What follows is the very moving Thanksgiving proclamation of Abraham Lincoln that formally created this day of commemoration on the last Thursday of November. The intent here is not to state whether or not, as Torah observant Jews, we should celebrate Thanksgiving. Rather, the intent is to say that if we will be sitting down with family and friends this Thursday evening for a Thanksgiving dinner then, at least, let’s get it right.
Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln
October 3, 1863, Washington, DC,
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Abraham Lincoln
By the President:
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.
That was absolutely beautiful and right to the point. Hashem gives us all that we have. Only HE has the power to give us what we need.
This Holiday was originally celebrated by the Puritans, and was dedicated to Thank Hashem for a good harvest. The Puritans along with their Indian friends got together to feast on the bounty that Hashem provided that year. They were grateful for another year of life and enough food to survive. They knew that only the Master above had control over whether they lived or died.
Abe Lincoln got it right with his wonderful speech. Wish we had more like him today.
Marilyn Horne
Rabbi Rich,
When I came to America one W. Jefferson Clinton was elected, and I was disapointed.
But then I understood that whether American Tzar is Clinton or O’Bama, we still have our Judaism:freedom and safety, Hashem Ishmor, to go to shuls, schools–that’s Thansgiving HaGodol!!!(from where I come from….).
Anyways, Torah remains the main thing!
An awesome web site, Rabbi Rich! Great work! Lincoln’s statement is a lovely reminder of what the American Thanksgiving is supposed to be about. Be well. Noa