Hallel on Thanksgiving?

        This year Thanksgiving is also Rosh Chodesh.  (Those who need not wake up earlier for the longer Rosh Chodesh davening due to the day off have an additional  reason to be thankful  this Thursday!) 

The co-occurrence of Rosh Chodesh and Thanksgiving led me to consider what those two holidays have in common,  and what we can learn from their falling out on the same day this year.  (Not as exciting as a Thanksgivukkah, I know, but still something to note). 

 Rosh Chodesh is a day of reciting Hallel. If one looks through Hallel one can see that it is replete with the giving of thanks to Hashem.  Here is just a small sampling (Note:  Hallel is a mix of praise and thanks, and praise is clearly a form of thanks even when it does not include the word “thanks”). 

פִּתְחוּ לִי שַׁעֲרֵי צֶדֶק. אָבֹא בָם אוֹדֶה קהּ

. Open up for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them, thank the Lord

אוֹדְךָ כִּי עֲנִיתָנִי. וַתְּהִי לִי לִישׁוּעָה

I will thank You, since You answered me and You have become my salvation

הוֹדוּ לַה' כִּי טוֹב. כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ

Thank the Lord, since He is good, since His kindness is forever

כִּי לְךָ טוֹב לְהוֹדוֹת. וּלְשִׁמְךָ נָּאֶה לְזַמֵּר

Since, You it is good to thank, and to Your name it is pleasant to sing

So, in essence Rosh Chodesh- a day of Hallel, and Thanksgiving have similar themes- that of thanks. 

 I recently came across an article which states that Congregation Shearith Israel in New York does say Hallel on Thanksgiving- even when it is not Rosh Chodesh. (I am not paskening halacha here, but sharing their shul’s practice).    Shearith Israel was established in 1654, also known as the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue, in what was then New Amsterdam by a group escaping the Portuguese inquisition, and was the first shul established in North America.  

In 2013, when Thanksgiving fell out during Chanukah, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, the rabbi of  Shearith Israel, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal  “God Delivered the Pilgrims- and My People.”  In this article Rabbi Soloveichik notes that in 1789 the first national Thanksgiving was proclaimed by the President. At that time,  the leader of the shul, Gershom Mendes Seixas, proclaimed that in gratitude to the freedom they were granted in America, their shul will be reciting Hallel every Thanksgiving. 

 These were his words:

 "As Jews, we are even more than others called upon to return thanks to God for placing us in such a country—where we are free to act according to the dictates of conscience, and where no exception is taken from following the principles of our religion.”

In Mendes- Seixas’ words he states that  the thanks expressed on Thanksgiving should be turned to God.  

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, ztl,  in his article “The Power of Gratitude” notes that a significant component of having true gratitude/ thankfulness is that recognition of God in our lives. “Part of the essence of gratitude is that it recognizes that we are not the sole authors of what is good in our lives… Though you don’t have to be religious to be grateful, there is something about belief in God as creator of the universe, shaper of history and author of the laws of life that directs and facilitates our gratitude. It is hard to feel grateful to a universe that came into existence for no reason and is blind to us and our fate. It is precisely our faith in a personal God that gives force and focus to our thanks.”

And, that is why, says Rabbi Sacks, that it is no coincidence that Thanksgiving was established as a day  “recognizing the presence of God in American history.”  He then goes on to quote the words of Abraham Lincoln on Thanksgiving of 1863:

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy … I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

So, in its early years, Thanksgiving was established as a day of gratitude to Hashem! 

I have mentioned many times in this column the research-based data on the positive impact of gratitude on both psychological and physical health.  Being thankful leads to more resilience in face of stress, happiness, hope, less depression and even longer and healthier lives.  So, we clearly want to all practice that gratitude- we all want those benefits!  

Combining gratitude of Thanksgiving with the gratitude to Hashem, of the Hallel is one way to make that happen. 

Christopher Kaczor in his Washington Post article “Does belief in God enhance gratitude? Here’s what psychology suggests” quotes Dr. Robert Emmons from his book Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier.   Dr. Emmons notes that gratitude that leads to happiness must have three components that are recognized by the one who is thankful:

 “ 1. That one has been the beneficiary of someone’s kindness 2. That the benefactor has intentionally provided a benefit 3. That the benefit has value in the eyes of the beneficiary.” 

It consequently makes sense that  the research indicates that those who believe in God and realize that their lives are not mere chance (intentional) , but are a result of God’s care (beneficiary of His kindness) and see that all that happens to them as a gift of God (benefit has value), would be happier.   It, therefore, does make sense that belief in God is one predictor of happiness.

In being thankful this Thanksgiving the opportunity to say Hallel reminds us that being thankful to Hashem is an important component of achieving true gratitude. But, we need not wait until a random year where Thanksgiving and Hallel coincide. We are reminded of this daily, as Rabbi Sacks says, “Jewish prayer is an ongoing seminar in gratitude.” He notes starting from Modeh Ani in the morning, our daily prayers- whether birchot hashachar, pesukei d’zimrah or even the Shemoneh Esrei “form a litany of thanksgiving for life itself.” We need not wait for that Hallel on Rosh Chodesh. 

Dr. Tal Ben Shahar (whom I have quoted many times before!) was a professor at Harvard famous for his course on  Happiness based on scientific research and practical strategies to achieve happiness. In his book Happier Dr. Ben Shahar promotes keeping a gratitude journal and writing down five things each day before you go to bed to lead to happiness. (This is actually an assignment he gave to his students in Harvard as part of their classwork).  We cannot wait for Thanksgiving to work on our gratitude.  If we put this into practice with our own children at home, perhaps we would add, what are we thankful to Hashem for in our daily lives? 

On this Thanksgiving as Rosh Chodesh Hallel is recited, let us focus with our children on all they have to be thankful for, and remember to point out to them Hashem’s role in bringing all those positives to our lives. 

Advisory Update:

Sixth Grade:  Students had an opportunity to “switch places” with their teachers in imagining what it is like to be a teacher in order to understand the teacher-student relationship better.

Seventh Grade: Students focused either on a lesson on anger management or began the next unit in Advisory - Operation Respect, on empathy.  

Eighth Grade: Students did a unit on Test-taking strategies.