Reply To: Is thanksgiving assur

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charliehall
Participant

Actually, there is long standing Mesorah for Jews in the US to celebrate Thanksgiving, going all the way back to 1789. That is older than many other minhagim we adhere to today. The Jewish community in New York enthusaiasticly endorsed the holiday that year and even modified the nusach hatefilliah to skip tachanun and to add additional psalms. A sermon was given on the topic of Mizmor L’Todah. That synagogue still exists — Shearith Israel in Manhattan — and still maintains that nusach for the day. No synagogue in America has as long a Mesorah.

Those who asur either don’t understand this historical context, or improperly ignore it. There is no avoda zara issue. Furthermore, newcomers to an area are halachically required to accept the existing minhagim of the community, including special days of observance. The bottom line is that Thanksgiving SHOULD be observed by Jews in the United States.

Whether one can eat turkey is a separate issue.