Thanksgiving

November 28, 2024

Gratitude for Being Together in This Country

These are my words from this past Tuesday's Thanksgiving service with the Nashua Area Interfaith Council. Thank you to Pilgrim Congregational Church for hosting us this year! Let me start my reflection on gratitude for being together in this country with a story about Wolf Landsman, Clarence Stetson, and Eva Castillo. It’s possible I have… Continue reading

Calendar, Community Relations, Friendship, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, Immigration, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Thanksgiving, USA

November 27, 2024

Jewish — Thanksgiving is Actually in Our Name

These are words I shared in 2022 at the Nashua Area Interfaith Council service right before Thanksgiving. The first words a Jew is supposed to say upon waking are: Modah Ani or Modeh Ani, which mean “Thankful am I”. Even before we bring ourselves into focus, we are we are taught to center gratitude, and… Continue reading

Calendar, Gratitude, Holidays, Middot, Prayer, Thanksgiving

November 30, 2020

Yehudi: Jews Means Thankful When Gratitude Isn’t Easy

This was the D’var Torah I gave on Saturday, November 28, the Shabbat of Thanksgiving weekend 2020. We Jews have three major names in the Tanakh, in the Bible. When other people are around, we’re sometimes called Ivri or Hebrew — the people from over-there, from the other side of the tracks, the parvenu. When… Continue reading

Calendar, Current Affairs, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, Holidays, Immigration, Justice, Spirituality, Thanksgiving, Tikkun Olam, Vayetze

December 1, 2016

Torah Reflection on Truth and Peace as of Right after Thanksgiving

I just wanted to get on record some reflections on what it's like as a rabbi and leader right now, a snapshot in time. I have spoken previously about the prophetic verse Ha-emet v'ha-shalom ehavu – "Love truth and peace." In the Talmud, the verse is quoted in the course of an exploration of a debate between… Continue reading

Community Relations, Current Affairs, Election, Ethics, Freedom, Inclusion, Islam, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Rabbi, Thanksgiving, Tikkun Olam, Toldot, Tzedek, USA

November 23, 2011

Giving Thanks

The Hebrew word for Jew is Yehudi, after our ancestor Yehudah (Judah). The h-d part in Judah’s name is the root of the word Todah, which means “gratitude” or “thank you.” When Judah was born, his mother Leah explained his name: “This time I give thanks to Adonai.” In other words, a Jew is by… Continue reading

Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, Middot, Thanksgiving

November 25, 2009

Every month in the Jewish calendar, I am focusing some teaching on a different middah. A middah is a ethical character quality, a habit we can work on in ourselves. (Click here for the podcasts, more study material to follow.) I began teaching last Shabbat about the middah of gratitude. And I'm finding that at… Continue reading

Middot, Thanksgiving