain of a prohibition, is adopted by Rabbi Menashe Klein who also rules that halacha prohibits the celebration of Thanksgiving.

Rabbi Klein notes that halacha divides Gentile rituals into two distinct categories: those things that Gentiles do out of silliness and irrationality, and those that are done for religious purposes or for purposes of immodesty.

Rabbi Klein then cites the Gra, who rules that Gentile customs and law that have no Jewish basis should be avoided because they might have an origin in the idolatrous customs of the past.

Rabbi Klein seems to think that eating turkey on Thanksgiving is done in commemoration of the Pilgrims’ not having anything to eat until they found "this bird, and they were very happy and rejoiced over having found this bird." He admits that this "appears not to be a Gentile custom."

However, he continues, it is still to be determined if Thanksgiving represents a "private holiday" of a worshipper of many gods.

"It is possible that Thanksgiving is such a case. Even though they claim they are worshipping G-d and not idols, it is possible that there is a mixture here and thus it is possible this is a Gentile ritual. Thus the Spirit of the Sages does not approve of one who celebrates, and it is possible that there is a biblical violation," he says, making it clear that he strongly discourages and may even be forbidding the celebration of Thanksgiving.

In a letter to a Rabbi Greenblatt, who posed the question, Rabbi Klein says he would withdraw this response if the ruling of Rabbi Feinstein on this issue were known. It is therefore unclear how the recent publication of Rabbi Feinstein’s letter would affect Rabbi Klein’s position.

Rabbi David Cohen (of Gvul Yavetz) expresses an opinion that is similar to Rabbi Klein’s ruling. Rabbi Cohen maintains that eating turkey for the sake of Thanksgiving is prohibited because "this is an irrational rule of theirs and following it is improper."

"Nonetheless," he continues, "there is no prohibition for a family to get together on a day when people do not go to work and to eat together; if it is their wish to eat turkey, not for the sake of thanks but because they like turkey, that is not prohibited, but the spirit of the Sages does not approve of such conduct, as they are functioning as if they follow the practice of Gentiles."

Rabbi Feivel Cohen goes even further. Citing Maimonides (Malachim 10:9), he rules that because Thanksgiving is an attempt to create a special day of rest and festivities and add it to the calendar, neither Jews nor Gentiles should celebrate it. For this reason, in Rabbi Cohen’s opinion, even celebrating the Fourth of July is forbidden.

In my opinion, the argument that Thanksgiving celebrations are prohibited to Gentiles by Maimonides is not persuasive. It is not at all clear that the manner of celebrating the holiday in America fits the halachic category of a festival or of a Sabbath-like rest, as opposed to a mere commemoration.

If the prohibition of a Gentile observing Shabbat is obviated by even slight deviation of the rules for keeping the Sabbath by Jews, then the same is easily true of the way Thanksgiving is observed, which bears no resemblance to the way festivals are celebrated in Jewish tradition.

The three conflicting views taken by Rabbis Hutner, Soloveitchik, and Feinstein can also be applied to the question of observing or attending a Thanksgiving day parade. If one accepts Rabbi Hutner’s view of Thanksgiving as a Gentile holiday, it would be prohibited to participate or benefit in any way from the parade honoring the day.

Rabbi Soloveitchik’s view holds that Thanksgiving is a secular holiday with a rational basis and, thus, maybe celebrated, including by attending a parade. This view would see no difference between a Thanksgiving day parade and a parade for Independence Day.

Rabbi Feinstein’s middle ground does not view Thanksgiving as a Gentile religious holiday, but holds that there are problems associated with celebrating any secular holiday. He might allow attendance at a parade, because it is not irrational, just as he permits eating turkey on Thanksgiving. On the other hand, he would frown on any annual celebration that would be festival-like.

Rabbis Hutner and Feinstein refer to the issue of adding a day of celebration to the Jewish calendar. Rabbi Hutner asserts that dating the holiday through the Christian calendar is clear evidence that Thanksgiving is "Gentile" in nature and thus prohibited.

I think Rabbi Hutner’s proof can be disputed because it would also serve to "prove" that Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Washington’s Birthday, and the many other clearly secular holidays observed by Americans throughout the year—based on the Gregorian/secular calendar—are really "Gentile" holidays. This seems counter-intuitive.

In addition, Thanksgiving is an extremely poor example of the situation he is criticizing. Thanksgiving does not have a fixed date on the secular calendar. It comes on the fourth Thursday of November, and the exact date changes from year to year. Indeed, Congress could move the date to July if it so voted.

Rabbi Feinstein understands this problem differently, maintaining that there are specific halachic problems associated with adding holidays to the Jewish calendar, independent of whether they are "secular," "Jewish," or "Gentile." Indeed, these types of objections have been raised regarding the modern observances of Yom Hashoa, Yom Ha’atzmaut, and Yom Yerushalayim, and have nothing necessarily to do with Gentile origin. There is an extensive literature on this issue with many different opinions advanced.

Some authorities maintain, as Rabbi Feinstein appears to do, that it is absolutely prohibited to add holidays to the calendar as an annual observance. These authorities rule that while individuals can celebrate annual events, these celebrations must never be incorporated into the general Jewish calendar.

Other authorities maintain that such events can be incorporated into the Jewish calendar only after they receive unanimous (perhaps multi-generational) rabbinic sanction.

Other rulings hold that every Jewish society can incorporate these days of thanksgiving (or mourning) to reflect significant manifestations of G-d’s will toward the community. Others limit this to rituals that require no specialized blessings, and are technically permitted all year round.

No consensus has developed on this issue, leaving each community to follows its own custom.

On one issue, Rabbis Feinstein, Hutner, and Soloveitchik seem to agree: the celebration of a one-time day of thanksgiving to mark an event worthy of thanks is not problematic. An example would be when President George Bush declared a day of thanksgiving in 1991 in response to the victory in the Persian Gulf war.

It would not be problematic according to any of these opinions to mark that one-time event with some form of a celebration. Indeed, as noted by Rabbi Feinstein, there is some Talmudic precedent for that form of thanksgiving.

In my opinion, a strong case can be made that the dispute concerning adding holidays to the calendar is not really applicable to the way Thanksgiving is, in fact, celebrated in America, and that even those who flatly prohibit any additions to the Jewish calendar are not referring to the festivities of American Independence Day, Thanksgiving, or Labor Day. Rather, these authorities are referring to the highly ritualized religious expressions of thanks to G-d that accompany days of religious observance, such as the services on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Thanksgiving, like Independence Day and Labor Day, lacks any ritualized prayer component, formal activities of any kind, obligatory liturgy, or a festival (mo’ed) attitude. Even the holiday meal that many eat on Thanksgiving is no more obligatory under American law than is the Independence Day barbeque or the Veteran’s Day parade.

Given the way the completely secular holidays are celebrated in contemporary America, none of them—including Thanksgiving—could be mistaken for an additional "festival" in the Jewish calendar. This is in sharp contrast to their Israeli counterparts, which more clearly appear to be additions to the Jewish calendar.

In my opinion, the normative halacha concerning Thanksgiving based on the major viewpoints of Rabbis Feinstein, Soloveitchik, and Hutner is that: (1) Thanksgiving is a secular holiday with secular origins; (2) while some people celebrate Thanksgiving with religious rituals, the vast majority of Americans do not; (3) halacha permits one to celebrate secular holidays, so long as one avoids doing so with people who celebrate them through religious worship; and (4) so long as one avoids giving the celebration of Thanksgiving the appearance of a religious rite (either by occasionally missing a year or in some other manner making it clear that this is not a religious duty), the technical problems raised by Rabbi Feinstein and others are inapplicable.

Thus, halacha permits one to have a private Thanksgiving celebration with one’s Jewish or secular friends and family. For reasons related to citizenship and the gratitude we feel towards the US government, I would even suggest that such conduct is wise and proper.

The basic dispute that divides contemporary American halachic authorities of the last 75 years concerns the question of whether it is appropriate to distinguish between "secular society," "Gentile society," and "idol-worshiping society" in modern American culture. The validity of this distinction—which was not generally the concern of halachic decisors of Eastern Europe 200 years ago—is extremely relevant to a broad variety of halachic issues related to contemporary American society.

Like many areas of Jewish law where there is a diversity of legitimate approaches, individuals should follow the practices of their community, family, or rabbi, while at the same time respecting and accepting as halachically permissible other community’s practices.

It is for the ability to respect and accept as legitimate the conduct of fellow observant Jews—sanctioned by rabbinic authority—that true thanksgiving to the Almighty is needed.

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