Is Thanksgiving celebrated in Israel?

Over 110,000 Americans have come on aliya since 1948. Many Americans, like me, still celebrate Thanksgiving—even here.

During Thanksgiving, we look back at the history of the holiday to realize just how connected the holiday is to many people who come to Israel. The Puritans were a group of Protestants who identified very closely with the Israelites of the bible. They viewed their journey to the new land similarly to the exodus from Egypt. England was Egypt, the King of England was Pharaoh, the Atlantic Ocean their desert and Red Sea, and the Puritans were the Israelites, entering into a new covenant with God in a new Promised Land. There was even a proposal at that time to make Hebrew the national language of the new colonies.

Jochaim Gans was the first documented Jew in the British New World. In 1585 he was the chief metallurgist in Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to establish an English settlement in the place they called "Newfoundland of Virginia" and worked in the first settlement on Roanoke Island (not the second—where all inhabitants disappeared). Bricks and copper nuggets smelt by him are the only remains that have been found of the first English Settlement.

There is also the connection of giving thanks. According to the Rabbis, Jews are supposed to thank G-d at least 100 times a day, through different blessings. The meal of Thanksgiving is thus appropriate as a celebration of thanks for all that we have—a beautiful country to share and cherish, and to visit or live in as we choose.

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