Friday evening services begin at 4:04 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:59 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel.
Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.
We're exciting to be continuing a tradition we began last year of inviting members of our community to compose and share Torah Gems (insights from that week's Torah portion). This week, Rabbinic Resident Chaim Koritzinsky shares with us a few words of wisdom on Thanksgiving.
Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:44 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "'Rashi's Comment on the Psalm of Thanksgiving". Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:58 pm.
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Every Thanksgiving my family goes around the table and each person says something they are grateful for. Depending on people's moods, some will share something light or even humorous while others something deeply personal and poignant. Regardless, it's a moment of coming together of family and close friends around the blessings in our lives that we don't want to take for granted.
But there is always a part of me that wonders why my family only does this on Thanksgiving? Shouldn't we be giving thanks whenever we get together? Shouldn't we be giving thanks every day for the blessings in our lives?
I think about this a lot around this time of year, especially as we approach Hannukah. As strange as it may sound, every year I think about the connection between Thanksgiving and Hannukah and I wonder how we can use Thanksgiving as a spiritual kick-off (for all you Turkey Day football fans) to Hannukah.
Let me explain:
Preparation is essential for Jewish Holidays. We're familiar with the importance of spiritual preparation for other holidays. For Rosh Hashana, we devote the entire month of Elul as a time for reflection and soul searching. For Yom Kippur, we have the 10 days of Repentance (Eseret Yamei Teshuva) to help focus our teshuva. For Pesach, we spend days- if not weeks- cleaning our homes, preparing our kitchens, changing dishes, reviewing the hagaddah, shopping and cooking. Even for Shevuot, we count the fifty days as a meditation march toward Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah.
The preparation we do prior to the holiday enhances our experience of the holiday's essence- self-transformation, national liberation, Toraitic revelation.
But what about Hannukah? How do we spiritually prepare for Hannukah? What is the essence of this holiday toward which we would prepare our hearts and souls?
Miracles.
Hannukah is the time of the year when we bring our spiritual attention to the miracles in our history and in our own lives.
We recall the miracles that happened to our ancestors as they won the battle of the few over the many. We recall the miracle of the cruse of oil that burned for eight days. And we recall the miracle of Jewish survival in the face of Hellenistic acculturation.
The miracle of the battles and the cruse of oil are well told in the books of our Tradition. We can find the miracle of the battles in the Book of Maccabees and the miracle of the oil in a Rabbinic retelling of the story in the Talmud (Bavli, Shabbat 21b). And even the miracle of Jewish survival is told and retold by historians, contemporary scholars, and demographic experts.
But where do we find the source for the miracles in our own lives? I want to suggest that we discover these miracles through daily gratitude.
Historically speaking, when the Temple stood, there was an animal offering known as the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering (see Leviticus 7: 11-15 where the ritual of the Todah offering is described) This was a type of peace offering brought to the Temple during times when you had experienced the miraculous and beneficent hand of God. In fact, you were required to bring a korban todah if you:
1. Completed a journey at sea
2. Crossed a desert
3. Were freed from prison
4. Recovered from an illness
These situations are based on poignant descriptions in Psalm 107. The psalmist writes, "Let them praise the Lord for God's steadfast love, for God's wondrous deeds for humanity. Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices and tell of God's deeds in joyful song."
Today, the todah offering is fulfilled by the birkat ha'gomel blessing that we say in synagogue after surviving a dangerous or life-threatening situation.
But this blessing of gratitude is not just something that we reserve exclusively for those rare occasions when we feel we have been saved from a life-threatening situation. Every day, we acknowledge God's beneficence in our daily liturgy when we recite Psalm 100, known as Mizmor L'Todah. (Interestingly, this psalm comes in the section of Psukei D'zimra that begins "hodu l'adonai"- thanks to God- immediately following after Baruch Sh'amar on weekdays) In Psalm 100, we sing ivdu et ha'shem b'simcha, let us serve God in joy..ki tov Adonai, le'olam hasdo, for the Lord is good, God's kindness endures forever." In other words, give thanks to God for the kindness that God bestows upon me daily.
The amidah takes it a step even further. If you look closely at the Modim blessing of the Amidah, it says "We thank You and praise You morning, noon, and night for the miracles which daily attend us and for Your wondrous kindness.." In other words, three times a day, we should give thanks for the miracles in our lives.
It's not a coincidence it was in this section of the amidah where the Rabbis chose to insert the additional paragraph for Hannukah which begins "al ha'nissim- for the miracles". The Rabbis understood this intrinsic link between expressing gratitude and discovering the miracles of our lives.
So this week, when you are sitting around the Thanksgiving table, I invite you to consider the connection between gratitude and miracles. How does acknowledging and expressing one lead to the other. And with Hannukah coming so "early" this year, what would it be like if we considered the 10 days between Thanksgiving and Hannukah to be a time of intense preparation?
Could we call this period the "eserat yamei ho'daya," the "10 Days of Gratitude"? Think about it and perhaps even share it around your Thanksgiving table.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving.
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