a thanksgiving meal

Maimonides writes in his letters that after he survived a life threatening ocean voyage he established an annual family thanksgiving meal of thanks to God. [1]

Every 19^th of Kislev, Chabad Hasidim have a thanksgiving feast to celebrate the release from Tzarist prison of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the founder of the movement.

There is also a custom amongst families that have made Aliya to Israel, to commemorate the date with a festive meal held on the anniversary.

These festive meals are called a Seudat Hodeyah (סעודת הודיה) and have biblical antecedence. In Genesis 21: 8 Abraham has a festive meal of thanksgiving at the weaning of Isaac.

And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

וַיִּגְדַּל הַיֶּלֶד, וַיִּגָּמַל; וַיַּעַשׂ אַבְרָהָם מִשְׁתֶּה גָדוֹל, בְּיוֹם הִגָּמֵל אֶת-יִצְחָק

Rashi, citing the midrash, lists amongst the guests: Shem, Eber, and Abimelech.

When there was a Temple, there was a Thanksgiving offering (קרבן תודה) intended to give thanks to God. It was a discretionary offering, which like the Passover sacrifice, was to be completely eaten by the participants.

If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour soaked.

And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. (Leviticus 7: 12 and 15)

אִם עַל-תּוֹדָה, יַקְרִיבֶנּוּ–וְהִקְרִיב עַל-זֶבַח הַתּוֹדָה חַלּוֹת מַצּוֹת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשֶּׁמֶן, וּרְקִיקֵי מַצּוֹת מְשֻׁחִים בַּשָּׁמֶן; וְסֹלֶת מֻרְבֶּכֶת, חַלֹּת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשָּׁמֶן

וּבְשַׂר, זֶבַח תּוֹדַת שְׁלָמָיו–בְּיוֹם קָרְבָּנוֹ, יֵאָכֵל: לֹא-יַנִּיחַ מִמֶּנּוּ, עַד-בֹּקֶר

With a Temple, the concept was to share a meal with God …. sans Temple, the tradition is to invite friends and to provide a meal for the less fortunate. [2]

The American Thanksgiving Holiday has always appealed to Jews as an American holiday, albeit a religious one, which we could and should all celebrate.

Mordecai Kaplan believed that we needed to reconstruct our Judaism to incorporate the American Experience. His controversial The New Haggadah was also known as the New American Haggadah. True to his philosophy, in 1951 he also co-wrote a book called The Faith of America in which he suggested liturgy for “The Celebration of American Holidays”

Below I am happy to provide some scans of the contents and Thanksgiving prayers found in that book, which contain echoes of John Muir’s and Teddy Roosevelt’s environmentalism along with a healthy dose of anti-consumerism . (full scan of Thanksgiving chapter here)