Thanksgiving and Interfaith Relations

Interfaith Relations 

Since coming to North America, the Jewish community has reached out to other religious groups in order to make Thanksgiving an inter-faith day of worship, dialogue, and celebration. Even though Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, the day is filled with religious overtures that are not specific to any religious tradition. Thanksgiving is a holiday that almost all Americans observe and many wish to make religious connections to this celebration. Through inter-faith prayer services, text study, or dialogue, the Jewish community can reach out to the Muslim, Christian and other faith communities to create a day of religious tolerance and celebration. On this day of Thanksgiving, we can thank God for the abundance of food by bringing together our various religious traditions.

Jewish Texts and Values 

Human beings are beloved, for people were created in the image of God. People are exceedingly beloved for it was made known to them that they were created in the Image, as it is written, 'For human beings were made in the image of God.' (Genesis 9:6) (Pirke Avot 3:17) 

This is a favorite saying from Abaye: A gentle reply turns away wrath, and one should increase peace with one's brothers, with one's relatives, and with every person -- even with a non-Jew in the market -- in order that one shall be beloved above and desirable below, and that one shall be accepted by all people. (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 17a) They said this about Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: That no one ever greeted him first -- even a non-Jew in the market. (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 17a)
 

Thanksgiving Prayers and Readings


Celebrate your Thanksgiving meal with people of different faiths or ethnicity, recognizing that this celebration is something we share in common. Offer prayers of thankfulness and consider our relationships with other faith and ethnic groups. Sample readings and prayers:

Eternal God, we give thanks
For the gifts of life, wonder beyond words;
For the awareness of soul, our light within;
For the world around us, so filled with beauty;
For the richness of the earth, which day by day sustains us;
For all these and more we offer thanks.
Baruch Atah Adonai, hatov shimcha ul'cha na-eh l'hodot.
Blessed are You, Eternal, Your Name is goodness,
and to You we offer thanksgiving.
(Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams)
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Watch over me,
Hold your hand before me in protection.
Stand guard for me, speak in defense of me.
As I speak for You, speak for me.
As You speak for me, so will I speak for You.

May it be beautiful before me,
May it be beautiful behind me,
May it be beautiful above me,
May it be beautiful all around me.
Restore me in beauty.
(Traditional Navajo Prayer, translated by Gladys A. Reichard)
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For the good in us, which calls us to a better life,
We give thanks.
For the strength to improve the world with our hearts and our hand,
We offer praise.
For the desire in us which leads us to work for peace,
We are grateful.
For life and nature, harmony and beauty, for the hope of tomorrow,
All praise to the Source of Being.
(Adapted from the words of Chaim Stern and Abraham Rothberg, Gates of Prayer, 1975 p. 271)
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We give thanks by remembering our freedom...
We are thankful for the freedom from hunger.
We are thankful for the freedom to worship.
We are thankful for the freedom to challenge our minds.
We are thankful for the freedom to chart our lives.
We are thankful for the freedom to work for a better world.
We are thankful for the freedom to celebrate this day.
We pray for our country, for the men and women who today are protecting our freedom, and for the day when this nation and the entire world will know peace.
(America's Table - A Thanksgiving Haggadah, The American Jewish Committee)
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Earth, Teach Me Earth teach me quiet - as the grasses are still with new light.
Earth teach me suffering - as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility - as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring - as mothers nurture their young.
Earth teach me courage - as the tree that stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation - as the ant that crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom - as the eagle that soars in the sky.
Earth teach me acceptance - as the leaves that die each fall.
Earth teach me renewal - as the seed that rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself - as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness - as dry fields weep with rain.
--An Ute Prayer (cited in Return to Earth Project Study Guide)


Additional Resources